Turntables (Again)

Well I contacted the local Rega dealer and the dealer in Sheffield. It appears that somehwere in transit the deck received a blow heavy enough to shift the inner plinth. So now I have to wait for the dealer in Sheffield to sort it out with Parcel Force and take it from there. But the local dealer hinted that it would probably have to go back to Rega as there may be other damage not immediately visible. So not much of a bargain now .

Here is the damage, I took a series of these and emailed them to the dealer to help clarify the problem.

 

Bad news. It shouldn't cost you anything, any repair cost should be covered by Parcelfarce insurance, but that's really irritating. You have my sympathy.

Calling Mick Parry - buy this man a drink, immediately!

-- Ian

 

you never know, you may end up with an upgrade, seeing as you cant get the P25 anymore!

 

Hmmmm.... visions of a P9 . Unfortunately I reckon that Rega probably still have a few P25's kicking around somewhere in their warehouse as the local dealer mentioned that he could get hold of one for me when I was comparing prices. Mind you a free Exact cartridge wouldn't go amiss .

 

I see many on this forum seem to have high regard for the Rega P25.
Can any comment on the sonic differences between the P25 and P9 as there is a large jump in price.

 

Well, the dealer replied today to say that I can either get a refund or they'll attempt to get the spares from Rega and repair the unit themslelves. I did enquire as to whether or not they could get me an entirely new deck, as I'm not too keen on having to repair a turntable before I've even used it. But according to the dealer Rega don't have any more in stock. I'm also not too keen on having to ship the deck back and forth between Edinburgh and Sheffield, especially after Parcel Force's last performance. So it looks like I'll need to find an alternative turntable in the £400 - 500 price bracket. Any recommendations?
Ah well so much for that bargain .

 

How depressing.

The dealer are presumably only offering to repair rather than replace because it's the last one they have. In normal circumstances, I would expect a replacement.

Before doing anything else, I suggest you email Rega directly - [email protected] - and explain the predicament (they must still have some stock, I would guess). They're a nice company to deal with. I'm sure they will help out with a replacement if they have one, and arrange the financial aspect with the dealer.

Good luck.

-- Ian

 

Judging from the pic it does't look like your P25 is badly damaged at all. The outer plinth is held on with 4 bolts and two part plastic 'spacer thingies', the bolts have (IIRC) Torque head bolts. As long as nothing is actually broken it should be pretty simple to true the outer surround up by slackening the bolts off and moving it back where it should be.

Tony.

 

Maybe, but if the decks taken a crack, it could have damaged the bearing as well (although of course that could be replaced). The other worry is parcel force playing rugby with it again

 

My first thoughts were that it would just be a case of undoing the screws and putting the inner plinth square again. However my concerns were that if I fiddled with the deck I could make the problem worse and screw any chances of getting it replaced/repaired. I didn't realise that the spacers were in two parts, because I thought that they had been damaged as well, but what looked like cracks are probably just the splits between the two parts.
I did contact my local Rega dealer who suggested that it would be unlikely that the rest of the deck would have suffered. Of course there's no telling until you put it all together and see if it runs. I've contacted Rega as Sideshowbob suggested to see what their advice is.
One option I haven't explored is taking the deck to the local Rega dealer and letting them give it the once over, though it's doubtful if they would do this for free, especially since I didn't purchase the deck from them.

Thanks for all the help.
BL21DE3

 

Hmm... but aren't they the chaps you are buying your cart from? May focus them a little maybe?

 

Well things might be looking up, though I won't hold my breath, as I just received this message from Rega's service department.

Dear Ewan,

Sorry to hear you have experienced problems.
The P25's are indeed out of stock as the recent sales were at a special price as they are end of line.

Is the turntable actually damaged or is the surround just misaligned from the inner plinth ?
If so then its a one minute fix to readjust the frame. The reason the P25 frame sometimes moves in the carton is due to the surround fixings which we cannot do up too tightly. Over tightening causes unwanted resonance's and affects the decks performance. Dealers usually unpack a P25 before its sold and check the frame alignment. Your dealer should be able to realign the surround easily with the correct tools.

So I've sent them back some of the images I took and fingers crossed it is a simple fix.

BL21DE3

 

Well good news, I just recieved this from the Rega service department.

Dear Ewan,

A simple realignment is all that's required, your dealer will have a torque driver which we use to adjust the frames. Please ensure he does not over tighten them as I mentioned previously as it will affect performance considerably.

Sorry for the inconvenience, if only we could find a carriage company who understood the word 'fragile' then all our problems would be solved overnight !

So when the local dealer gets the cartridge in, I'll get the frame realigned at the same time.

Thanks for all your suggestions and support.

BL21DE3

 

Quite ironic that Rega, which was formed due to Roy Gandy's dissatisfaction with other manufacturers' turntables (many needed fixing up before they could be sold) have a situation where one of their own decks is in the same situation!

Rega are ace at customer support though, so you're in safe hands.

The main bearing'll be fine - the red tape/polystyrene is there for a reason - the subplatter will not be touching the bearing so no damage will have happened.

Take it to the dealer to have it fitted - you'll knacker the arm if you use the wrong type of wrench.

 

The saga continues.......

I took the turntable to the dealer this morning to have the cartridge fitted and the plinth realigned. Only for them to discover that the shunt in transit that had moved the plinth was severe enough to strip the mounting for the screw which secures the outer frame. So I now need an entirely new plinth for my P25. So cue another happy round of phone calls to the dealer in Sheffield and Rega to try and fix this new problem. I'm beginning to wonder if its worth all the hassle.

 

What a nightmare.

Good news is that the plinth is easy to replace. It'll be worth it in the end...

-- Ian

 

another carefull delivery by Parcel Farce!

 

Oi - Parry! Get in here!!!!

Seriously though - it WILL be worth the agro - you just wait...

 

Well things are progressing, the P25 will have to be returned to the Rega factory for a rebuild as it involves having to remove the motor etc. and they want to ensure that everything is done properly. So fingers crossed they get a courier who understands what 'Fragile' means this time. And hopefully I'll have a fully functional turntable sometime soon.

 

Ever get the feeling somethings just weren't meant to be?

The latest development in the great turntable saga is that Parcel Force appear to have 'misplaced' my P25. Because when I contacted Rega to enquire politely how the repair was going they informed me that they never received my turntable. So cue phoning the dealer in Edinburgh to check it was actually collected, which it was last wednesday. Then it was phoning the original dealer to get them to chase up Parcel Force, who after 6 hours still couldn't tell the dealer where the parcel was. At this rate I might get a working turntable by xmas if I'm lucky.