Rega P3-24, RB300 and Grado Gold... VTA

I took the "easy route" and am extremely happy with my all Rega front end. P3-24 table, RB-301 arm, Exact II cartridge, and TT-PSU power supply. The only non-Rega substitution is my Herbie's Way Excellent mat, which to my ears, in my room, with my system, sounds "cleaner" than Rega's felt mat. For me, the easy synergy with all Rega stuff is a beautiful thing.

I have a Rega P3-24 and I am using the Shelter 201m and Denon DL 301 mk ii cartridges and I believe I need to add the spacers, which I have. Since I am totally new to this, does anyone have a list of instructions or, better still, a video with the step-by-step to insert the spacer? Thanks!

Wow, shame about this mat/spindle situation. One good thing about my Thorens is that the spindle is on the thick side - sometimes I've had to use a pencil to widen the record hole so it would fit onto it without undue pressure. That means some warped records stay on. I might not be so lucky with the Rega.

Also, I have a thin anti-stat mat that I used to use. Maybe that would help.

Spindle height is the same with all the Rega models. Many clamps require more spindle height than the Regas provide even with the stock mat. Of course, Rega recommends no clamp, but...

The best mat I found for my Rega 25 was the Boston Mat. It made an appreciable difference. The wool mat sounds "wolley" in comparison...but as you say, you have to raise the arm up a little more.

Thanks for your input, folks.

Last night I came across this URL, which puts a positive "spin" on using a Grado Gold with the latest P3-24:

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=REGA03&Category_Code=TURN

They didn't mention anything about tweaking (spacers, etc.). From what I've read, some of the hum issues reported with the earlier P3 are not to be found with the new model. That would be good news.

From what I've read about the Rega cartridges, I think that, money aside, I would rather use the Grado Gold carts I already own. But the issue is still moot. I hope someone can report success with the Gold and the new P3-24, since one can't always trust an on-line review. What you folks have reported could still be an issue with the new arm and table.

In addition to the cart VTA, I'd probably want to get a different mat. This means raising the arm even more.

BTW, I have a couple of Thorens mats. One is the old ridged one, and the other is a thicker mat. On the Thorens this mat left very little spindle left over for warped records or a clamp. I wonder if this would be true on the P3-24 as well.

Rega/Grado hum can generally be alleviated by rewiring the ground connection, disconnecting the ground from the left channel ground and connecting a separate ground wire from the arm and attaching it to the motor housing and then to the preamp as per most turntables.

I had a Rega 25 with a Grado Sonata low output. I wasn't terribly happy with that match. There was always a hum problem, and the sound was too thick, brown, and fuzzy. I had a VTA adjuster on it which was needed for proper installation. I kept it for a little while and then moved on.

The arm that comes with the P3/24 is not an RB300 but an RB301. It has the same height but has the 3 point mount. The Rega carts are an unusually low 13 mm high as opposed to most others which are 15-20 mm high. The Grados are 17 mm high so you would need a 4 mm spacer. You can get the 4 mm Rega spacer or you can get 8 mm wide x 2 mm high nylon washers from a hardware store. You'll need 6 of them so you can stack them 2 high. I haven't compared the sound so I can't vouch for which is better. Either will provide the correct height for your Grado. I'm not aware of any aftermarket VTA adjusters that accommodate the 3 point mount of the later upper models of Rega arms such as the RB301, RB700, RB900 and RB1000. The above link is for an RB300 type arm and will not work for your RB301.

I would be surprised if you could find any cartridge that did not benefit from having the VTA adjustable.

If you do not want to buy an adjuster then you can go to a bicycle shop and get washers of different thickness instead of paying for the Regas.

VTA adjuster