I almost never agree with mijostyn but this time I do in part and not in part. He is right, the VPI unipivot arm is a total pain for the average schmo, though my trusted set-up expert Brian Walsh says he can make them sound very good and he has no problem with them. Where I disagree with him is on the suggestion that you spend a lot of money on a VPI gimbaled arm and $5,500 or so on a Windfeld Ti or similar combined with a $2500 drive unit. I have about a dozen cartridges ranging in price from $1,000 to $9,000 and the qualitative difference, while real, is not proportionate to the cost compared to differences in tonearm and tonearm wiring quality. So I do agree with upgrading your tonearm (or moving to what imho is a better turntable/arm) but I would not sink more money on a VPI arm and a $5,500 cartridge.
Where does VPI go wrong? I think they have never figured out how to engineer there decks to sound lively and not plodding/boring. They appeal to the eye but the high mass platter, unsophisticated bearing and low to mid-mass plinths are just not a good synergistic combination. The belt drive motors are nothing special and every few years VPI changes them. VPI is an enigma-on the one hand the decks are built to last compared to a Pro-Ject and on the other hand they are largely kluged together. The only VPI deck I would consider owning is an HW-40 and even then it would be with a non-VPI arm. But that is just me.
There are lots of good turntables on the market but one I would take a hard look at is the Pure Fidelity Encore with the Origin Live Zephyr arm.