"House sound" of VPI, Clearaudio, Rega, MH, etc.

Do you have a budget in mind and are you wanting go used or new?

Mgrif104,

As Piediper mentioned above, the amount you want to spend is a big part of the decision. For my money, and the solid "entry" level, it is hard to beat a VPI Scout. I have one with a Dynavector 20XL and my Hovland HP 100 and it sounds great! The Scout is fast, dynamic, and keeps your toes tapping! It is not the last word in detail or 'grunt' (bass and mid-bass punch)but there are several things you can do to improve these items. First, use a nice maple block or a Gingko as the base; both will improve the Scout. Second, get a better cartridge. The 20XL is very good at it's price point (about $600) but there are many other options that will improve the detail and thump.

Or, do like I did recently and upgrade to a VPI Aries 3...

In any case, you will not regret your move back into vinyl. Vinyl just sounds better than digital. I've heard a Scout completely slay a $6,000 "high end" cd player... In every category, vinly is just more musical and enjoyable..

Piedpiper: I'm targeting up to roughly $3k for table and cartridge and I prefer used. I might bump that up if I fall in love w/ a MC pickup because then I'd need an outboard phono preamp. And, who knows - I haven't heard the phone stage of my unit yet. It may be substandard (Parasound P23). I certainly don't mind coming in below that amount either. I've already heard the Rega P3-24 and think I could live with it if moving upstream is diminishing returns.
I was actually hoping there's a similarity in sound across all offerings w/in a manufacturers line. Does the Rega P7 and P5 (both of which I'm considering but which I can't easily audition) sound like the P3-24? Similarly, does the Clearaudio performance table (unable to audition) sound like an improved version of the Marantz table (which I have heard) which they make? I haven't been able to hear a VPI deck of any flavor and would very much like to. How do VPIs sound relative to Rega/Clearaudio, etc. I thought perhaps there might be a house sound to a line which could be generalized here.
It's looking like if I venture beyond the Marantz or lower end Rega tables, I may be doing so based solely on opinions expressed here as I doubt I'll be able to audition then. The only table I've been able to audition upstream is the SME20. Loved it but way out of budget.
Thanks for your help.

Stickman: Very helpful. Can you tell me what you heard when moving from the Scout up to the Aries 3? I've been looking at them for sale here and am quite interested in that particular table. Did you move your cartridge from one table to the other so that what you heard was pretty much just that upgrade?
I'm thinking I'm going to be putting the table either on a wall shelf I'll mount, or on a concrete mantle to my fireplace. I know that's relatively inert though perhaps it has some high frequency ringing.
Best,

In my opinion, the Aries 3 bests' the Scout in every way. Actually, I do not have the Aries in my rig quite yet; I just ordered it last week. My in-store listening eaisly convinced me that the Aries is much better overall. Also, I will have a Dynavector 507 MKII arm relacing the stock VPI unipivot. The combo between the Aries and the 507 is special. This combo gives a bigger, more defined, more detailed sound along with more layers, and provides an extra dose of thump and grunt over the Scout. The Aries with the 507 is several steps above the Scout in transparency and refinement.

Having said that, just about any decent table will kick the crap out of cd. The Rega's are all very good; but I liked the Aries 3 the best. I think the VPI tables will give you a 'bigger' sound and are more musical overall than the Regas, but you cannot go wrong with the Reags either; they offer a lot 'bang for the buck'!