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I think the planets must have
been lined up just right that day. I took a break from the
grind at work and went for a walk. The Goodwill store is just
down the road, and I thought what the hell, maybe they will
have some of those cheap CD racks I'd been looking for. You
have to find some way to save money in the audio game. I found
a few of the racks, in good shape, for 99 cents no less. Might
as well check out the used vinyl stack. Nothing, but as I
made my way to the checkout I saw something curious in the
corner-some of those big-box compilations, classical warhorse
stuff. Might as well look.
I was expecting some no-name conducting
the Longines Symphonette Society. Wrong. This looks promising.
It is Time-Life, but these look like 180-gram pressings, the
best protective sleeves, and not one shows any sign
of being played! Bartok, Stravinsky, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner,
Mendelssohn, List, Provefiev, Debussy. The cast? Guarneri
Quartet, Boston with Charles Munch, Fritz Reiner and my Chicago
favorites, Leontyne Price, Van Cliburn, Seiji Ozawa, Michael
Tilson Thomas, all heavyweights. And the kingly price for
each box set? $3.99. I grabbed them all. Then the cashier
tells me it's half-price Friday. A buck ninety-nine each?
For once, I'm living right.
I go back to the office. My wife
had left a message. I call back. A huge box has arrived, she
says, from some company called VPI. I can't believe it. After
almost a year of lobbying VPI (with help from Dave Clark)
for a review sample of the Scoutmaster turntable, it has finally
arrived. What a day! I pick up some champagne on the way home
The next day was Saturday-enough
time to set up the new record player. It didn't take long.
VPI includes an alignment jig, and the instructions are decent,
though I would have liked some illustrations. The hardest
thing was setting the VTA. Once that was accomplished, things
went smoothly. I was determined to take my time, even though
I was dying to listen. About an hour and a half later, much
of that spent leveling my rack, I was ready.
First impression? Mama Mia, I
wasn't ready for this! It was just heavenly. My trusty, tricked-out
VPI 19 jr was not in the same league. Hell, this wasn't even
the same sport. From the VPI website:
The Scoutmaster combines key features
from several of VPI's most successful tables. It uses the
Aries 2 platter and inverted bearing, a larger version of
the steel Scout motor assembly with new fused IEC socket with
new 300-RPM motor, and a dual Scout chassis with a steel center.
The table stands 19" by 14" and weighs 48 pounds.
This is a good-looking turntable-utilitarian,
yet sexy. The huge aluminum adjustable cone feet are a great
feature, but also look hot. The finish is not glossy, but
it doesn't show fingerprints or dirt-one less thing to clean.
The table doesn't use flash where it isn't needed. It does,
however, use high-quality parts where required. This is the
mark of superb engineering.
I used the 'Master with three
different phono stages-my venerable but excellent Black Cube,
the killer Cary 302, and the overachieving Wright-and the
astounding (I'm not kidding) Phoenix Gold cable that Myles
Astor turned me on to. The Scoutmaster sounded great with
all of the phono stages, but it really shone with the Wright.
Both the Cary and the Wright are tubed, but have a neutral
rather than a romantic sound. The Cary has fewer faults, but
the Wright communicates with more feeling. I did most of my
listening with the Wright, though I'm still working on some
noise problems. Also in the mix were the excellent Ginko Clara-Vu
dust cover and Mini-clouds. These are indispensable if you
buy a Scoutmaster.
What about the JMW 9 tonearm?
Without going into a lot of technical details (you can look
at Myles Astor's review for those), I think the JMW 9 matches
the Scoutmaster perfectly. In fact, I think that is why this
turntable package succeeds so wildly. It took a while to get
used the unipivot design. It floats delicately on the head
of tungsten pin, and oscillates gently as you lower it. No
worries, just be very, very careful when you first use it.
It seems perfectly natural now. The other tonearms I've used
since seem heavy, almost ham-handed. I'm also starting to
wonder why other tonearms have a bajillion parts. The elegant,
simple design of the JMW 9 does the trick.
The Scoutmaster has a consistent,
exciting sound. From the first needle-drop you hear (don't
hear?) a silent background-no rumble, none of the low-frequency
crap you hear from a lesser product. The resolution of low-level
detail is killer. The overall portrait has energy and transparent
neutrality. Imaging is solid, and the table projects a huge
soundstage that is even from front to back, sidewall to sidewall
and beyond. The pace is great, low- and high-end extension
impressive. Gone are the days of polite-sounding VPIs. This
is the new generation. The Scoutmaster gets out of the way
of the music and boogies.
