VPI Scout ...with Shelter 301 or Grado Sonata??

Doug mentions what is more important in your choice than matching to your preamp - matching to your arm. The Dynavector mentioned may be the best way to go, see if you can audition one.

As far as the Grados go, the hum source (if experienced at all) can generally be rooted out and addressed. Personally, I don't think the Grado "dance" has so much to do with suspension breakdown, at least in the sense that it would be seen as an inherent weakness in build quality. These Grados should be mounted on a lightweight arm and they will sound very nice, indeed. Mount one on a heavier arm and you might be ticketed for a dance card and THAT is what also could lead to the breakdown that Doug mentions. Otherwise, there are folks with Grados on lightweight arms that experience very long life cartridge life.

Jsujo, I don't believe that Doug was indicating that the Denon or Shelter could not be used with the JMW arm at all(though he can very well speak for himself!). Not so much that either cartridge won't sound good in that arm, only that to get the very BEST from said cartridges, a different arm may be preferable. There are certainly exceptions. I had a Shelter 501 which I tried on a NUMBER of unipivot arms. Some unis are engineered with stabilizers of various sorts and will tolerate cartidges of different compliance ratings. For instance, while my Shelter sounded great in a Nottingham Spacearm, it did not do so well in a Hadcock 228 arm (a great arm by the way). Still sounded decent, but not like it did in the Spacearm - and it sounded better yet in a heavier Origin Live arm (bearing design). Again, if you have the luxury to audition, you'll find a good match. If not, there are quite a number of JMW users who may share their optimal cartridge preferences.

Hope you are enjoying the Dynavector!