VPI's new "Vanquish" Ultra High-End turntable is a STUNNER!

I guess that sums it up nicely.

Mijo, That's "gimbal", not gimbal.I can't believe what a bunch of childish responses this thread collected. Yes, most of us, including me, cannot afford the Vanquish, but the reason to jump all over it cannot fairly be based on cost alone. (If it was composed partially of parts done in red but cost $5000 instead of six figures, would that make the choice of red less reprehensible?  Are aluminum and lucite, particularly when used together to form a single piece with constrained layer damping inherently bad? If so, say why please. And since none of us can have heard the thing, it seems unlikely that any of the disdain emanates from a place of wisdom.  The thing is what it is, and those who have the moolah to buy it will know what they're getting. Here we have mostly expressions of envy in one form or another.

cleeds, Thanks for the correction, although I don't think it negates my original point, which I have forgotten now.  What VPI DD did I apparently completely miss out on?  Because even now I cannot recall their third of 3 efforts in that category. I'm willing to accept that you are correct, however, because I am not a VPI customer.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Br3098, The Vanquish is direct drive. Only the second such ever produced by VPI. On that level, it can honestly be said to be truly new and possibly improved compared to its single antecedent. You can decide for yourself if you are stunned by it. Or not.

Bigkids says the table alone is only $15K, not $100K. The base price could represent a sort of bargain in the high end market. I agree with his basic premise that one should not go off with out knowing the whole story. However, the discussion of tonearms without headshell offset angle is accurate, regardless of what VPI may have done with their particular version. And I tried to convey that I think there is merit in an underhung tonearm with no head shell offset angle, based on my extensive listening to one example of that type and on rave reviews of another similar design.

OK, I went to the CAF but I didn’t have time to go hunting for the Vanquish. I saw enough silly bling as it is. Spent most of my time buying LPs. The show is still running today, but I am going to stay home and hang out with our son who is visiting.
Good points from Phoenix. Do you know whether the tonearm with no headshell offset is underhung or overhung, with respect to the spindle? If underhung, there would be at best one point of tangency to the groove, and yes the direction of the skating force changes from inward to outward as the stylus passes through that one point of tangency. Maybe HW was taken in by the story written for the RS Labs RS-A1 tonearm, which is underhung with no headshell offset and claims no skating force, too. All that said, I own an RS-A1, and it sounds remarkably good, despite all the geometric "problems". So good that I have been tempted to buy a Viv Float tonearm, which has similar geometry and gets rave reviews, despite massive tracking angle error at the outermost and innermost grooves. If the VPI tonearm is OVERhung and has no headshell offset, all is lost. Such a design would never achieve tangency across the LP surface. I can’t imagine they would do that.

I'm about to jump in my car to drive to the CAF.  I'll see it in person, I guess.