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Profound tweak for VPI Scout series of owners...

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Posted on March 12, 2013 at 15:57:19
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002
If you want to take your Scout TT to the next significant performance level with increased dynamic range, lower noise floor and improved instrumental articulation, procure a Walker Audio 1/2" resonance control disc, remove the motor from the motor housing and insert it into the motor housing and place it on the bottom plate.

Reinstall the motor and prepare to be amazed with what you're about to hear! One can pick a 1/2" disc up from Walker for $50 and it is worth every penny. Bear in mind I have NO affiliation with Walker or VPI but just a passionate music lover and felt the need to share this tweak for those Scout owners out there.

Cheers

 

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RE: Profound tweak for VPI Scout series of owners..., posted on March 12, 2013 at 17:27:01
Frank_Locke
Audiophile

Posts: 2621
Location: NYC
Joined: November 8, 2002
Ordered it. Love a new tweak for my Scout, which has been my tt for a decade, and I still love it! Thanks. I'll let the board know how it goes ...

 

RE: Wow! lloyd has something for under $1,000? (nt), posted on March 12, 2013 at 19:55:26

 

RE: Wow! lloyd has something for under $1,000? (nt), posted on March 12, 2013 at 20:35:31
PMEL324X0
Audiophile

Posts: 124
Location: Tacoma
Joined: January 6, 2008
Gee - now Lloyd will raise the price!!

 

Thanks for the info..., posted on March 13, 2013 at 08:47:40
Waxxy
Audiophile

Posts: 2647
Joined: July 19, 2011
Contributor
  Since:
November 22, 2011
...sounds like a viable tweak.

I had tried something a little different with my Scout. I had some leftover chunks of soft sorbo-rubber type material so I dropped some in the (mostly) empty motor housing. I can't say I noticed a sonic difference, but one Scout tweak which did make improvement for me was to replace the on/off button on the motor with a high quality switch. The overall sound was more dynamic with a greater sense of momentum, yadda yadda yadda.




I replaced the switch because the original had failed. I was impressed enough with the tweak on the Scout, that I plan to perform the same amputation/installation on my Aries.

Any other Scout/VPI tweakes that you've tried that you would care to share?

 

RE: Profound tweak for VPI Scout series of owners..., posted on March 14, 2013 at 09:00:47
samman11
Audiophile

Posts: 85
Location: Upstate New York
Joined: November 18, 2006
Will it work on the ScoutMaster Motor as well?

 

RE: Profound tweak for VPI Scout series of owners..., posted on March 14, 2013 at 15:42:48
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002
If your Scoutmaster uses the taller square motor housing, it should work just fine. I would also recommend you explore the possibility of using the Walker 1" resonance control disc since there is more room/empty space in the housing.

Cheers

 

RE: Thanks for the info..., posted on March 14, 2013 at 16:18:48
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002
I too removed the motor switch from the housing and also the IEC connector and hard wired the power cable/switch directly to the motor wiring. This resulted in a nice increase in smoothness and detail.

Other tweaks/upgrades I've done with great success:
- 300 RPM motor
- JMW-9 Signature tonearm
- HR-X mini feet
- Black Nitrile belt
- Removed queing lever assembly/platform from uni-pivot base and
mounted it seperately on the plinth
- Dropped counterweight
- Delrin/SS record clamp with a 1/2" Walker resonance control
disc attached to top of the SS grip
- Yamatek vibration transducer attached to the base of the spindle shaft
- Yamatek vibration transducer attached to the junction box
- Yamatek vibration transducer attached to the top plate of the motor
- Tekna-Sonics C5 vibration transducer attached to the bottom steel plate
- Counter intuitive Azimuth ring relocated to uni-pivot bearing cup
- Air isolation platform under TT
- SFR friction reducer in the spindle bearing
- VPI Anti-skate kit
- Walker Audio motor controller

All of the above plus the Walker disc in the motor housing have taken the Scout to unprecedented levels of vinyl reproduction in my system.

Cheers

 

WOW! , posted on March 14, 2013 at 21:22:29
Waxxy
Audiophile

Posts: 2647
Joined: July 19, 2011
Contributor
  Since:
November 22, 2011
You've really maxxed it out...got any pics? I've tried different clamps, mats, platforms and cables, and as I mentioned earlier, a new switch, but you've taken it to the next level.

Would certainly be interesting to compare it to a stock-as-a-rock Scout.

Thanks for the detailed response. I'll ponder it and do some research.

 

RE: WOW! , posted on March 15, 2013 at 07:00:57
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002



 

Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 15, 2013 at 20:41:10
Waxxy
Audiophile

Posts: 2647
Joined: July 19, 2011
Contributor
  Since:
November 22, 2011
...Did the new feet (foots?) make any appreciable improvements in isolation? And is the Kleos a good match for the JMW-9? I've always wanted to try a Lyra.

I've posted a pic of my Scout with a few of the effective tweaks I've used.





Boston Audio Mat 2.
HRS clamp.
Removed the foam washers from between the spikes and the plinth.
Improved power switch.
Home spun isolation platform...maple/spruce plywood with aluminum plate screwed 'n' glued to the bottom, sitting on squash balls.


The Scout is a very impressive TT on it's own, but it's also fun to try and wring every last ounce of performance out of it.

Thanks for all the info, and the pic.

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 16, 2013 at 04:03:33
collinslaw@fuse.net
Audiophile

Posts: 524
Location: Northern Kentucky
Joined: August 5, 2011
Waxxy: is that the mighty Zu i see? if so, then your arm will surely handle a Kleos. I have a zu and a delos that i recently got, though admittedly on a different arm and they both work great.
Tom Collins

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 16, 2013 at 10:06:41
Waxxy
Audiophile

Posts: 2647
Joined: July 19, 2011
Contributor
  Since:
November 22, 2011
It is the Zu you see, but I sold it recently because I had a few too many carts 'laying around'. The Zu worked great on the JMW-9, but I ultimately preferred the Audio-Technica AT33ev.

