Vinyl sounds a bit thin and slightly strident.

What are you listening to though? Columbia or RCA from the mid-'60's to 70's? That would do it! If you have some London/Decca's such as Argenta's Espana, etc. and they sound thin and strident than something is wrong. I have a Scoutmaster/Dyna combo and I'm extremely happy.

I am confused about the fact that you helped matters by raising the VTA. Contrary to Tpsonic's advise what you need to do, if you feel the sound is strident, is LOWER vta, by LOWERING the back of the arm. With all due respect to well meaning posters, I would question some of the advise given so far.

The Cardas Hexlink 5C is a very full bodied sounding cable, that while not the last word as far as detail is concerned, will only help a system that is a little strident. Strident itself the Cardas is not. I would keep it; certainly for now.

Here is where the problem with incorrect use of descriptive audio terminology causes problems: I have read many times how Benz cartridges are on the romantic side of the spectrum. I have tried two Benz cartridges (Ruby 2, and Ruby H), so I can only speak to what I heard with those two cartridges. What I heard in both cases was a sound that, yes, had a dusky, some would say, dark or golden sound, with a lot of detail. But it was not a full bodied sound at all; if anything, it was thin sounding. Worst of all, the highs were not well integrated with the midrange, and tended to call a lot of attention to themselves. Voices were much more silibant than with the Vandenhul, Shelter, and other mc's that I have used. I can definitely see (hear), how someone might characterize sound like that as strident. In both cases the tonearm used was a ET2, a tonearm known for being itself, if anything, a little rolled off in the highs. So, I would look at the cartridge itself, and not just it's setup as the possible culprit. A fuller sounding cartrideg with well integrated highs might be the ticket. Sumiko Celebration, Koetsu, Grado...?

Just one man's opinion.

I have a TNT Jr. with HRX motor, an original JMW-12, and a Ruby 2. You have an excellent table and cartridge, so it should make beautiful music. Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think the problem is with the choice of equipment.

My general approach is: start with the most simple fix and work up from there. So, I would first double check to be sure that the table is perfectly level. If it's not, the whole presentation will be off. Next, I'd try lowering the VTA, which is easily done and the solution may be as simple as that. (To second Frogman, LOWER the VTA). Next, I would try a different cartridge loading. Perhaps try these simple things, in order, and then report back?

A lack of HF clarity and strident midrange & treble in the stock ARC PH-2 is easily cured with a change of coupling caps. Also, how is the Scout sited?

N803,
When one has a tonal balance as you described, the first thing to do is run a play back curve with the cart and arm you are using. place the RIAA playback LP on the table, and write down the output voltage of your preamp at each frequency. Doing anything before this step is purely guessing.

best