MM Cartridge for VPI Scout

Mark, I am using the phono section in the C220. The cartridge is perfectly aligned or as good as it will get. I used the MintLP (took me 3 months) and I also had it professionally setup. Overhang is close to perfect.

I did some checking and VPI is not very generous with their tonearm specs. It appears as though the JMW 9 is a low mass arm which would mate best with a moderately high to very high compliance cartridge. My cartridge is not a good match for my arm from what I read.

It does sound better than it has but I am thinking of trying a moving magnet. Ever since I took the table in to get set up, I saw with my own eyes how poorly my cartridge tracks with this tonearm on the test equipment. From what I read, it should be used with a moderate or high mass arm for best results.

The guy who set it up also told me that good MM cartridges will track much better than my cartridge. I have a Benz H2. He said the low output track better than high output MC's but you have to spend thousands (Cartridge and phono pre etc.) to get the performance. He said I could get very close to low output performance and in many cases better with MM cartridges.

That is why I am interested in MM cartridges. he said I should also get a solid state preamp/phono section if I want to pursue Low output MC. Whatever that means.

Not really a low mass arm designed for high compliance cartridges. It is about 10 grams in mass, which is about the same as the SME V and most arms of standard length and without detachable head-shells. Low mass arms have a mass of 5 grams and under, the SME III is an example. The VPI should handle anything except very low compliance or extremely high ones; the latter are about extinct. Check Vinyl Engine for arm data, they have info on almost all arms. They also have an arm resonance calculator derived from the cartridge compliance and the arm mass.

I read that its mass is only 7.7 grams not sure if that is true, saw it on vinyl engine. Read anything below 11 grams is low mass and should be treated as such.

The VPI arms are medium mass. Benz, Soundsmith, Dyna cartridges work the best. If you are getting mistracking on the inner part of the record, its not anti-skate, but cartridge misalignment, (Mint is great but you have to do it correctly....even though you spent lots of time on it, it still may not be right), or cartridge defect (worn, bent, old, etc.) Skating decreases with a smaller radius, and lower speed (the record is moving faster at the edge).

I think it could be from vibration. Another Agon'er mentioned that I might get a wall mount for my table. The cartridge is fine. Cartridge is not even a year old. I's gotta be either vibration or the tonearm.