The weird thing about the Zu...I could never get it to perform as well on my JMW-10.5 as I could on the JMW-9. It worked, but it lacked a little something.

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 16, 2013 at 13:07:46
collinslaw@fuse.net
Audiophile

Posts: 524
Location: Northern Kentucky
Joined: August 5, 2011
with the zu, it is all about the weight for me. my arm is supposed to handle cartridges up to 16g. the zu is 14, so it will work, but the weight is way out at the back of the arm. to compensate, i affix a stove bolt to the carrier so i can move the weight closer to the fulcrum. it is a small but audible difference. i also suspect given the low compliance and high weight that it works better with bearing arms as opposed to unipivots. in fact, the shorter 9 inch arm would have an advantage with that much weight being closer to the fulcrum than the longer arm, which may explain your results. the cartridge is "chunky" as a. dudley says, but not as fast with the old school conical stylus as the lyras. now that the lyras have body to go with that speed, it should sound incredible with your 10.5.
Tom Collins

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 16, 2013 at 17:50:18
Jive Turkey
Audiophile

Posts: 2409
Location: far left, geographically speaking
Joined: May 5, 2010
I messed around with squash balls, but didn't find them compliant enough. Raquetballs seemed to move my maple block and turntable at a slower cycle rate when jostled.

See ya. Dave

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 17, 2013 at 05:43:36
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002

Very nice and clean setup! The HR-X mini feet stabilizes the table much better then the stock feet which I found allowed the table to be too easily moved/pushed around and yes they offer much better isolation which translates into improved performance.

As to the Kleos, it is a great match with the JMW-9 tonearm but you will need the VPI anti-skate kit, a very accurate alignment fixture, the Soundsmith counter intuitive and a lot of patience when adjusting the azimuth, AS, VTF and VTA due to the high resolution long-footprint line contact stylus. The AS kit and the counter intuitive are absolutely essential for the Kleos, or any other cartridge IME, as they allow very fine adjustments to be made which the Kleos requires to extract the performance it is capable of.

I'm curious about the Boston Audio Mat 2. What attributes did it bring to the Scout?

Cheers


 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 17, 2013 at 11:28:28
Waxxy
Audiophile

Posts: 2647
Joined: July 19, 2011
Contributor
  Since:
November 22, 2011
I actually like the fact that the squash balls are somewhat 'rigid'. I was looking for a solution that would allow a good degree of isolation while not allowing too much lateral movement, and squash balls fit the bill.

With my newer table (an Aries) I've tried a coupla/few different solutions, from spikes, to roller-bearings to norsorex 'dead balls', but I still haven't settled on a favourite.

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 17, 2013 at 11:43:09
Waxxy
Audiophile

Posts: 2647
Joined: July 19, 2011
Contributor
  Since:
November 22, 2011
Thanks for all the detailed responses. To be honest, I'm focusing more on optimizing my newer table (an Aries) but the two are very similar in construction and overall sonic presentation, so I assume what works for one will work for the other....in most cases....sometimes....maybe. ;-)

"I'm curious about the Boston Audio Mat 2. What attributes did it bring to the Scout?"

The first thing I noticed about the Boston mat was the almost total elimination of static issues. I live in a dry climate and everytime I removed a record from the platter, I would get a series of static pops throughout the system. This was true whether the TT/arm was grounded or not. The Boston mat has virtually eliminated this problem.

Secondly, it changes the tonal balance in a subtle but consistent way, being both tighter through the lower ranges and smoother through the mids and treble. Groove noise also seems reduced.

The downside with the Boston mat, at least with the Mat 2 which is the thicker of the two, is that the VPI screw down clamp is no longer usable because it can't grab the threads due to the extra thickness of the mat.

 

RE: Very cool! Two questions...., posted on March 19, 2013 at 12:05:30
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002
"Thanks for all the detailed responses. To be honest, I'm focusing more on optimizing my newer table (an Aries) but the two are very similar in construction and overall sonic presentation, so I assume what works for one will work for the other....in most cases....sometimes....maybe. ;-)"

Yes, the same applies to your Aries as it does to the Scout but I would imagine the Aries in it's stock form would extract even more musical detail from the Kleos and when the Kleos is dialed in, it is amazing but having VTA on the fly such as the Aries has will make things much more convenient that adjusting VTA on the Scout :-)

Thanks for the detailed description of the Boston mat...

Cheers

 

RE: Profound tweak for VPI Scout series of owners..., posted on June 27, 2017 at 07:33:50
packgrog
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Joined: July 2, 2013


I took a similar but kludgier approach: Instead of a $50 metal disc, I filled a Ziploc "snack back" with playground sand (of which I have a *LOT* left after filling the poles of my equipment stand), and placed that inside the motor pod in place of the foam piece.

Also, I lined several of the contact points of the housing with thin grungebuster material that I had left over (see photo), to stop the top plate from ringing like a bell. This seems to have worked well, won't risk a short inside the motor pod, and is easily reversible without potentially voiding warranty. BIG difference in overall background noise level, particularly when using extra-thick grungebuster dots as feet for the motor pod as well.

EDIT: I took the sand baggie out, but kept the thin grungebuster damping. The sand made the sound worse for some reason, but the grungebuster material at strategic spots does all the damping that's needed to stop the housing from ringing. Herbie's Audio Labs for the win, folks!

 

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