I lived with both gimballed and unipivot. Own very good VPI JMW-12 arm, two arm tubes. They are quite difficult to get "just right." And I still found the sound a bit lacking. The arm is on a VPI Aries Extended table. No particular difference between the arm tubes.
Just for fun, I built an experimental table from early VPI TNT parts (platter, spindle, bearing, clamp, motor) and a Jelco TK-850L tonearm. Paid attention to the details. Using the same cartridge (Soundsmith rebuilt Clavis D.C), the difference was dramatic. Better performance in every aspect of performance. Setup was a breeze. Thought it might be an anomaly, so I picked out a cartridge from "the drawer" (AT OC9/II). Same results.
I can't say for sure it was ONLY the arm, but the performance with the table using the Jelco was much better, particularly in bass control and depth, soundstage, image and subtle instrument nuance. Mids and treble were very natural compared to the slightly etched JMW-12.
I have subsequently migrated to a Lyra Skala on the home built table and Jelco arm, There is no reason to consider an upgrade nor any performance deficiency I can detect.
Just for fun, I built an experimental table from early VPI TNT parts (platter, spindle, bearing, clamp, motor) and a Jelco TK-850L tonearm. Paid attention to the details. Using the same cartridge (Soundsmith rebuilt Clavis D.C), the difference was dramatic. Better performance in every aspect of performance. Setup was a breeze. Thought it might be an anomaly, so I picked out a cartridge from "the drawer" (AT OC9/II). Same results.
I can't say for sure it was ONLY the arm, but the performance with the table using the Jelco was much better, particularly in bass control and depth, soundstage, image and subtle instrument nuance. Mids and treble were very natural compared to the slightly etched JMW-12.
I have subsequently migrated to a Lyra Skala on the home built table and Jelco arm, There is no reason to consider an upgrade nor any performance deficiency I can detect.