How much better is the Scoutmaster vs. Scout?

I jumped from the Scout with the periphery ring straight to the Super ScoutMaster, and the difference is rather huge, particularly through the very revealing ZYX cartridges and phono stage. If you like vinyl now, you're going to want to upgrade over and over again, so it's always good to think a few steps ahead when making decisions. Like a game of chess, only much more expensive.....

>>02-28-07: Jaybo
by the time you pay for a vpi scoutmaster, you have lots of table/arm combos which will probably better it.<<

Agree, but substitute "definitely" for "probably".

Much better PRAT and deeper bass. Blacker backgrounds. However if you're on a budget, I recommend allocating the difference between the Scout and Scoutmaster on the best cartridge, phono stage and isolation platform you can afford.Down the road you can keep the latter three items and swap in a better deck. BTW- When I owned a Scoutmaster, I used a Lyra Helikon cart and Ear 834p phono preamp. Interconnects were cardas golden ref. Awesome combo.

I went from the scout to the aries 3 but its the periphery ring thats the huge difference I wanted the better arm on the aries because of cartrige selection and yeh you gotta be careful with the ring but its worth it. No other turntable has the ring for this kind of price.

scoutmaster, and get the ring. without it you'll be forever complaining about warped records. plain and simple truth.