New 'Capital Scout' Inbound

[Formerly YB-2]

Been going back and forth between a used Aries with JMW 10.5" arm & SDS and a new Prime with the 10" 3D arm. Someone suggested I check out the VPI forum to see what HarryW might think of comparing the two. In doing so I ended up on the Sound Stage Direct website. Turns out they had five (5) Capital Scout" TTs that HarryW made as a special run. These have a special all-metal plinth in a gray finish, the 300rpm motor, 20# ceramic coated Classic metal platter, mini-TNT feet and the JMW 9 Signature arm (silver wire) and weighs 70 pounds. That's great as it was going to be a stretch for me to fit a Prime on my rack and a real stretch to fit the Aries. I've kicked myself many times for not purchasing a Scoutmaster, but this now takes care of that (mine is #4 of 5). And, one of the best parts is they are fairly local so I can run up there with my Lyra Kleos and they will mount and test for me while I watch. Should have home and singing sweetly in my system by the middle of next week.

[audio bill]

Congratulations Glenn, that looks awesome with the very unique look of the metal/gray plinth! Hope you get many years of enjoyment out of it, use it in good health!

[briweed]

Sweet.. That looks really cool.

B

[Formerly YB-2]

Thanks. Headed up on Tues a.m. for the Kleos install and some 'hands-on' training. Am pretty familiar and experienced with cartridge install and alignment, etc., but have never done so with a unipivot VPI arm, so am sure there is plenty to learn. Especially from a skilled tech who pretty much does this for a living.

[miner]

Tell Seth and Jay hello at SSD. Jay is truly a master at what he does.

[harri009]

Yes, I am sure that table will rock!!

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by miner

Tell Seth and Jay hello at SSD. Jay is truly a master at what he does.

Will do. Seth was my salesperson and Jay is doing the install on the Kleos. Did like that Seth did not try to BS me on the arm wiring and made the effort to confirm before answering. The Sig arm once used Nordost, but is now using Discovery, which HarryW believes is a better wire.

[Maks]

Looks great! SSD is where I got my Classic 2/3 hybrid and despite some initial problems, it's been flawless ever since. SSD is to VPI like Audio Classics is to McIntosh.

[Formerly YB-2]

Well........... got to SSD and the screws I had were too short for the AT33R cartridge with the VPI TA. And, surprisingly, SSD doesn't carry any cartridge mounting hardware. So was pretty much a wasted trip since it was free shipping. Did get a good 30min tutorial from Jay, which was nice. Saves me from having to read the OM.
Did pick up a great copy of Kenny Burrel's "Midnight Blue". Got everything home and mounted/aligned the cartridge and bingo.......... great music. Think I'm really going to like the JMW uni-pivot arm. Very nice. Time to put the new rack together. Only been sitting in pieces for 3yr.

[avsBuddy]

Congratulations on your new table.
I'm considering Scout 2 turntable, which is very similar to the one you got. I'm curious what made you pick this one over the VPI Classic? I'm debating the merits of Classic walnut wood trim, longer arm and a fixed motor. The one thing I keep seeing people say online is that Classic is generally considered to be a bit warmer sounding than Scout and have a greater speed stability.

Scout 2 benefits from a decoupled motor to have less motor noise and well, it looks cool! I'm worried thought that I would constantly fiddle with the location of the motor since it's free standing.