Yes, either one of them will be an audible upgrade over the stock RB250 arm. These have been tried by many over the long haul, and found to be worthwhile.They are about as high as most would want to spend on a tonearm upgrade for a TT of the Horizon's level. A good sonic match for your table at a decent price. |
I had the same Horizon/Clearaudio Aurum Beta S combination. I found upgrading the counterweight to the Expressimo was worthwhile. Switching to incognito was more of a mixed bag- it brought out a bit more detail, but was a lot edgier, analytical, and had more emphasis on surface noise. The incognito-wired arm was fine with other cartridges so I don't think it was entirely break-in. The stock Rega wire is smoother and more laid back- seemed to be a good match with the Clearaudio in my system.
Also note the the Michell counterweights do not work well with cartridges as heavy as the Clearaudio- I was not able to extend the heavier weight far enough for the Clearaudio to track at 2.1 G- not a problem with the expressimo. |
I have a Tecnodec, RB 250 with Michell Tecnoweight, and Clearaudio Aurum Beta S wood-body cartridge. I have often wondered what to do re: rewire. I was leaning toward the Incognito rewire, but I just read the above statements, and they gave me pause. I would like to know if anyone can verify Nzera's comments re: "mixed bag"?
The mods to the weight of the Rega arms involved some serious torque- the Michell doesn't seem to replicate this.
Is this Michell weight (it came with my arm) really better or even on par with some of the other weights?
Who makes THE rewire option?
Should I buy some silver wire and some rcas and just roll my own?
I am amazed that noone (can't find a really scientific comparison anywhere) has compared "X" iteration of the Rega arm with DIscovery, Incognoto, Origin live rewires...
If only I had a little more $$, and a lot more time...
ANyone know of a good silver kit?
thanks in advance for any knowledge. |
I really hate to have to keep bringing up this subject, because it smacks of self-promotion, but have any of you read the "Strange Tonearm Tweak" thread on this analog forum?
It works great on standard RB250 arms, and makes a hell of an improvement in sound for about $1 in cost. I promise that I am not going to try to sell you anything. All the instructions and theory is on the thread. You can make it yourself in a few minutes for under a dollar. The improvement is astonishing, and is verfied by many users on the Strange Tonearm Tweak thread. It has been in use by me and others for over 2 years now, with excellent results and no down-side, as long as you use cartridges of 15cu compliance or lower. This is no joke, it is a great mod for pennies, and may result in more improvement to your sound than spending $500 or more on a tonearm upgrade. If you really want to get it right, then get the OL tonearm upgrade AND do the Strange Tonearm Tweak(HiFi mod). |
Twl, I'm familiar with your tweak, but for some reason, I just haven't gotten around to it. I will give it a try, however, as it appears to result in no damage to the arm, and to be 100% reversible if need be present. |
G, by all means, try it soon. While reversible, I doubt you'll want to do so. |
I know, I've read most of the posts (that's a TON)
and I have no excuse...
I've been baaad. |
TWL or anyone-- what is the compliance figure for the Aurum Beta S? I have one on my OL Silver but have not tried the mod because I did not know if the Aurum Beta S would be suitable for the mod-
Sorry, I have no experience with 250 rewires and cannot add to that discussion...
Thanks-
Dirty |
Musical Surroundings shows a compliance figure of 15. That would make it a reasonable candidate for the HIFI Mod on a Silver, though right at the top of the suitable range of compliances.
Perhaps you could try a slightly lighter pair of weights than Twl used for his Denon and Shelter? |
Leaving out the eternal bearing vs. unipivot arguement, why not go with Nottingham's arm? I here great things about it. If you don't like the wiring, you can change it out. And in theory it should have more synergy with the table... |
Audio Note can provide a pure silver, or copper, wire kit for your Rega arm. An Audio Note service outlet could take your old arm and rewire it with audio note wire (thus turning the arm into an Audio Note ARM 1 or ARM2). The end result is a better sounding unit, once broken in, and a seamless run of wire from the cartridge clips to the RCA termination. No din plugs. The Incognito also uses a seamless wire run whereas the Origin Live does not is my understanding.
A seamless run is always preferable at least from a theoretical point of view.
The stock rega wire might sound better because it is not as revealing as the "better" wire. This would not be uncommon. |