I've listened to a lot of live
music, from a different perspective than most-on stage. Is
this the ultimate in near-field listening? I think so. From
on stage, I could hear every nuance of strings, oboes, tubas,
piccolos, you name it. Sometimes I could hear all that a grand
piano or string bass had to give. Even with electric music,
what I heard on stage was incredible. It's just not the same
thing you hear from the audience (although at times the stage
mix can be horrible). This is very close to what I heard and
felt with the 'Master. It's all about communication,
about feeling the music.
Because I got that wonderful gift
of LPs the day the Scoutmaster arrived, I decided that it
would be appropriate to concentrate not only on those recordings,
but on selections I had actually performed as part of
an orchestra:
Bartok, Music for Strings,
Percussion and Celeste, Chicago Symphony, Fritz Reiner.
You hardly ever hear a good celeste anymore. Seriously, when
Bartok combines the sound of unison piano, xylophone, and
celeste, you hear an other-worldiness, like a nineteenth-century
synthesizer-haunting and beautiful. The Scoutmaster lets you
hear both the overall texture and each instrument. I've only
been able to hear this live prior to the 'Master.
Wagner, overture to Tannhauser,
Boston Symphony, Erich Leinsdorf. Although I'm not the keen
Wagnerite that the wayward Austrian corporal was, I enjoy
a dose now and then. The way Wagner wove complexities between
winds and strings always fascinates me. As with most Wagner,
there is magic at work in this piece-the wanton dance, the
spells, the joyful strains, culminating in that grand sound
that Wagner does best. He can stir your soul. He certainly
stirred mine on this occasion. I felt that poor old Tannhauser
was forgiven before he died. The Scoutmaster rendered orchestral
crescendos with solid authority. It also truthfully portrayed
the oh-so-important low-level microdynamics that give the
sense that the music is being performed right there.
Prokofiev, Symphony No 1,
Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy. At a time when everyone
was experimenting with atonal music and twelve-tone rows,
Prokofiev stayed with (or should I say regressed to) pure
classical form. He was a neo-classicist, not to be confused
with a neo-conservative-a Haydn of the twentieth century,
not a Dubya. The theme is stated immediately by the strings
in the first movement, and PRAT is very important to bring
this across. Did the Scoutmaster succeed? Without a doubt.
It let the music shine through. And the second theme? Just
like the first, with a bassoon echoing the statement. Lovely.
I love (almost) all types of music,
so I need a component that plays Bach, Beethoven, Debussy,
Mahler, Zappa, Louis Armstrong, Miles, Monk, Hendrix, Zeppelin,
Lucinda, Taj Mahal, Chick Corea-you get the picture. Does
the Scoutmaster qualify? Yes! It has no prejudices. It treats
all music with the respect it deserves, and then some. It
excels at emotion, raw and pure. The current generation of
VPIs has made a huge leap in the analog world by communicating
the essence of music. If I could buy LPs of the music that
is only available on CD, my CD player would be long gone.
And I love my CD player. How did the Scoutmaster perform in
other respects? In six months of use, it was flawless.
The competition? I haven't heard
them all, but the 'Master smokes all of the turntables I've
heard in its price range, and mind you, this is the plain-Jane
Scoutmaster, not the gussied-up model with the SDS and outer
ring. Someday I hope to try those options.
Enough with the gush fest. I love
this turntable, yes I do. It's the finest piece of gear I've
had the pleasure to review. It is a bargain all by itself,
and with the JMW 9 tonearm, it is a super bargain. I can't
recommend it enough. Charlton Heston is the last guy I would
normally quote, but Harry Weisfeld, you can get this turntable
back when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. For the first
time ever, I bought the review sample, and I'm keepin' it
for a long, long time. John Zurek
VPI Scoutmaster Turntable
Retail: $2400 with 9-inch arm; add $1000 for SDS; add
$500 for periphery ring clamp
VPI Industries Inc.
77 Cliffwood Ave #3B
Cliffwood, NJ. 07721
Telephone: 732) 583-6895
web addess: www.vpiindustries.com
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