Spacedeck Vs. Scoutmaster

I haven't heard the Scout Master in all of its possible incarnations and price points. I have heard your Nottingham and it is a wonderful table. It is neutral sounding in a way I never have found any VPI to be. If you want to make it perform at its best and way way beyond any Scoutmaster, trade in your Benz L2 for a Benz Ruby 3. Benz has sweetheart deals for trade-ups. Also, experiment with your phono cable. I don't know if you have a din connetion or standard RCA's. I have RCA's on my Welltempered Classic and I recently switched my Transparent Cable to a Purist Audio Museus which is the quietest cable I have ever heard yielding the lowest signal/noise ratio I have ever had. I also run the Benz Ruby 2 with an Extreme Phono Non-Felt + Carbon Mat and I can tell you that I sincerely believe my combo performs as well as any set-up to $8000.00. These changes will benfit you in the same way since I think your table has a similiar sound to my Welltempered.

Elinor,
The Spacearm has integrated cables that end in RCAs directly to the phono stage, so no phono cable upgrade is possible w/o doing some serious DIY work inside the tonearm, which could be risky.
However, your post got me thinkin'...

Ozzy, I'm using a Boston Audio carbon mat on my Spacedeck, it is not as imactful as adding a Neuance shelf, but it's an improvement over the stock foam mat.
Also, I'm surprised that the Promethean base helps on your springy floor. Have you tried the Neuance without the spring base below it? When I asked Ken Lyon about what if anything should go beneath my Neuance, he said, "Nothing really, but if you want to try cones, go with DH ceramics". Sounds like you've got different results than what I've seen, but I've heard VPIs with &n w/o the Promethean, and IMHO, it was better off w/o it. Regards,
Spencer

I already have the Mat-1 and love it. I was using the Neuance sans Promethean, but this setup sounds better. Footfalls are non-existant.

Oz

That's great, Ozzy. I guess the success w/Promethean base is truly room-specific.
Luckily, although my floors are not the best, footfalls haven't been a problem, even during the daily doggie "chase scenes" thru the listening room. Talking Heads LPs always seem to get the mutts fired up ;-)
Cheers,
Spencer

Why not getting a good cartridge ? I just moved from a Denon DL-103 to a ZYX R-100FXH for my Spacedeck/SpaceArm. I don't think that any TT upgrade could have made such a big sound improvement. Just my 2 cents.

Rudi