3D arms

[miner]

I purchased my VPI Aries 3 with 3D arm in Feb 2015. Recently VPI changed design due to some arms getting the droopies - bending. Mine has developed the droop on the CW stub. VPI and dealer have assured me they will take care of this. Just wanted to give a heads up to any other 3D arm owner. Apparently VPI changed design about 8 months ago.

Kevin

[jbaudio68]

Good to know. Which tonearm did you have before? What was the difference with the 3D arm? Thx for your input

[miner]

The newest 3D arm has some copper insert to help with rigidity. My previous tone arm prior to my Aries 3x3 was a RB1000 on a Rega P9.

[BillK]

Do you have any photos of the droop? It would be nice to see what it looks like so other arm owners can check for it.

[miner]

Bill,
See above post

[Formerly YB-2]

Is it the counter-weight extension that is drooping? Have been waiting for the 9" 3D arm and am guessing this problem has helped delay its arrival.

Am trying to recall what other arm (from another mfgr, not VPI) has that problem. They said it was 'normal' and not to worry about it and there are thousands of them in the field.

[miner]

Yes, CtW stub has the droops and this did affect my VTF which I check bi-weekly. I haven't checked to see if it changes the azimuth settings.

[miner]

New arm is on its way - Thank you Mat/Harry (VPI) and SoundStageDirect (Seth & Jay).

[miner]

Got my newest arm, set it up, and it plays magically. Sent the old arm back for post-mortem. Did notice the headshell was thicker on the new arm, the original Ortofon screws were not long enough to connect the Cadenza Black.

[KB2]

Hi guys, So what is the story with the droppy arm? Does the Prime come with a new arm now? I was thinking of pulling the trigger on a Prime but I am hearing about these issues with the 3D arm. There are 3 versions of the 3D arm on VPI's website and they all seem to show a copper inner tubing (JMW 10-3D, JMW 3D-12, JMW 3D-12R). Does the Prime come with a new version of the JMW 10-3D? Thanks for any insights.