Cartridge upgrade for VPI Scoutmaster

Hi Srwooten, I have been using a Dynavector XX2MKII, first with JMW9 arm. I have since upgraded my arm to the JMW9 Signiture, and I am now getting much better performance than with the stock JMW. I would go to the Signiture, then try a better cartridge. I don't think you can go wrong, $500 with trade-in from VPI, if you can stand the wait time. Getting great synergy with the Dynavector P-75 MKII phono stage. Works for me.

Best of luck, enjoy,

Dan

Srwooten,
I agree with Audiofeil. If your going to stick with the JMW9 then don't bother with the Airy, go for the R100 and spend the money saved on great lp's. I do think Islandmandan's advice is great as well, I found the Sig arm to be a much better performer.

Enjoy

I am using the sig arm on my SSM and went from the 17D2 MKII, to the 17D3, and now the XX2MKII. The difference between the 17D3 and XX2 MKII is huge. Bass responce, soundstage, refinement, and just a more natural flow of the music. The XX2MKII is in your budget and a very cartridge.

Redtop/All, Yes, my Shure is very good, good enough to the point of never parting with it. It got even better with the Jico SAS Replacement Stylus.

I know Rauliruegas has been a proponent of MM, and has some good articles here, but I never heard him mention much about any of the Shure V-15's as personal favs, or suggesting them to someone else.

Some will argue, on what upgrade paths should be taken when it comes to Arm, Table, Cartridge. There's no doubt that the best Cartridges in the world, be it MM, or MC will suffer on a less than stellar Table, and/or Tonearm.

Now to take a decent, moderate cost MM Cartridge, such as the Shure V-15 III, place it on a $1.5K-$4K Table, with a very good Arm, run this into a great Phono Stage, and one might be pleasantly surprised at how good the sound can be.

Raul is certainly not the only Phile whos noticed how good MM's can be, provided they are set up properly, complimented with proper loading, and good equipment-components downstream from them. Would be interesting to see how the Tyoe III would react-sound with 100K Ohms loading? Anybody try this? Raul?

Yeah the mk III is sure one sweet cart.I don't see why anyone would buy a zxy or a shelter or anything else.My brother has one with a nottingham interspace and a wheast phono pre.Its so good its amazing.It just barely beats my pioneer dd table and grado black.I use the phono pre on my pioneer receiver.My set up sounds great but my brothers beats me by a little bit.