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RE: VPI Scoutmast VS JA Michell Gyro dec

Posted by Fretless (A) on October 6, 2008 at 16:44:56

In Reply to: VPI Scoutmast VS JA Michell Gyro dec posted by carter9000 on October 6, 2008 at 15:28:27:

I own a Gyro SE (with HR PSU, a Morch UP-4 and a Dynavector XV-1) and I've spent many hours with a "Super" Scoutmaster with various carts in a friend's very familiar system.

Gyro strengths: Excellent sense of liveliness, musical poise and effortless natural flow. Its essentially neutral tone errs toward sounding slightly "airy." Great rhythm, very good timing, slightly above average pacing. The Michell sounds like whatever arm and cart you use; it has very little in the way of a sonic signature. Great value, even considering the crappy exchange rate.

Gyro weaknesses: Its sense of unfettered drive and pace could be more assertive compared to the top PRaT champs. It can sound slightly analytical or cool if the rest of the system errs too far in that direction. The suspension tuning requires a bit of a learning curve, but once you dial it in, it says that way. It's reasonably insensitive to its support composition, but massive supports like stone, sandboxes, thick maple, etc. should be avoided at all costs. Most any fairly rigid, medium lightweight support will work well (spiked MDF is fine), but a Neuance or Symposium shelf offers the best results I've heard.

Scoutmaster strengths: Very detailed and spacious. Good frequency extension. Warm, rich, unchallenging presentation. Lots of "upgrades" available (see weaknesses). Decent build quality. Easy setup. Adequate timing.

Scoutmaster weaknesses: Poor rhythm and pacing. Slightly mechanical or sterile sounding compared to the organic flow of the Gyro. Low midrange and upper bass attack are prone to smearing, and bass sustain tends to be bloated (hence the warm, rich voicing). Very support sensitive. An inappropriate support will further compromise the 'table's temporal accuracy. An expensive Symposium Ultra platform was the only support I heard that did no harm to the Scoutmaster's tentative rhythm and pacing. The expensive (recycled from the TNT bin for the most part) "upgrades" offer a few isolated sonic improvements, but most bog down the already substandard rhythmic drive. The only worthwhile upgrade I heard was the SDS PSU. In fact, I consider it mandatory.

"We lived for days on nothing but food and water." W.C. Fields

Edits: 10/06/08

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Kimber Kable

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