What is the story with Rega Appolo?

Yes, the Apollos are finicky but mostly due to operator error. I own two of them and love what they do. No, the Apollo is not the final word in detail or dynamics. IMHO, what it is is musical and natural. I tried to upgrade to the Saturn but felt the added cost did not justify the slight improvement I heard. A couple of friends and I experimented with some DACs to see if that would provide a noticeable improvement. The DACs all had their own subtle differences but when it came down to picking out which was which in a blind test, we all failed. (The DACs used were the Benchmark, PS Audio, Bel Canto 2 and 3, and a modified Liteaudio DAC-60.) I really wanted to spend some money but could not justify the cost benefit ratio since I just couldn't pick out any improvements.

A Jupiter would make a great second choice if you find one in Canada with low hours. It has a little less detail and the bass is not as tight as the Apollo, however the midrange is very similar. I've lived with a Jupiter too.

Happy trails,
L

Douglas is correct in that there are some Apollos that are just poorly manufactured, period. The issues I have had have been due to my not being patient and waiting the 10-15 seconds.

AlexV, I hadn't thought about the transporter clock. For my little comparison shootout, I used the Apollo as the transporter.

Coffeey, I have never experienced the issues you speak of. My first Apollo is about two years old and my other one is about six months old.