Rega P3-24 Vs VPI Scout.

Too bad that you can't hear them both, so I will give you some broad observations. The Rega has great pace and a sense of the music moving forward, what the Brits call PRaT. The leading edges of notes are handled very well with a sense of attack and purpose. Most turntables sound a bit slow and lazy in comparison. Mid bass had great slam and bite, with the low bass being somewhat down in level.

The VPI tables have a greater sense of body to the tone. The chest cavity of male singers and the foundational sounds in the lower midrange are more prominent. The lower to central midrange is a focus, where with the Rega the focus tilts a bit to the upper midrange. There is a pleasing warmth and naturalness to the tone. Decay of notes is more defined and that leads to a greater sense of hall ambiance. Backgrounds seem a bit darker. Bass goes deeper with less sense of ultimate slam but more rewarding weight.

It is quite easy to set the VTA on Rega tables, either by getting the shim set from Rega or one of the after market continuous VTA adjusters.

I don't think it matters much which I prefer.

Goatwuss...I too have a VPI and consider it a mistake to use the VPI single point alignment guage. It get you close, but no cigar. I really encourage everyone to get the MINT protractor. The difference between a very careful setup with anything that I know, and a MINT setup is dramatic. I was once a doubter but am not now since I heard the difference.

Hi Stringreen - I have no doubt that you are correct, but I think this applies to any turntable out there. The VPI tool is nice to have and will be a good starting place, and due to ease of use, will likely result in better setup than using a basic 3rd party protractor... but yeah, I'm sure there are more precise tools out there. I'm considering the Mint as well.

I'm, frankly, surprised at the responses here...

If it's a choice between the Scout and ANY Rega for ROCK - what the original poster indicated was his genre of choice - there's no contest in my mind, get the Rega.

Rega's are stellar with rock, it's what they do best.

Now, I'll throw something else that will no doubt be controversial, but the hands down, no contest, best rock and jazz table I've ever owned is the KAB Technics SL-1200.

For the price of the P3-24, you can get a KAB SL-1200MK2 with Cardas tonearm wire and fluid damper and still have enough cash to add a really nice cartridge. That's what I run - with a Dynavector 20XL into a PS Audio GCPH and I wouldn't trade it for the world - especially with my rock and jazz collection!

A Technics! really?!

And you think the rega delivers a better sound even though its a "cheaper" build?

I think that I am currently leaning toward the VPI(seems like the better value)... However, I realize that I don't get the concept of the rega or scout being better at one type of music than the other...