VPI Aries Scout II (£1500/£450 arm)

摘要

Last year, an amusing VPI newsletter listed three important events of 1978. Coca-Cola reached China, and the Grateful Dead played at the Pyramids, 'seeking perfect sound and immortality'. Finally, 'VPI Industries, Inc, started its first year in business.' And 30 years on, VPI is still family-owned, building turntables in its small factory in New Jersey. Founder Harry Weisfeld started by making record cleaning machines, then sold his first turntables in 1981. Early models had big wooden cabinets and a heavy-duty sprung subchassis, but this was soon abandoned in favour of suspension feet. Then, from The New Turntable or TNT, evolved the flagship HR-X, and the rest of the current range. The first JMW Memorial tonearm appeared in 1996, the name a tribute to Harry and Sheila Weisfeld's older son Jonathan, tragically killed in an accident in 1995.