2. analog
  3. 1401025949

Thinking about getting into vinyl again...

After 25 years. Any suggestions (besides don't ; )?

Thanks to my Audio Note Dac, I have an Awesome Digital setup and am very pleased with the sound. However I do love vinyl setups when I hear them. Further, now that my system's just the way I want it, I have nothing to obsess about, research, tinker with...etc.

I have a Modified Musical Fidelity A5 integrated...to my, ears the best sound I've ever heard and I've tried many many pieces. (In fact, that may be why I've run into a wall, I'm done looking at amplification too). Hoping to avoid the whole phone stage thing... assuming the A5's is decent.

I want a decent vinyl setup -- but don't want to spend a fortune either. After exhaustive research I'm pretty set on trying a Rega P3 w the Elys2 cartridge (bit over a thousand new). Right or wrong, part of the reason I chose this is relative simplicity of setup and use. Although I'm open to messing with accessories and upgrades, I don't want to mess with spacers, complicated adjustments, changing arms, or hacking the table in any way.

Any thoughts about:

The move in general
Tips and tricks
Accessories: Cleaning Kits, scales, etc.
Upgrading that MM Cart (slightly, I don't want to spend more than a hundred or so more)
I thought a bit about getting a professionally restored Thorens?
Vendors (No real table dealers around me...looking at Music Direct...especially because of the easy return policy ....and they've been good in the past)

(Note: I will very likely stick to new on this as the idea of buying and shipping (again) a used turntable seems fraught with risk)

(One bonus question: When I switch my a5 to phono (nothing connected) i get some hum/noise...I'm assuming that's because nothing's connected to the the inputs or the ground?---Just hoping I don't go through all of this just to find out I have a bad phono section!)
128x128ml8764ag

Showing 9 responses by abrew19

abrew19
146 posts
 
Ml8764ag, since you are looking at the RP3 from Music Direct, I'd recommend checking out the clearance RP40 from them too. It's basically an improved RP3 and when it's on sale it is probably the better way to go. Good luck.
abrew19
146 posts
 
I have a hunch that dealers do better monetarily selling the Rega line, than with other brands, e.g. VPI. Had too many dealers try to nudge me over to Rega when I wasn't asking about them. These dealers normally don't do that with other types of products. Had it happen too many times to be a coincidence. Rega must a have a healthy distribution network in the US that makes them appealing to stocking dealers.
abrew19
146 posts
 
Keithtexas has a point about the Rega. There's not much too them to justify their price. The tonearms are very nice, but everything else is pretty crude. Something that just about anybody could make in their garage with some basic tools. Methinks that in the US much of the price is made up of import and exchange costs, not product. Not saying they don't sound great, I'm just saying that they are overpriced for what they are.
abrew19
146 posts
 
If you have to add a custom-made 50 pound sand box to make a turntable sound good, then the turntable has significant shortcomings. We don't purchase a pair of speakers with cabinet resonance issues and the add our own lumber to quiet the cabinet. Why is this any different?

Rega "cheaps out" on the design and claims "low mass, hi rigidity is superior" .... then their customers are forced to implement their own high mass isolation techniques (at their own expense) to fill in the gap. All the while, those customers seem to be a happy as a lark.

Those Rega marketing guys have a pretty good thing going on for themselves! : )
abrew19
146 posts
 
Don't get me wrong. I don't think there's anything 'wrong' with adding mass or isolation as aftermarket enhancements. I'm all for it. I'm just saying that Rega saves a lot of manufacturing cost with their designs. with the mid-priced RP3/RP6/RP8 especially, I'm not convinced they pass the savings along to the customer. They are well-engineered and fine sounding products, but the plinth is a piece of high tech cardboard with a coat of of flashy paint. At 3 Grand, compare the RP8 to the VPI Classic. There is no comparison when you break it down to the component and sub-component level. But like I said before, nice Rega have very nice tonearms however.
abrew19
146 posts
 
To Kiko65:
"..custom made skeletal plinth, new ultra-stable RB808 tonearm with state of the art bearing assembly, triple-layer glass platter for fly wheel effect, 24-volt low-noise, low-vibration motor controlled by a hand-tuned electronic external power supply, new double bracing technology for stifness where it matter the most, between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing, forming a structurally sound "stressed beam" assembly."

None of this stuff costs much to make for any factory with decent volumes of production. "state of the art bearing assembly, triple-layer glass platter for fly wheel effect" ... dude do you write their ad copy, or what? It's 3 pieces of glass glued together man! No machining required. Good engineering to find a way to cut corners from multiple layers of machined metal. They save a lot here.

"24-volt low-noise, low-vibration motor controlled by a hand-tuned electronic external power supply" .... seriously? Odds are they source the motors (and the guts to the power supply) from China for dirt cheap... any takers?

As for their "custom made skeletal plinth" don't get me started.
abrew19
146 posts
 
This Kiko guy thinks he has mental telepathy. He seems convinced that he knows what my own experiences and thought processes are....
abrew19
146 posts
 
Ok so my last post was knee-jerk, I'll apologize for that. Rega's are good. I just don't see 3k in the RP8 vs the Classic 1. You're right, we can agree to disagree, with no hard feelings. It's all good. I guess this site isn't so bad after all. Lol
abrew19
146 posts
 
"Line" stage was a typo. Wow, this is getting too weird for me. Feel like I'm being stalked a little. I've decided I'm not OCD enough to belong on this forum.
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