Turntables (Again)

Originally posted by BL21DE3
Thanks for the info guys. Uncle Ants, the deck arrives tomorrow so I'm off to the local dealers this afternoon to see what's on offer. Though I reckon I'll probably end up with either a 540 or 1042 as they seem to be the best options. The only thing I'm concerned about is the actual fitting of the cartridge. I see that Rega recommend having it fitted by a qualified dealer. How hard is it to mount a cartridge yourself? I'm just paranoid about destroying my deck before it's even been near any vinyl.
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Its not that hard if you know what you are doing. I've never managed to damage mine, but if you were real clumsy I guess you could. If worried you could ask the dealer you buy the cart from nicely. I'm sure they'll be able to help.

If you do want to set it up yourself, you'll need a cartridge protractor to get it correctly aligned - you may get one with the cart - otherwise there are downloads from the net. You'll also need a stylus balance to get the tracking force correct - Ortofon do one for about £5 I think. Best thing to do is take it slowly and carefully (and sober :) ).

Look here for a useful guide:

http://www.tonearm.co.uk/tonearm_installation_instructions.pdf

(it deals with tonearm setup as well as cart setup, but is fairly useful)

Good luck and have fun with it :MILD:
 
Well the trip to the dealers was interesting. The first one I went to ended up having the Ortofon rep in, since that was the brand they stocked, so he recommended the 5X0 series (obviously) but also suggested the path of a moving coil cartridge coupled to a project phono box, but at the moment that's a bit more than I'm looking to spend having just shelled out for the deck. The next dealer was pretty hopeless, I think I ended up with the new trainee who seemed uterlly clueless. The last dealer I went to was probably the best of the bunch and suggested a Rega Super Elys as a good choice compared to the Goldring 1042. Unfortunately neither of these were in stock and so I'd be looking at a 2-3 day wait, however they were more than happy for me to bring the deck in and set it up for me.

So I guess I'll have to do my homework on the Rega carts, but at the moment it looks like a toss up between the Super Elys and the 1042. Anyone got any advice regarding the Rega carts?
 
Originally posted by BL21DE3

So I guess I'll have to do my homework on the Rega carts, but at the moment it looks like a toss up between the Super Elys and the 1042. Anyone got any advice regarding the Rega carts?
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No idea how they sound, but I believe they have a special three point fixing system especially designed for use on rega arms which means that aligning them is a doddle (basically you can't fix em to the arm unaligned).
 
I'm too dumbstruck to offer advice - you have 3 dealers who all stock turntable bits within walking distance of one another?

Not too sure about Rega carts but you would hope for some sort of synergy. I may have got this muddled in my head but don't/didn't Goldring make carts for Rega?
 
Goomer, it depends on your defintion of 'walking distance' :), I did end up walking about 2-3 miles in total (but I need the exercise). As for the Rega carts, they seem to get favourable reviews, and they are apparently made in house. Though I do know that Goldring make cartridges for a variety of people. The dealer did mention that the three point fixing and the fact they're made by the people who make the deck did add to the synergy. Agh! I thought buying a turntable would be hard, but that was the easy part.
 
The Goldring and the Rega are both from the same dealer yeah? Mebbe you could persuade him to do the impossible and actually get a dem??

Most manufacturers of budget(ish) carts would be daft not to build em without a view to installing in rega arms anyway, they've got such a huge chunk of the tonearm market - so I'm not entirely convinced the synergy argument works.
 
Rega carts seem to be a love them or hate them kind of thing. Some people are scathing about them, others rate them.

I've never had one at home, so I have no idea. I suspect there's not much wrong with them, there isn't much wrong with anything I've heard that has a Rega badge on it, and you won't have any mounting or VTA issues to worry about. I used a 1042 for years, however, and really like them (still have one in case the Rohmann does a 7_V), if that helps at all.

-- Ian
 
Agh! I thought buying a turntable would be hard, but that was the easy part.
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You haven't even got to the "is that end of side distortion/sibilance/static/misalignment/scratches I can hear?" stage yet....

As for the Rega carts, they seem to get favourable reviews, and they are apparently made in house.
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I stand corrected - there are a lot of things in my head which do get muddled, so I'm always grateful if someone can straighten any of them out.

Have fun with it and let us know how you get on when you actually get to listen to your new deck. By the way, regarding a V15III - I managed to get mine for free by buying a deck with one fitted and then selling the deck, so if you're not in a rush to buy one this is the way to go IMHO.

Hope that helps,

Goomer.
 
