Vinyl Front End Upgrade

I second the ARC phono stages.

ARC PH7 used or Nagra BPS new. The latter is cheaper and might surprise you!

I havce a ARC REF II Pre and considered a ARC phono stage. I have a solid state AMP and wanted to limit my exposure to tubes due to the ongoing support of tubes versus solid state. With that in mind I settle on a Pass Labs Xono which is solid state and mated very well with my ARC Ref II. You set it up plug it in and forget about as there is no off and on switch. They are availble on Audiogon for $2K not a bad price for a reference phono stage, you may want to ask around about them IMHO.

I almost bought a Xono before I became a dealer again. I ended up with Dynavector , their 75 is a very good phono stage and exceptional for $750. There is an upgraded one on here for $525. Blue Circle also makes some very good ones. I have the 707, they make a version of it in a very cheap case for under $1000. Very good company to deal with. I have heard good things about the Asr basic stage from Germany, they show up used for around $1000. Change the standard feet of the Scout for Star Sound brass ones, you will be amazed at the difference; it is a screw off screw on operation.

Thanks everyone so far. While the phonostage recommendations are helpful I'm really trying to think of this as a phono playback system and purchase a cartridge and phonostage that are particularly well suited together. I'd really be interested in hearing from Scout owners who have played around with different cartridges and phonostages until the found an exceptional combination--ideally in my price range. On the other hand I'm happy to continue using my 20XM since it has less than 100 hours on it so recommendations for a phonostage which mates well with this cartridge would be fine too. I'm leaning toward solid state and would like a unit that provides some adjustability of load etc so in case I change cartridges later I can continue to use the same phonostage.