Sota Eclipse packages for VPI tables.

Having a new Sota Cosmos with the full set up I can attest to it being a top notch drive system, cleverly engineered. As drives go I can not imagine it getting much better than this. My table runs +- 0.002 rpm and is dead silent. With a stethoscope on the top of the plinth you can not hear a thing.... assuming I am not deaf yet.

I can think of one other upgrade that might improve a VPI turntable. Clearaudio sells replacement bearings for it's turntables. These have opposing magnets for a thrust mechanism. These are very quiet bearings, much superior to what VPI uses.. I think one can be made to fit but it will require some machining of the plinth and platter. 

There are no critical issues between bearings and platters other than the bearing has to be able to support the weight of the platter. 

VPI makes mundane bearings. Any magnetic thrust bearing is going to create less than 1/2 the noise. The spindle bearing takes relatively minimal stress. The mass is focused on the thrust bearing. What is going to make less noise and be more reliable a ball and thrust plate bearing or a magnetic field thrust bearing. The answer is obvious.  @lewm, Clearaudio makes significantly quieter bearings than VPI, the company that told you anti skating was not necessary and shafted people with a poor quality unipivot arm. Give me a break! Clearaudio even uses ceramic spindles!

@vinylzone , You have to remove the bearing from the plinth and see what you have. Go to Clearaudio's web sit below. Look at the bearings. You have to get one the thickness of your platter or a little less. You would punch a hole in the platter the exact diameter if the bearing housing. Then you need a hole in your plinth the size of the lower housing. If you look at the bearings you will see immediately what has to be done. I do not know if this is practical to do on your turntable. You have to figure that out on your own. The bearing is most definitely better. 

For those who think designing a turntable is complicated and difficult, it is not. Turntables are extremely simple devices. Then why doesn't everyone make dynamite turntables? Because they are more interested in money than producing the finest turntable. There are a few exceptions. David Fletcher wanted to make the best turntable for a reasonable price. He learned from Edgar Villchur and came up with the Sota Sapphire, the rave turntable of it's day that many could afford. His good friend AJ Conte decided to take the same design to the max and founded Basis. People thought nobody would pay that much for a turntable but they did. Of course there is always a chance that a company really has no idea what they are doing and there are a few companies that fit this description. 

 

Lewm is quite correct. Forget the Walker. I would not buy a shoe lace from them. Get the full package. The Road Runner will make sure the platter continues to spin at the selected speed regardless of whatever drag is placed on the motor. Mass will save you from abrupt speed changes but not slow ones. The Road Runner looks at each single revolution and not a small segment of a revolution and adjusts the speed gently making sure each revolution occurs within the exact time selected.
It is a much different approach than most negative feedback systems use, looking at a larger interval. It is difficult to hear slow changes relative to fast changes which are more obvious. As an example let's say you use a sweep arm during play. When you put the sweep arm down on the record you subject it to more drag and over a few seconds slow the platter down. The road runner detects this and slowly adds more torque until the speed gets back up to 331/3 rpm and holds it there. The correction is so gentle you can't hear it and you can rest assured knowing that regardless of what you do the platter will spin at exactly 331/3 rpm.
I think this should make a great improvement on your turntable. The next thing you might want to consider is an isolation platform you can put it on.
The best is the MinusK but it is expensive. There are others on the market. I think Townsend makes one that is less expensive. You could make your own with a little cleverness. Even better you can attach a dust cover to it.