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Townshend Elite Rock Mk III / Rega RB300 tonearm question

Unpacked this classic from the mid 90's.  I was overseas for many years and had this lovely TT in storage.  Recently unpacked it and am now playing music with it.  The original dealer-installed Benz Glider HO still works/sounds great too

 At that time, these tables were sold with a Townshend-installed Rega RB300 tonearm mounted on Townshend's custom mount which allows for a crude VTA adjustment via a locking thumbwheel.  This table supplies RCA jacks mounted on the rear of the arm mounting board... with wiring from the arm soldered into the RCA plugs.  I recall the USA distributor at the time was in Houston TX and the tables saw their final assembly there for US sales.

Question -- for those that might remember -- was the Rega arm that Townshend installed and sold with these tables stock Rega arms with stock wiring, or was the wiring upgraded prior to installation?  I can't tell from looking at the arm.  Of course since 1983, when the RB300 was introduced, it has become well-known that the factory wiring of the arm is perhaps it's greatest weakness.

I am thinking through, for this table/arm, whether I should pursue a wiring upgrade, or whether the wiring already better-than-stock Rega.

If any seasoned analog lovers can remember, I would be very appreciative!!!
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Showing 3 responses by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
Audio Origami in England is well-respected for their Rega arm rewires. They offer Cardas copper and both Kondo and Ikeda silver.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

I had one of the Rock/Rega arm boards with the arm height adjustment thumbwheel, which was in fact made by Townshend. I sold it on Audiogon in 2015, I believe it was, when I replaced my Cardas-rewired RB300 with a nice Zeta. A really cool thing for a Rock/Rega owner/user to have! The Rock/Rega combo was and is popular with owner/users of Decca/London cartridges.

Yup jjss, Max is still very much the force behind all things Townshend, and is still an unusually creative designer, offering a great line of isolation products featuring his "Seismic Pods".

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

I'm a Rock owner (though of the Mk.2 "Elite"), but didn't know Max was offering a customized RB300 back then. More recently, he took the 300 and performed some radical surgery on it, installing the damping trough outrigger in place of the Rega headshell, as well as new bearings and other upgrades, and marketing it as the Excalibur Arm. I have found Max to be very responsive to emails and phone calls, so I would contact him to get the wiring info.

But you have another option: There is a machinist in England making two great arms using only the arm tube from the current Rega 300-series arm, making all the other arm parts himself. The company and arm is named Audiomods, and the arms are drop-in replacements for Regas. There is a website for info, should you be interested, or even just curious. 

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