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Fully Modded Origin Live OL1 or Stock Rega RB-600?

Wondering if the OL1 with structural mod, full external and internal re-wire and upgraded RCA's would be better than a stock RB-600. This is not the Origin Live Silver; it's basically a heavily modded RB-250. Will have a Dynavector 20xL mounted on either arm on a P-25.

It's counterintuitive to me to go backwards in the Rega line and gain an improvement, especially going from a $700msrp arm to a $575msrp arm, but who knows. OL says the OL1 will outperform a RB900 but, of course, they're trying to sell tonearms!

I can get a great deal on the OL1 ($375 - normally $575) but I don't want to waste the money if it's not going to be a significant improvement over the stock RB-600.
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Showing 2 responses by stefanl

stefanl
296 posts
 
Yes,I believe that the fully modded arm is better than the RB 600.It is reported as also being better than the RB 900."The 250 uses bearings fixed on two sides, with a plastic counterweight
coupling system; while the 300 - and the 600 and the 900 - use a one
sided bearing fixation, with a metal counterweight coupling system.

Furthermore, the 300, 600 and 900 use an inferior spring system to set
tracking force. The 300 uses a stainless steel mounting base, vs. brass
for the 250.

The bearings are slighly better for the 300 and up, but, according to
Rega, such improved tolerances don't bring any benefits (!). And they
don't because of the lossier bearing coupling.

The Origin Live level one modification takes care of the counterweight
coupling problem, and turns the RB-250 into a giant killer.?" This is a quote from an old post in Groups from someone with a good knowledge of Rega arms.I hope this helps.
stefanl
296 posts
 
I am using fully modded RB250 with an Origin Live counterweight mod and an Incognito rewire(1 piece cartridge to RCA unlike the Origin)I am also using the TWL weight mod on this arm as well.I have a stock RB 300 and I can hear that the modded RB 250 is great although I have not done A/B comparisons as I have the arms on different tables with different cartridges.Suffice to say I consider the RB250 to be the better arm and use it on the better table.
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