VPI Scout question

You can look on vinyl engine and check the arm lengths. The Jelco would be an arm I would look at as an alternative if I didn't like unipiviots or wanted an interchangeable head shell. But I think you are on the wrong track, the VPI arm is at least as good an arm as the Scout is a table and they are a good combination and good value for the money. You can discount my opinion as I am a VPI dealer but I think that this is the general consensus. In fact the same arm came with the Scoutmaster as the Scout and as this sounded , to me, noticeably better than the Scout, the arm was not a limiting factor. There are better arms than the Scout arm but they are not cheap, the ones in its price range are different, not necessarily better. To me the critical thing in your post is that YOU have not noticed a deficiency in the Scout arm, you can HEAR anything on the web, I would not make a change based on rumor. Try the cartridge in your present arm, if you are unhappy then consider a change.

I've corresponded with several Agoners who replaced VPI arms with Terminator, including one who had this to say after replacing the VPI 12.5 arm on his HRX:

"There's more info/details, deeper bass, more speed and overall a livelier, more vivid sound. Some recordings sound like completely different recordings...bit eerie that."

A linear arm has different but not necessarily more complex set-up issues than a pivot arm. Also FWIW the location of the existing arm hole is non-critical to Terminator.

I have a Superscout rim drive, with a 10.5i arm which I really like. The goal is mounting and adjusting an arm to bring your cartridge to its full potential. I like my VPI arm. I don't really know if the limiting factor in my system is the arm, however, I have heard many, many systems, all of which do not sound better than mine to these ears. I suggest a better cartridge. Any time I install a better one, the system sounds better. I could clearly hear the difference between my Benz LP and my Dyna XVS. If the arm was a limiting factor, the differences would not be so clear. The VPI arms have no big hole to drill and mount, but are attached to the turntable with small wood screws. If a new arm is in your future, make sure it fits somewhere on the turntable...without regard to an existing large hole to cover. I mounted my 10.5i after removing a VPI 9 inch Valhalla wired arm. It was a very easy installation.

As a former Scout owner, I think Stanwal is offering sound counsel. The Scout & JMW arm are well matched. Personally, I don't think the arm is the weakest link in the Scout package. If you had a serious passion to upgrade your vinyl playback, it would be more economically logical to just sell the Scout and start anew with a turntable that offered more potential to extract information from a more resolving arm.

Thank you all for the replies. I think I will keep the Scout standard for now. Maybe first invest in a phono pre. Instead of changing the turntable.