Cartridge Recommendation

Kjl,

My 2c regarding your wanting to upgrade the cart. would find me agreeing with TWL. I have the Dyna 17d on the Aries/JMW 10 and ARC PH3 SE through a Bent Audio MU step up properly loaded to accomodate the Dyna. I find the Dyna a worthy cart to match up with this Table/Arm combo. I think as good as the Scout/9 arm is..Your better upgrading that part first, and then worrying about a higher priced MC. You'll gain more from the better table /arm upgrade than putting a $2000. cart on the Scout/9.

That said, I know TWL has the ZYX cart and loves the sound of it. He has helped me in the past get the most from my analog rig, and offers great advice of which you wont go wrong. He is correct in that the ZYX matches up well with the JMW unipivot designs and yet so does your 17d with a compliance of 15cu. The Shelter may not be the best match anyway for your 9 compliance wise.

Like Dogscanskate, I love the Dyna for its outstanding dynamics,fast transients and attack without getting in your lap or over the top. Truly first rate sound here for the price and beyond. I cant imagine if everything else is set up correctly in your rig, that you would really need to have to upgrade.

Best of Luck-Ken :)

The Dyna 17d2 is a great fast cart, only drawback being its low output of 0.23mv which mandates a phonostage gain of at least 60db or it will sound lifeless or noisy. The rest of the equation is setup.

I would therefore recommend that you consider looking at your phonostage first before upgrading the cart, because any upgrade there will make a profound improvement to the sound you are getting from analog playback. Upgrading the phono is as important as upgrading the deck or arm.

My suggestion would be to keep the Dynavector 17D (Karat), and have your Scout bumped up to Scoutmaster level by VPI.
The 17 is a tremendous cart, and from what I understand, the Scoutmaster upgrade takes an already excellent turntable to the Aries level, while retaining the smaller footprint of the Scout. My own Scout is at VPI being transformed even as we speak. The upgrade is 900.00 and you can invest the other 1100.00 in vinyl.

As Cmk pointed out, unless you have >60db of gain in your phono stage, you are not hearing what this cart is capable of.