Cartridge for vpi Aries scout with jmw9 tonearm

I can tell you from personal experience having owned a Scoutmaster that Denon 103r will NOT work even with a head shell weight. I even had to use the head shell weight with a Shelter 501 MKII.

Gerald

On that tt I’ve used a Sumiko Blue Point Evo 3 and a Soundsmith Carmen 2, I had to buy an additional head shell weight for the Carmen that was about $5 on eBay.
The Sumiko favored the top end more than the Carmen on my system so it will depend on your other equipment and the sound you are seeking. There are lots of great buys on gently used cartridges here and other audio sites.

You might as well ask what cartridge do you use and do you like it.  The VPI arms are compatible with almost any cartridge out there.    

You might also want to consider using the VPI second pivot accessory.  If you do some looking you might find that it can increase the SQ of almost any cartridge.  I find that mine makes setting azimuth extremely easy.  Some think it's the most important cartridge setting.  

Lyra Delos

You should look at the Hana ML. It's a great sounding MC cartridge that punches way above its $1200 price point. You didn't mention your budget but Hana cartridges start around $495 up to $1200 for the ML.

When I had my Scout I used a Transfiguration Spirit and a Nagaoka MP-500. Both  worked very well on that table. If I remember VPI seemed to like Dynavector cartridges for that table. Good Luck!

If you're looking for Grado try to find Joseph Grado Signature XTZ or another similar grado cartridge body and XTZ stylus (available separately). This is the best stylus for Grado. 

However, i must say there are better MM cartridges than Grado for sure. 

I’ll second the Grado suggestion. I purchased an Aires 1 deck w/ JMW 10 in 1998 and used it as my primary and then secondary deck for several years. I already had a Grado The Reference cartridge and mounted it. Sounded great. I tested several other MM and MC cartridges over the years and always went back to the Grado. Detailed enough, warm and musical. My advice is to purchase the best Grado cartridge you can afford or fits your budget.

I ran an AT OC 9 on that arm and loved it!

The mass of that arm is 10 grams. Any Grado is a good match with that arm!
https://gradolabs.com/cartridges/

Denon was very cheap, what's the budget for new/better cartridge ?
And what is the effective mass of your tonearm ? 

Definitely you have to look for cartridges with advanced stylus profile (shibata, line contact, micro ridge, stereohedron ... ), because your denon is conical.   

If the budget is under $800 then definitely look for MM or MI
If the budget is over $1k you could find LOMC (but you'be been using MC, maybe it's time for something else ?)