Scout w/Signature arm or Scoumaster w/standard ar

you should go for the most table you can get for the money. some of the old denons(dp1200,dp62) are as good as many in the $1500 price range today. the vpi's offer the opportunity to upgrage, but if you have one of those denons, you can probably sell it for as much as you paid for it.....

You can upgrade the VPI Scout/Scoutmaster from any point, but I'd recommend getting the best foundation first, which for me would be the turntable itself. Then look to upgrade the arm or add a motor controller (SDS or Walker) later.

Bottom line for me: start with the Scoutmaster and regular arm, then add a motor controller, then upgrade the arm. The regular arm is already very good.
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Having gone through the whole upgrade path starting from a basic VPI Scout and upgrading one step at a time all the way to a Scoutmaster with JMW9 Signature arm and now finally an SDS...I agree with Rushton.

You can start out with an excellent table and arm by getting a Scoutmaster. That will be your biggest investment, but as said above its your foundation. The Signature arm and the SDS are both significant sonic improvements (and more user friendly if thats important) that can be added to the Scoutmaster at any time as your budget allows.

Good luck.