My Rega P5 dem

Dex,
While I mostly agree with you (and your review on PFM was beautifully written), the important thing is that Mike gets his head around around the whole analogue thing. I think Rega is a superb, no, the best, way into this.
After Mike has lived with his Rega for a while (which is what you and I did, after all), he may want to reconsider. Certainly, one big benefit Mike has, over me at least, is that he has a great, knowledgeable dealer. That is really priceless.

 

The Rega P5 is almost free. The Clearaudio not blowing it away says more about the latter than the former.

I don't know how you measure value, but the most expensive Linn turntable setup is about £7000 including cartridge and preamp which doesn't seem that extreme for a top end turntable. The Clearaudio Reference is £7500 plus cartridge plus preamp, for comparison. And an LP12 survives cats.

Paul

 

I could buy just about every Blue Note album in the 1500, 4000 and 8000 series and a P3 for that kind of money. I know which I'd go for.

 

I would assume that anybody in the market for a £6000 turntable setup isn't choosing not to buy records in order to buy the turntable. But I could be wrong...

Paul

 

When I think about it, "source first" can only mean having the cleanest possible records. Which means spending most money on the cleaning machine.... Now that really does make sense!

 

Mike isn't in this market, so why muddy the waters?

 

Hi Joel,

Thanks for your comments, and might I add that I, for one, have certainly enjoyed your postings regarding your new Notts. Posts like yours and others encouraged me to finally listen to other decks and discover what else is out there. And so I attempted to inject a little discourse here; otherwise this thread might just as well be re-titled "Warm & Fuzzy Thoughts About My Impending P5".

But I also realize that nothing bores quite so quickly than the recently converted (think religion, reformed alcoholics, NOS Dac users).

So let the LOVEFEST roll on!

Dex

 

Really enjoyable review Michael

It sounds like you've an excellent dealer there which is in my opinion (and sometimes bitter experience) the most important source component you can invest in. The P5 does sound like storming value for money, and if (I see no reason why it shouldn't) it retains the 'Planar Sound' it'll be a cracking machine to use and listen to. I'm a huge fan of the Regas in whatever shape or form having had one of the original R200-armed Planar 3's 25 years ago. They're one of the best adverts for simple, no-nonense but very high quality engineering out there. I've even been tempted to compare a P7 with my Gyro - having a fast-growing young child in the house (she's now 3 months old) may well bring about this test earlier than I first thought!

 

Ya know? I had that exact same thought!
Joel, you devil, you! :JPS:

But we could take this even further into air-cleaners, abandoning our feline friends, or perhaps moving house to non-industrial areas, etc. This kind of fun just never stops!

 

Now we're really talking source-first
Any disued fab clean rooms for sale?

 

Well I didn't bring up the potential not purchasing of 1000 Blue Notes...

But the Clearaudio he compared to the Rega is in that price bracket, so some discussion is clearly relevant. And Mike could easily afford a top end turntable, it's all a matter of priorities.

20 years ago Michael could easily have found a competent demo of a Planar 3, LP12/Basik and LP12/Ittok all with the same cartridge. All sorts of things would have become clear. And perhaps he would understand what 'source first' means....

Paul

 

As you say Paul, it's all a matter of priorities and taking another big chunk out of my mortgage is rather higher up the list than a top end TT, especially as I've yet to purchase a single piece of vinyl. I think spending £6-7K on a TT before having a serious vinyl collection is, if not absurd, certainly a case of having the wrong priorities.

Michael.

 

Hi Mike!

Looks like we're soon to welcome you to the wonderful world of the black spinning stuff

Im sure the Rega deck will be excellent, and provide you with all you need to enjoy your records.

I think rega decks are great, and the RB700 arm shouldnt let you down.

Im pleased the dealer reccomended a wall shelf and a decent phono stage. You need a stable platform and a good phono stage to have any chance of decent sounds IMHO.

Ive looked on the web at the TT PSU, and I'd be very suprised if it didnt improve things further. A stable power supply seems to provide rock solid speed accuracy, which is very important of course. Perhaps this is something to try later. Its great that you have the option.

Best thing to do now I would say is to shop about for records. Check out www.gemm.com, www.netsounds.co.uk, www.simplyvinyl.co.uk, www.diversevinyl.com as a start. Netsounds is particularly good for UK second hand stuff.

You will probably also want to invest in a decent brush and a circular spirit level. I use a carbon fibre brush myself, and havent found the need yet to spend loads on a wet cleaner. A swipe with the brush and regular playing seems to get rid of most detritus on old records.

Chris

 

The price is not relevant. The races top gear proof this, last week a £30,000 car prooved to the second fastest car they have driven round their track and they have driven some very fast cars costing upwards of £500,000.

I am sure there are many £700 turntables that could easily beat a many £1500 models. Its just marketing, Rega are quite mass produced and don't quite have the same unique image as say Clear Audio.

Buying a £6k turntable without a record collection is like buying a £100k Ferrrari without a driving licence.

 

Good analogy

 

you mean the ariel atom?

well. its more of a glorified go-cart than a super car really... a bit like apples and oranges IMHO..

 

I agree.

It's a shame you weren't blown away by the expensive job though....

The P5 is probably what I would choose in your circumstances, I like the idea of hifi as a tool rather than as an object and Rega make very good tools. The P9 itself is extremely appealing although the only time I've heard one (at Bristol in the Rega room) the system sounded laughably bad..

Paul

 

Thats the one, no matter how basic it is, its still road legal.

 

It occured to me that my dealer shares his surname with our resident P9 owner, Tom (Alves). He also uses a Dyna cart and the Dyna P75 phono stage. Tom, if you're reading this, do you have any Portuguese ancestors?

The P9 is extremely appealing I have to admit. It's a shame the dealer didn't have one to dem...

Michael.

 

Hi Michaelab,

It is good to see you are interested in getting into turntables. They can be great fun and open you up to a whole new world of music and record collecting. One of the big downsides of getting a turntable is getting to hear a lot of the options. The shop you tried has a very small range. But you can't go far wrong with a Rega as a first deck.

The P5 is a strong seller for Rega as it is at a popular price point. With some strong competition. I'm glad you had a decent listen to it.

The seller came out with some interesting points.

One thing about the source first way of thinking is that any half decent budget amp & speakers will show differences in the turntable front end. Highly revealing amps & speakers will show up poorer tuntables. The source first applies well with turntables because to improve them you need to build them better. By design, materials and tolerences. This puts the cost up.

This is not to say that amp & speakers are not important.

I would say get the best turntable you afford. Try in your system to see if it does the job for you.

I generally agree with this. With turntables, design, materials & build are most important for a good sound. There are areas that tweaking by ear can be done. Setting up a cartridge, the fine tuning can be done by ear. Placement of the deck can be done as well.

Generally the thinking is for better PSU first before cartridge. A better power supply will feed the motor with a purer mains. This should control the motor better, allow less noise, vibration & interference getting into the platter, turntable, arm & cartridge. It also allows the platter to rotate at a more constant speed. All the big hitting turntables have power supplies, some very fancy. Try the PSU should be fun.

In one way, I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger difference. There should have been for the money. I have heard the Clearaudio at shows and it has never really impressed me. I have only heard the P9 at shows but have heard a number of very good reports. Other more expensive decks should produce a bigger difference and a more enjoyable sound.

There are millions of pieces of vinyl of music of different styles waiting to be found. Explore and enjoy.


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