VPI Scoutmaster vs. Pro-ject RM10


I had a chance to listen to a VPI Scout friday and was sorely disappointed. I had the salesman play a Rega P3 and it was no contest. I finally convinced him that the VTA must be off. I placed the rega felt mat on the VPI and it cleared up considerably. But was it VTA or the felt mat or both?? I like the way the VPI is built is seems like it would provide years of service. But I would like to hear a Pro-ject RM10 and don't have a dealer locally that has one set up for demo. Has anyone ever compared these two? The scout sounded muffled and uncontrolled in the bass. Again the mat helped but is that a characteristic of VPI? Do they traditionally sound hard or conjested? I understand that the Pro-Ject arm is a real nice arm and the magnetic bearing is appealing but before I plop down 3K I would like some input on what to expect.
128x128theo
The pro ject 10 was tested recently by HIFICRITIC in England. They found it well built but the sound quality was not up to the standard they expected. They found " what let down this turntables performance was an unmistakeable shortfall in dynamic expression and rather slow, downbeat rhythms." They gave it a score of 33 on a scale where their reference is 100. The Rega P7 was in the same test and scored 47 with MM and 55 with MC. I would expect the VPI to be considerably higher than these. I want to add my warning about siteing to the ones above. I have used turntables since 1962 and have spent a good part of my life as an audio dealer setting up tables. I was a VPI dealer for over 10 years before taking a long break starting in 1994. I came back as a VPI dealer this fall with the Scout and Scoutmaster, which are quite different from their older models. It has taken me 3 months to get them sounding the way they should, One very cheap tweak was to place Star Sound discs under the VPI feet, they are under $9 each. There is a lot of performance in the Scout, don't give up on it. I have a good DYI support design given to me by a stand manufacturer if anyone is interested. Stan
I don't much like the Michel!!l, it sounds veiled to me, but I do love the Scoutmaster, I have never heard the Pro-ject 10, but thought the 9.1 was very nice, it was on an isolation platform, so I am sure that helped.

Once again though, get the Clearaudio Performance!!

I am listening to it right now, man, it is dead quiet.
I just completed a modification last night to my Scoutmaster that I think significantly improves the sound. I replaced the standard VPI feet with ones from Star Sound. So instead of aluminum feet coupled to the table by a thick rubber washer you have machined brass feet connected directly. It tightened up the sound and improved the bass and transient response. I talked to Harry before I ordered them and he thought they might well be worthwhile. I am going to try to talk Star Sound into sending him some to try. This couples the table very closely to the surface it is sitting on so I don't know how it will work if you are having vibration problems. I was going to do a comparison test but I am not sure I will anytime soon now as I am very happy with its current sound. Also using the discs for the feet mentioned in my post above. The cones that fit are the 1/4th -20 thread.