Just got my Scoutmaster, need setup suggestions...

Just back from RMAF and the Roy Gregory analog demonstration was nothing short of revelatory as far as the differences minute adjustments make esp. to VTA and alignment but also the postion of the cartridge in the headshell. I know very little myself but I know what I heard. Both he and Richard Foster demoed the averaged "prescribed" VPI set-up vs one with more care and the use of a better than supplied protractor using same arm and cartridge on a VPI TNT HRX with Lyra Titan. Man it was the difference between hearing ordinary subdued sound without any real objections and having the singer sing directly for you, fully present- all the difference in the world. At all times it was played on a first rate system with 20K Zanden phono pre and at least 25K worth of CJ and Nordost. It totally threw my usual beliefs about better components and better synergy always equalling better sound out the window. Set-up is absolutely vital and probably their prescription on set-up rather than anyone else's. Let me say: Beg, borrow or steal to get that knowledge and get it right if you paid a dime for your VPI.

Jdolgin: I wish I could have kept up with each thing that was being descrbed but it was a short session, maybe 40-50 minutes max. For each change he had set-up in advance 5 or 6 arms for the VPI and Richard Foster switched them out on his cue and this was of course the only system variable changed. He gave the small group of listeners an idea of what had been changed, we listened and then he put into words a brief description of the salient things we had just heard; then he changed again. It all happened for me much too quickly and he wanted to make several points that to the relative novice of set-up (like me) it would take more time to explore in detail and digest. He also wanted to show what that a Mono cartridge could really do for mono records and the impact of having RIAA equalization in the phono pre as the Zanden and the Graham Slee have. I was trying to get my head around everything that was going on and trying to reconcile that I had never really loved some of the brands (CJ, Nordost) when heard in the past few years. I am used to pretty good sound at home on a Rega P9 and Nagra PL_P etc. But when the music played on the well set-up arms I had every reason to nearly fall out of my chair and was riveted as I have perhaps never been. But, as I said it was over pretty quick with a perfunctory exit. I think one of the most important issues was with the after-market protractor and I remember vaguely that he mentioned (anyone?) one that was mentioned in a recent issue of HI-FI+. If anyone has more info on this or the demonstration I would be overjoyed to know it and any other specific details of what went on.