Dodgealum,
I had an Aida, the wood version, on a Scout a few years ago. It was bought brand new, but the cantilever was slightly skewed in one direction. The Aida was outstanding with jazz and acoustic music, also thought exhibited a sibilance problem with male vocals, and didn't really rock with rock music. However, this was before I knew anything about cartridge setup. The cartridge was set up by the dealer who reversed two of the lead wires to begin with. So it is possible that the Aida was never set up optimally, plus that skewed cantilever. Since then I've also upgraded my entire system, including moving up to the Lyra Delos which shines with everything you throw at it so my feedback might not be perfectly accurate. Nevertheless, I believe the Aida went up in price and is about a grand now. If I was getting a SS cartridge now, I'd probably go for the Zephyr that seems to be getting thumbs up from everyone who has it, and it matches well with VPI tonearms. My two cents.
I had an Aida, the wood version, on a Scout a few years ago. It was bought brand new, but the cantilever was slightly skewed in one direction. The Aida was outstanding with jazz and acoustic music, also thought exhibited a sibilance problem with male vocals, and didn't really rock with rock music. However, this was before I knew anything about cartridge setup. The cartridge was set up by the dealer who reversed two of the lead wires to begin with. So it is possible that the Aida was never set up optimally, plus that skewed cantilever. Since then I've also upgraded my entire system, including moving up to the Lyra Delos which shines with everything you throw at it so my feedback might not be perfectly accurate. Nevertheless, I believe the Aida went up in price and is about a grand now. If I was getting a SS cartridge now, I'd probably go for the Zephyr that seems to be getting thumbs up from everyone who has it, and it matches well with VPI tonearms. My two cents.