Just got my Scoutmaster, need setup suggestions...


Hey guys,

Just got my Scoutmaster (actually got it 2 weeks ago but just got around to setting it up now). I set it up as best I could with the dealer's help over the phone (for 1.5 hours). This was my first TT that I ever owned, much less set up.

Now, I balanced the tonearm + Dyn20XH to 2.0g using a Shure gauge... it took some trial and error, but I got it pretty close.

Now, the sound is overall very good, much better than my digital front end by a very good stretch. The only gripe I have is that image is a bit to the right....

I switch back to my digital front end and the image is dead center.... so I know it's not speaker/seat positioning that's off.

The Scoutmaster uses the JMW9 tonearm... and there's a weight in the back of the arm that one uses to calibrate and balance the arm/cart on the gauge (sorry if I'm not using good vinyl lingo here). I noticed that the weight is a little off kilter though... making the tonearm skew a little bit towards one side moreso than the other (rolling more towards one angle).

Is this affecting the imaging?
joey_v
Also Joey, read up on this. I found it very helpful when I was setting up the table for the first time.
Jdolgin: I wish I could have kept up with each thing that was being descrbed but it was a short session, maybe 40-50 minutes max. For each change he had set-up in advance 5 or 6 arms for the VPI and Richard Foster switched them out on his cue and this was of course the only system variable changed. He gave the small group of listeners an idea of what had been changed, we listened and then he put into words a brief description of the salient things we had just heard; then he changed again. It all happened for me much too quickly and he wanted to make several points that to the relative novice of set-up (like me) it would take more time to explore in detail and digest. He also wanted to show what that a Mono cartridge could really do for mono records and the impact of having RIAA equalization in the phono pre as the Zanden and the Graham Slee have. I was trying to get my head around everything that was going on and trying to reconcile that I had never really loved some of the brands (CJ, Nordost) when heard in the past few years. I am used to pretty good sound at home on a Rega P9 and Nagra PL_P etc. But when the music played on the well set-up arms I had every reason to nearly fall out of my chair and was riveted as I have perhaps never been. But, as I said it was over pretty quick with a perfunctory exit. I think one of the most important issues was with the after-market protractor and I remember vaguely that he mentioned (anyone?) one that was mentioned in a recent issue of HI-FI+. If anyone has more info on this or the demonstration I would be overjoyed to know it and any other specific details of what went on.