Just got my Scoutmaster, need setup suggestions...

I dont want to add to many different suggestions but thought these might help.
You can ground the spindle at the bottom of your table with some stranded wire, wrap it around the threads and then ground the other end this will eliminate static buildup.
If you are using the mechanical anti skate put the slip ring on first then the weight. After you set the needed weight for your cartridge move the slip ring against the weight and then set the azimuth. You wont lose your weight adjustment.
Azimuth is leveling the arm and cartridge to the platter. Its not hard to do i use a ruler that has a slide on it, put a record on and place the rod supplied by vpi on the groove. Get a good eye ball starting point and then use the ruler. Move the weight either right or left in small amounts until you get the same reading on both ends of the rod. When you get this set tighten the alan screw tight on the weight.
One more and most important thing get your table absolutely level.
Don't get to carried away with how difficult this all sounds. Its easy and you will be payed off with sounds that your digital source cant deliver like a well set up turntable.
good luck you can do it

Azimuth is the fancy term for how the arm sits on the record, looking at it from the very front - in the face of the cartridge. It should be absolutely horizontal to the record. Its exactly what I suggested to you above.

Read this and look at the illustration. It'll help you understand how to set it up.
Also, invest in a good protractor if you don't already own one. turntablebasics.com has a good one.
And I suggest a digital gauge.

Joey, Simple Layman's Terms of Azimuth.... That the Stylus-Needle is perfectly vertical to the record's surface, and grooves. Us nutty vinylphiles will use a host of goodies, and doo-dads, such as magnifiers, jeweler's loupes, thus inspecting that cartridge alignment is exact in all planes. Some Tonearms, suchas my Audioquest Arm have no provision for Azimuth, but aparently yours does. If there's any sort of adjustments on your Arm-Table, count on them being out of whack, and you cannot take anything for granted.

Another aspect of the JMW Arms, or any Arm for that matter, is Anti-Skate. If an anti-skate is so badly off, this could possibly cause an imbalance, but some gurus say anti skate is a non issue. I wonder why though, if the stylus is pressing so had to one side of the groove, and neglecting the other, how they say this is a non-issue? Time will have an impact I believe on the record, and also on the stylus itself I believe if antiskate is so far scewed.

If your problems aren't solved by any checks of the Tunrtable, and Arm, then I would go on to suspect a bad phono stage. If it was a Tube Stage, I might suspect a bad Tube. Otherwise, there's also the possibility of a bad cartridge. Of this is all bought new gear, I would try to resolve this issue, as the dealer should then make eveything right if there's a problem. Mark

Just back from RMAF and the Roy Gregory analog demonstration was nothing short of revelatory as far as the differences minute adjustments make esp. to VTA and alignment but also the postion of the cartridge in the headshell. I know very little myself but I know what I heard. Both he and Richard Foster demoed the averaged "prescribed" VPI set-up vs one with more care and the use of a better than supplied protractor using same arm and cartridge on a VPI TNT HRX with Lyra Titan. Man it was the difference between hearing ordinary subdued sound without any real objections and having the singer sing directly for you, fully present- all the difference in the world. At all times it was played on a first rate system with 20K Zanden phono pre and at least 25K worth of CJ and Nordost. It totally threw my usual beliefs about better components and better synergy always equalling better sound out the window. Set-up is absolutely vital and probably their prescription on set-up rather than anyone else's. Let me say: Beg, borrow or steal to get that knowledge and get it right if you paid a dime for your VPI.