Getting The Most Out Of My Scout

You have the Scout on a wall shelf mounted to the upper portion of your cabinet. Have you tried placing TT on a solid table somewhere else in your room? I wonder if this might allow you to gain some additional performace from what you already have.

I have completed the following for my stock Scout:

- 300 RPM Motor
- Signature Tonearm
- Super Platter
- ring clamp
- silk thread belt drive
- PS Audio P300 (speed regulation)
- ZYX Fuji cart

I use a solid oak end table having spikes on the legs for isolation and leveling. The table is mass loaded with LPs. A solid maple block has been placed on the table and isolated using some Sorbothane pucks I had laying around. The motor sits on a piece of slate isolated by smaller pieces of Sorbothane I cut from a sheet purchased some time ago.

This performs way better than anticipated so the only thing I will do in the near future is to the get an SDS one day. I think the best thing I did was to place the TT on the end table and add the maple block.

Another TT will be several years down the road as there is no hurry at the moment.

Dodgealum...have you received your Dyna XX2MkII cart? What tweaks/upgrades to the Scout did you end up doing? What's the sound like compared to your prior setup with the Dyna 20X cart? Thx

Cmalak:

The Mint Tractor arrived today and a digital stylus force gauge should be here by the weekend. I plan to redo the setup with the 20XM and then put the Scout back in the system to see what improvements can be wrought from a more precise setup. The XX2MkII should be here in a week or so--should be interesting!

Dodgealum...sounds good. Would love to hear the results from your use of the Mint Tractor with both carts and overall improvement (or lack thereof) of optimizing cart setup. Especially interested in the 20X vs XX2MkII comparison once you get both carts dialed in optimally. Thx

OK, it was interesting. I began by checking the setup on my 20XM to see whether I got it right with the VPI jig and a basic Shure stylus gauge. First, I checked the tracking force. I had carefully used the Shure gauge and thought I had it set at 1.85. Wrong! Actual tracking force as measured by the new digital gauge was 2.345. Next up was the alignment. To my utter amazement I found that I had nailed it with the VPI jig. So, rather than put the table back in the system to see what a change in the tracking force would yield, I skipped that step and went right on to setting up the XX2MkII. Using the Mint is not all beer and skittles--it takes time and can be fatiguing (on your eyes, back, nerves, etc). But, after lots of practice with the old fine motor skills I got it right where I wanted. Then set the tracking force at 1.853 and let her rip. Sounded great--I mean really, really great--right out of the box but I got some really minor mistracking in difficult passages so I increased the tracking force to 1.952 and BAM all that went away. Now I'm breaking the cartridge in and with only three sides played am already smitten! Very similar house sound to the 20XM but with much greater resolution, inner detail, speed and frequency extremes. Reviewers sometimes talk about a "veil being lifted". I would say so indeed. Anyhow, got to get back since the side is over and I want to get 10 or 15 hours in before I start any serious listening.

Oh yeah, one other thing. My early JMW9 does not have a fine adjustment screw on the rear stub of the arm. I purchased 1/2" ID O'Rings at the Home Depot for $1 and slid one over the rear stub. This allows me to make super fine adjustments to the tracking force without moving the large counterweight (and screwing up the azmiuth adjustment). This is a nice "fix" if you have one of the older style arms, which are a pain in the neck to get the tracking force right since the slightest movement of the big counterweight yields big changes in the tracking force.