Tonearm for VPI HW MkIII

Hi Slowhand, Was the $895 for a brand new arm or for a used arm. If you could provide further info., I'd appreciate it greatly. Thanks.

I tried a Dynavector 507 MK1 and was astounded at the level of mid range information that it delivered. I believe that It was the turntable that assisted to get the most from the tonearm. A decade later I now have a VPI HW MK3, with a TNT V platter/bearing, SAMA, and a VPI JMW10" upgraded to the latest 10.5i ..even better again!

You can get about 90% of the performance of the JMW 10.5 by making a couple of judicious improvements onto the basic JMW 10 arm ($1299 from Music Direct, Elusive Disc, etc.). The first is to buy the upgraded, sunk counterweight for $100 from one these vendors. The second is to buy the VPI tonearm cable. The last (which I haven't done yet) is to buy the VPI anti-skate device. For about $1650, this is nothing short of a true bargain. Add on an air isolation stand (buy used from Ebay for around $400) and you have a major improvement over your current setup.

ET 2 or 2.5!