RB250 Derivatives v. Spacearm

Well we've moved house and last night managed to get some sort of vinyl setup together - albeit in Auntie's office and using the Old Michell rather than the Spacedeck and realised that the one thing I really miss about the old girl is the RB250 I have attached to her.

I'm not talking sonics - I don't know how they compare as the playing field isn't exactly level deck wise - I'm talking about the positive feel of the thing - the Spacearm is a bit fiddly and wobby by comparison - and no cueing arm .

So I was wondering if anyone has compared the Spacearm (in my case the older aluminium armed version, albeit with the latest pivot upgrade) against say the Tecnoarm or a fully tricked out OL RB250 - from a sonic point of view. I'm very happy with the way I have the Spacearm sounding (it sounds great), but wish I enjoyed using it as much as the Rega. If one of the upgraded Rega derivitives was competitive sonically with the Spacearm then I might be keen to change it (sale of the Spacearm shouldn't leave me too short I'd hope).

I suppose I could try the RB250 I have, but I'd need to buy the collar for it and it wouldn't be quite the comparison I'd like to make as its only got the OL stub, the wiring is plain vanilla old Rega. Also Auntie might have something to say about it - the Michell is hers now so far as she is concerned.

Has anyone tried both?

 

The spacearm feels a bit wobbly because its a unipivot, not gimble bearings like the RB. I haven't done a direct comparison but I'd say the spacearm is likely to be miles ahead of the RB in everyway. Regas really aren't all they're made out to be.

 

I know WHY it feels wobbly The problem is I'm not sure I like it. Causes no problem once its spinning - its sounds lovely - its an ergonomic, how it feels to use, thing.

Responses over on Pink Fish are either a) yes a modded and tricked Rega such as the Michell will be as good or b) no the Spacearm stomps all over Regas and their variants. With the digression that some on the asylum say the old aluminium armed Space is better than the carbon fibre (and a search on the asylum says whilst some think that is true ... others disagree )

 

IMO regas are pretty crap all round, they're good considering you can get a 250 and the OL weight for less than £200 but other than that they're pretty poor. They're very audible, especially in the bass and many people reckon the Alphason arms are much better and can be had for around the same money.
I reckon your fine the way you are, the spacearm was designed to work with the spacedeck, its a unipivot so its gonna make music better to begin with, and the regas are overhyped budget arms. Leave it alone!

 

"Pretty crap all round" is a bit strong don't you think . I don't know I've not heard it, but I've yet to hear a bad word about the Michell derivative.

I'm not going to fret over this anymore - an evening last night spent unpacking boxes in the front room with the Dansette and a stack of old Beatles records has reminded me that we can get a bit too anal about this hobby. By all audiophile measures the Dansette is just plain wrong ... but it did sound wonderful and me and Auntie had a boogie

 

Too analytical on some decks apparantly. Personally the fact the technoarm is about £400 for an (essentially) £100 arm puts me off from the start. But thats just me.

 

Well that's one way to put it - another is that the humble RB250 is a £100 arm that has no right to be a mere £100 in the first place and that the amount of fairy dust Michell sprinkled on it means the Tecnoarm is really another arm entirely. Y'know like a bog standard Subaru Impreza is/isn't the same car as an Impreza World Rally Car.

(I don't know why I am defending a product I've never heard, but its Friday and work is boring).

 

DUDE! - it's got holes in it

 

yeah it won't hold water. Whats the use of that?!

 

it will if it's cryogenically treated.

TBH Uncle, i wasn't that impressed with the RB250, especially with the shure, It suited the pickering better, but I felt it was holding the shure back, since moving to the Tabriz ZI i noticed a huge improvement, I haven't heard your TT/arm. Could the shure be the problem, it fails the 3rd and 4th tests on the HFN test disc, but sounds sublime with proper music, but it's relatively low output and potential noise problems seemed to be much reduced for me when I changed the arm, then when I changed the phonstage, the thing just snapped into life, sure I need the volume set a lot higher on the scale, but the detail, space and timing are now pretty decent. TBH with other comments regarding your TT i would look at cart or PS before I changed the arm.

 

Dear AK,

As I think I said before. I don't have a problem with the Shure on the Spacearm soundwise - not now I've managed to set it up correctly. But I didn't really have a problem with it on my old Michell/RB250 either. The whole question wasn't because of a sound problem, but to ask if any of the RB250 derivitaives were competitive with the Spacearm, because I peferred the way the RB250 works from a usability point of view. Pretty much convinced by now to leave it well alone. But thanks for the input anyway.