Is there anybody out there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Or is this forum just dead as a doornail?
 

good question.  a few years ago, it used to be a pretty busy place.  there were several regulars with a great bredth of knowledge.  sadly, most of them have left.  there was a change in the forum some time back and that seems to coincide with the exodus.  it may be up to me to turn off the lights at the end of this post.

in regard to your new purchase, i am sure that you will enjoy it greatly.  i have not heard the scout, but it consistently rates very highly.  my best listening friend has an ancient HW3 with  the original audioquest arm and it really sounds fine.  i also don't know anything about your cartridges as my tastes run to the benz sound and lineup.  the great thing about turntables is that the user can actually affect and/or improve the sound with the use of different cartridges or phonostages.  also, vpi sells several upgrades for that model.  so, this may also be your last table.

at any rate, best of luck.

tom collins

Thanks for the reply Tom. I wonder where everybody went? I agree with you that this was once a busy, informative, helpful forum. Now it appears to me to be a ghost of it's former self and that's a shame.
Regards, Sam

I just went through some rigmarole to be able to log in again.  The new password rules and the changeover combined had kept me from logging in and hence from writing to the forums; I wonder if such stalwarts as Buddha suffered the same fate.  As I recall, the changeover was run by the already-too-hardworking (and most excellent) Stephen Mejias, so it would be churlish to complain.

heheh. Ants in your pants? The 'table ain't even here yet. The forum is not dead- slow on nice weekends though.

Michael Fremer's Vinyl Setup DVD covers everything you'd ever want to know about the Scout. But VPI makes such great TTs there really is nothing too complicated from what I can see anyway. Congrats on the purchase, I'm sure you'll love it.

Ants in my pants doesn't quite cover it. I haven't had a new table in over twenty five years and I can't wait to get my hands on this thing. I bought Fremer's DVD a couple of years ago and I'm planning on watching it again tonight. Thanks for the reply.
Regards, Sam 

Hey Sam, congratulations on the new VPI Scout, I'm a scout owner since they first

came out, it's a very nice turntable. I purchased mine with a Shure M97xe cartridge 

and recently purchase a new Ortofon 2M Red and a Graham Slee Special Edition II

phono preamp.

I live and work in Oklahoma but my home is in Missouri. I will be going home soon

for a few days to hook it up and hear it for the first time.. Can't wait..   Jerry

Hey Jerry, I'm sure you'll enjoy your new set up. I've read good things about the Ortofon and especially about the Graham Slee phono amp. My Scout will arrive today and I'm looking forward to getting it assembled and running this evening. I've been trying to find a Target wall mount shelf for it but nobody seems to have them in stock.
Enjoy, Sam

Hi Sam, I get almost all of my audio equipment from Galen Carol Audio in Texas. 

He is very knowledgeable and he keeps a good stock and his prices are fair.. Jerry

Me likum Scout!!!! I'm using a VPI HW-19 with a Rega RB300 and Sumiko Blackbird. I bought the VPI in the late 80's. I'm still completely satisfied. When you get the new one do a comparison between the old and new. I'm interested in what you think.

Well, I've had it for a while now and I'm impressed. The unipivot arm is a bit tricky to set up but I'm getting familiar with it now. I'm using a Denon DL-301mkII LOMC on it at present and its working really well. I started out with my Audio Technica AT33EV LOMC but it and the JDM9 arm did'nt play well together, the 301 really sings on this arm. Comparing the Scout to my JVC QL-Y66F, there's just more of everything with the VPI. I hear way more inner detail with the Scout. I think I need a better cartridge alignment protractor than the one VPI provides, it works well enough but I feel that the alignment still could be better.
Regards, Sam

You have a fine setup Sam, you will have many hours of musical enjoyment. I remember reading a while back that Harry Weisfeld of VPI said the protractor that comes with the Scout is all you need for aligning the cartridge, I've used it with good results..

I mount the cartridge with the arm off the table then return the arm to the pivot, Next, I align the cartridge with the protractor and adjust the height of the tonearm which I do by eye. After that I set the correct weight and then the anti skating by turning the tonearm wire one revolution counter clockwise and plugging it into the connection box.

If you feel more reassured then by all means get another protractor, personally, I'm very happy with the one I got.. 