Uncle Ants, the problem is that A) neither of them are in stock, so it'd be a case of ordering them both and B) the dealer has disposed of their P25 stock, so I'd have to use mine as the demo unit. But it is a valid point, and one worth considering.

Sideshowbob, I must admit that there seems to be far more reviews of the 1042 and I am moving more in that direction. The mounting/VTA shouldn't be too much of an issue as the dealer has agreed to do this for me if I order through them.

Goomer, I am aware that I'm on yet another slippery slope of hifi upgrade/tweaks/paranoia. As for the Shure option, I've already considered the buying of an old deck to get the cartridge, it's just a case of finding a good example, though I'm not in a rush.

At this rate it looks like it'll be the middle/end of next week before the deck is up and running, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

BL21DE3
 
Hi,

as has been posted up many times, Sideshowbob knows a dealer in Germany who sells Ortofohn cartridges at 1/2 price.

In an even playing field, Im sure a Rega or a Goldring, or a Shure would match an equivelant model from Ortofohn.

I dont fancy the chances of a 150 quid Rega cart (for example) sounding as good as a 300 quid Ortofohn!!! (bought 1/2 price of course).

Depending on what your budget is, buying 1/2 price might open things up somewhat, and enable you to get a high output moving coil, or a better MM than you might otherwise have done.

A better phono stage is always a good long term goal IMO aswell..

Id PM sideshow if I were u..
 
Happy to send you the guy's email address if you drop me a PM. If it was me, and I'd never fitted a cart before, I'd still probably buy something from the local helpful dealer and get him to make sure it was properly set up. An incorrectly set up more expensive cart will probably sound worse than a properly set up decent cheaper cart.

-- Ian
 
Bottleneck, I've already checked the german dealer that Goomer recommended. He has the kontrapunkt A/B and MC25 advertised currently, and while they are excellent prices, I'm limited to a MM phono stage at the moment. So I feel these would not be a good investment. Though I am considering an external phono stage and MC cartridge as a future upgrade. At the moment I'm just looking to get the deck up and running at a reasonable level.

Sideshowbob, I'll drop you a PM as it's always useful to have information for future reference. And you're right I am leaning towards the local dealer option because of the offer of setting everything up right, rather than doing it myself and worrying about whether everything was ok.

By the way thanks to everyone who's replied so far, your input has helped provide me with plenty of options and infomation.

Cheers,
BL21DE3
 
When I bought my P3, I listened using the Rega Super Bias, then the Elys and finally the Ortofon 520. The Regas sounded very good (and for some reason seemed to just ignore surface imperfection noise), mellow, relaxed, detailed. The Elys was definitely much more to my liking than the Super Bias. When the dealer put the Ortofon in, it was a vast difference. More surface noise, to be sure, but there was so much more attack, liveliness, etc. I listen to pop/rock mainly, so that suited me. I always try "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" first, the drums and the guitar and his closed mic-ed vocals.

The Ortofon literally made me sit forward out the chair, it was that good, and that much more exciting (to my ears) than the Regas.

Now, that was what I wanted to hear, and some people would go for the Rega sound, and to be honest, if the dealer hadn't insisted on trying the Ortofon for me, I would have been happy with the Elys. I suppose the morals is listen to as many carts as poss. (even ones you hadn't considered) as you never know what might be right for your ear.
 
Well the turntable arrived this morning at 8:15:D, and I've carefully unpacked it just to check that nothing was damaged in transit.
I bit the bullet and ordered in a Super Elys from the local stockist. So now I'll just have to wait for that to arrive and then I'll be up and running. God it's like xmas morning when someone forgot to buy batteries. At least the wait will give me time to sort out the rest of the system to make room for it.

I'd just like to thank everyone who contributed to the thread for their help and information.

Cheers,
BL21DE3
 
God it's like xmas morning when someone forgot to buy batteries.
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I got back my CD/DVD player yesterday after it'd been sent away for a service to correct loading problems, opened up the box when I got home and found that there was no power lead inside.

I feel your pain.
 
Originally posted by BL21DE3
God it's like xmas morning when someone forgot to buy batteries.
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It will be well worth the wait, honestly. Good choices BTW and welcome to the Rega P25 club!
 
Just a quick question for the P25 owners. When you bought yours, was the inner plinth secured to one of the surrounds edges? When I took my deck out the box again to recheck dimensions for the rack (and to stare longlingly at it :)) I noticed that when viewed front on, the front left corner of the black plinth is screwed up against the corresponding edge of the outer frame.
The reason I'm asking is that I'm paranoid that Parcel Farce have knackered the deck in transit and so my trip to local Rega dealer might not just be to get the cartridge fitted :(.
 


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