Ortofon Cadenza with VPI Scout

Not sure what you feel is lacking but I doubt very much if the Cadenza will give you better performance. The ART9 is probably the only piece of gear that I had genuine regrets after selling. Maybe some tweaks to your setup or table would scratch the itch?

I agree that it would be sideways at best. Unless you are trying to overcompensate for another issue, the Bronze and even better Black are more transparent, neutral options, but the ART9 is competitive with all of those. 

Knowing many Scout owners, I heard improvements from:

- changing the platform the table is on 

- better phono stage

- if balanced phono, changing the junction box at the back of the tonearm to use XLR cabling (big bang for the buck improvement,)

Cheers,

Spencer

ART 9(old version) former user. VPI table

Presently using a cart 2X the MSRP of the 9. Definitely NOT twice the performance. Naturally, it's subjective and system build.

Have you maxed out your phonostage budget? If not, you're not hearing the ART9 at it's "best." Based on your profile, you will hear the ART9 as a new cart with a phonostage upgrade.

After that, prepare for the new table.

I use an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze on a Clearaudio Performance DC Wood turntable with their Tracer tone arm.  I find the cartridge to be very pleasing.  It is fast, neutral, detailed and very musical.  So far it has competently tracked everything I've played though I have not tried it on Telarc cannons since I don't own that record. 

Thanks for the info folks. It's what I suspected as to a sideways move. The ART9 is really a giant killer cart and I just had mine gone through by Steve Leung at VAS. I've just got the upgrade itch, it'll pass. My phono stage is still a modded Jolida JD9 with Audyn caps and Sonic Imagery op amps. It presently has Raytheon/Baldwin 12AX7 black plates/halo getter tubes in it. It does a surprisingly good job for what it is and I'm not unhappy with it. If I decided to upgrade the JD9 I really don't know what I'd replace it with. I'm retired so I have to watch my budget carefully. Any suggestions? The Scout sits on a 3" maple slab so isolation is pretty good. The JD9 doesn't have XLR inputs so I'm stuck with RCA interconnects for the time being.
Sam