Newbie returns to vinyl

After re-discovering my small record collection recently, I decided to buy a turntable to listen to some music I haven't heard in years. So after a fair bit of reading, most of it on here (Dunkyboys thread), it appeared that a Rega Planar 3 in reasonable condition would be a good place to start. Off to eBay, acquired a Planar 3 in excellent condition with R200 arm and an Audio Technica AT31E cartridge. The TT also came with an ancient battery powered Rogers MCP 100 phono stage.

Took the lot to local dealer to have it checked and set up. £24 later have it back home, installed and sounding OK. Dealer suggested that the cartridge should be replaced due to its age but still sounded OK when he tested it.

Now the usual questions, any suggestions as to a cartridge and should I look to a more modern phono stage? Dealer recommended the Rega Fono as one that would deliver a significant improvement.

Thanks in anticipation

Paul

 

havent a clue on the quality of the phono stage. got to be worth trying a few different ones. graham slee seems king of the budget phono stages.

people here always reccomend the denon 103.

do a search on denon 103, and you'll get loads to read.

for graham slee prices, look at www.emporiumhifi.co.uk

 

I reckon the audiotechnica OC7 is worth a look too. Depends on how much cash you want to spend though.

 

Dealer recommended the Rega Fono as one that would deliver a significant improvement

Hi Paul,
I had a Rega Phono for a couple of weeks and the sound was very good if a little on the dry side of neutral, bit like most Rega products. Anyway, should work well with your Planar 3. Have a look at the Graham Slee Gram Amp 1 £85. Bit of a bargain.

 

Thanks for your suggestions, so it's looks Graham Slee Phono Stage and the Denon 103. If these aren't changed together, phono stage first or cartridge? If it's the cartridge, is there an idiots guide to installing and setting the cartridge? Do I need any tools / guides to check alignment etc?

Anex, looked for the OC7 and it appears to be superceded by the OC9 which is a touch more than I can afford (justify to someone else ) at the moment.

Thanks again

Paul

 

No the OC7 is the middle of the range, it goes OC5, 7, then 9. Or atleast it used to, having a look round it looks like they might have dropped the 7 which is a shame cuz it was a good cart for the price (£180 ish I think)

As for order to do stuff, the cart you have is MC I believe, but other than that I don't know what its like, but I'd look at changing the phono stage first. The cart might be ok to use for a bit.

 

You won't be able to use the DL103 with a Graham Slee phono stage - the DL103 is a low output MC and Graham Slee stages are all designed for MM or high output MC carts.

Denon make a couple of higher output MC carts - the DL110 and DL160 which might have a high enough output for the Graham Slee stages. Graham Slee states the Goldring 1000 series MM cartrdiges are a good match for his products - there are 4 carts with progressively fancier stylus profiles and you can get a small trade in discount on ANY cartridge (even broken ones!) from www.mantra-audio.co.uk

Alternatively the Trichord Dino phono stage will work fine with the DL103 but is not exactly a budget model (£300). I believe the Pro-Ject phono stages have the facility to handle low output MCs but haven't heard one.

 

You could get some step up tansformers and use it with the Graham Slee. Still miles cheaper than a Dino.

 

Hold on here folks. we're talking about the Rega RB200 - a glorified Acos Lustre. I've got one and would never put any MC on it never mind an AT OC9, the bearings and build quality are just not up to it. Keep to as good MM cartridge!

Bob

 

Oops - I was thinking the arm was a RB250 - sorry.

 

Thanks for that Bob. Busy last night otherwise would have ordered already.

If it helps, I was looking to spend around £200 on the phone stage and cart, so within that I could buy the Gram Amp 1 or 2 (as it's only £40 dearer but according to the reviews outperforms its price point by a significant margin)?
This then leaves between £75 - 120 for the cart. Goldring 1042 is recommended by Graham Slee as a good match for the amp 2.

Thank you all for your input

Paul