Aries 1 JWM 10 Tonearm replacement or upgrades?


I have an original JWM 10 arm with the threaded counterweight on my Aries 1 turntable. Is there a suitable drop-in upgrade tonearm available or is there a set of upgrades I can do to maximize the existing arm as best bang for the buck? It has the original Discovery tonearm wire as came from the factory also.

Thanks for your input!

Have a great weekend!

billandsol

Showing 4 responses by brf

FYI, the new JMW 3D printed tonearm is not a drop in replacement for the original JMW 10 tonearm as the new 3D is 10.5 inches whereas the the original JMW is 10 inches.  You will need to purchase a new VTA tower if you plan to upgrade the arm.  The Aries 1is a very nice table.
Just a couple of points of clarification to a few of the above posts. The original JMW 10 with the threaded counter weight is shorter than the new JMW 3D tonearm, therefore, it will have a different spindle to pivot mounting distance. Although the original JMW 10 VTA tower does have an adjustable dog leg platform to accommodate and fine tune spindle to pivot distances, the azimuth side weights of the newer 3D tonearms will not clear the older VTA tower.
@melm, my comments are in reference to the 10 series of VPI JMW tonearms. 

If you have an original or later production JMW 12 metal arm, you may have to change out the fluid reservoir pivot point for the newer spiked pivot point to be compatible with the JMW 12-3D printed tonearm.  Azimuth side weight and VTA tower clearance is not an issue with JMW 12 tonearms. 
Yes, the original JMW 10 tonearm with the threaded counter weight can accept the new style tear drop counter weight without any modification.  A simple, inexpensive and worthwhile upgrade would be to change out the conical pivot point assembly for the newer spiked pivot assembly.  The end user can perform this replacement without any modification to the tonearm VTA tower.