Jerry

That's the same setup I used and I appreciate the tip on setting the anti-skate. I bought the table used and I've no idea if the tonearm wire was in its neutral position when I received it. I eyeballed it with a record playing trying to get the cantilever tracking as straight as possible in the cartridge body. I'll try to get the wire neutral without tension and try your method. I'm using a monolithic Sound PS-1 phono stage with an Audio Experience Solo single tube step up at present but I'm seriously thinking of buying a PS Audio GCPH for it. The PS-1's gain maxes out at 53dB and I like a bit more gain with the Denon hence the Solo step up which adds quite a bit more although it does add a bit of grittiness and tube rush to the sound. I may be wrong but I think a good solid state phono preamp is a better choice for my present set up. I'd really like to get a Dynavector 20X cart in the future.
Thanks, Sam

I always thought that arm had a dial in antiskate. What I do to set it is place a laser disc on the platter having the VTF set, I place the needle on the disc then dial in the antiskate till the arm remains in one place anywhere I put it on the disc. Then I add just a tenth more antiskate till it just begins to slowly pull the Arm back towards the rest. That the best way I can figure out how to set it. My Dual 701 seem to be only 2 tenths off.<

The original JMW-9 tonearm has no regular type anti skate. You have to turn the tone arm wire to get the proper anti skate setting. I find that one counter clockwise revolution does it.

I ordered a Jolida JD9a from Galen at GCAudio this afternoon after speaking with him about it and the PS Audio. I just can't give up tubes, it's like an addiction. It's like going over to the Dark Side, once you've been there for awhile there's no going back. Help me Luke, save me from the Dark Side. Fat freaking chance young Jedi, call Uncle Darth at Music Direct and get your self an extra set of Mullards. And so I did. Looking forward to playing around with it in a few days. Anyways, I sold my Monolithic and my Solo on the Gon yesterday (they both sold in less than two hours, unreal) and bought the Jolida. I'm without analog 'til the JD9 arrives, back to digital for a few days. The Horror, The Horror!!
Regards, Sam 

Hey Sam, I almost purchased the Jolida from Galen but unlike you I don't bother with tubes anymore. Years ago I had a Conrad Johnson PV2ar preamp and I found myself sending it in for modifications and minor problems. Just a few years back I had a Belles tube preamp and one of there solid state power amps but I wasn't enjoying it the way I thought I should, the system didn't have the synergy I was looking for..

The power of a the Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated amp seems to do it for me, now that I paired it with the MMG's the sound has more of a lively quality that I like. 

Let me know how the Jolida works out for you.

Jerry

Jerry, how do you like the MMG's? I have been sooo tempted to get a pair of them over the years just to try out electrostats. I'm pretty sure I've got enough power to run them, Adcom GFA 5500 with 250 rms a channel. I'm still using a modified (Crites titanium diaphragms and crossovers) pair of Klipsch KG 5.5's that I bought new back in the early nineties. The price on used MMG's is so reasonable its almost a no-brainer. How are they with rock and blues?
Regards, Sam

Hey Sam, it sounds like you have enough power to make the Maggie's scream. There are a lot of people who like to use a sub or two with the MMG's. I had a sub with my last pair of speakers, the Von Schweikert VR-1s with an REL Q201e subwoofer, it was very difficult to integrate the sub in my 11x14 room. I knew I would be getting the Maggie's but still sold off the sub.

That said, rock and blues can demand some deep bass, the MMG's only go down to 50hz so you wont get deep bass without a sub. I always like the sound of the Maggie's the way they are, even though I listen to different types of music I am satisfied with bass it get from them.

You might want to check out this website on the MMG's. It will give you some more info on the speakers.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=166392

Jerry

Magneplanar's are not electrostatic speakers. They are planar magnetics. They have a flat voice coil on a mylar diaphragm that reacts with magnetic strips on a metal plate.

Electrostatics have no magnets or voice coils.

With that said; I've never heard a Magneplanar I didn't like. I owned MG-1's, 2's and 3's before moving to electrostatics. IMO a pair of MMG's sound very good with superb midrange and treble. Without a sub woofer they have the bass that a pair of small boxes with 6" woofers have. Adding a sub woofer elevates them to another (higher) level. For the price I don't think anything else comes close.

Any questions you have about Maggy's can be answered at the magnepan users group.

http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/

It is hard to beat a pair of Magnepan MMGs complemented with a Rythmik F12 subwoofer.  This $1,500 package will rival loudspeaker systems that cost $10,000 a pair, maybe more.  Have the Magnestand modification done to the MMGs (about an additional $2,000) and you have now a system that may perform as well as anything that costs five times as much.  The Rythmik F12 subwoofer with its sealed, servo-controlled and low-Q design, and parametric frequency response equalization, will mate perfectly with planar, quasi-ribbon speakers in just about any room.

http://www.indiespinzone.com/magnestand.html

http://www.rythmikaudio.com/F12.html

I do not have one, but if I was going to invest in a turntable again, that would be the one.  Eventually, I think I will get back into analog but other things need attention.  Enjoy it!