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Michael Fremer at Rega.

linnfomaniac83

I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
I don't know if anyone else has seen this but Michael Fremer has been at Rega and has made a series of four videos (only three uploaded as of yet). This is probably the most in depth Rega factory tour yet, interesting stuff!

First part is here, https://youtu.be/h7elN5KCPvU
 
Have always liked Rega. Nice folks. And that's a lovely factory and very impressive from any angle. Thanks for the link.
 
Much more detailed than the WHF one, if you don't mind the hand-held camera/fly-on-the-wall thing. There are 4 parts, nearly 2 hours in total.
 
Yes, it's remarkably transparent, they hide nothing. Definitely the most comprehensive factory tour to date.
 
Though I'm slightly going off Mr Fremer..... RG has the good grace to ignore his more irritating comments.
 
Though I'm slightly going off Mr Fremer..... RG has the good grace to ignore his more irritating comments.

Fremer does have a daft/awkward sense of humour but I think he means well. Roy Gandy is a very likeable character. His staff seem happy and comfortable when he's around and that's always a good sign. It's also great to see a busy factory in the UK. He should be very proud.
 
I found it interesting that he's been vindicated about claiming that most regas run fast. The one in the video did....and their chart of acceptible speed tolerance favors fast over slow for every model. I have to say I don't understand why they don't want greater speed accuracy which is acheivable.

NOTE: I love rega as a company, their products, their philosophy, their nature. IT's just an interesting side point about one aspect of the tables.
 
I found it interesting that he's been vindicated about claiming that most regas run fast. The one in the video did....and their chart of acceptible speed tolerance favors fast over slow for every model. I have to say I don't understand why they don't want greater speed accuracy which is acheivable.

NOTE: I love rega as a company, their products, their philosophy, their nature. IT's just an interesting side point about one aspect of the tables.

I get the impression that controlling vibration and maximising bearing quality is their highest priority, speed accuracy comes second. I'm not sure about the RP6/8/10 but the P25/5/7/9 models had adjustable motor positioning/belt tensioning which allows you to trim the speed. I have a well fettled P5 and whilst I don't have the tools to measure wow and flutter, I can't detect it. It runs at as close to 33.3 as I can measure.

I do respect the fact that they are open about it.
 
Jeff,

I have to say I don't understand why they don't want greater speed accuracy which is acheivable.
Regas run slightly fast so you can get a bit more LP listening in on any given night. It's one of the many reasons why analogue is better than digital.

Joe
 
Regas run slightly fast so you can get a bit more LP listening in on any given night. It's one of the many reasons why analogue is better than digital.

I have to disagree. If you want a crude speedup like that, any simple sample rate converter can do that, but in the digital domain you can use formant and phase vocoding to play the music faster without changing the tempo. Try that with analog!

OK, formant & phase vocoding has a dark side - autotune.
 
Julf,

I'm going to have to disagree here. Chipmunk voice, irritating as it is, is preferable to autotune. Listen to Cher's "I believe" if you don't believe me.

Joe
 
Fremer does have a daft/awkward sense of humour...

It's the funny voices that irritate me, After saying that, there's more good than bad in him.

I've never owned a Rega product, but it seems to be a good company. I hadn't realised they make the arm lifts for Linn.
 
It's the funny voices that irritate me, After saying that, there's more good than bad in him.

I've never owned a Rega product, but it seems to be a good company. I hadn't realised they make the arm lifts for Linn.

Lots of people use the Rega arm lift, it's an inexpensive, reliable and smooth operating part and Rega have always been happy to supply components to other manufacturers. Linn have them painted black so it's not obvious, they also used to use a different lever on them but use the standard Rega lever lever now too.
 
I get the impression that controlling vibration and maximising bearing quality is their highest priority, speed accuracy comes second. I'm not sure about the RP6/8/10 but the P25/5/7/9 models had adjustable motor positioning/belt tensioning which allows you to trim the speed. I have a well fettled P5 and whilst I don't have the tools to measure wow and flutter, I can't detect it. It runs at as close to 33.3 as I can measure.

I do respect the fact that they are open about it.

There's no question it's not their priority, and as you've correctly asserted above, other factors are. These days, however, it's easier to improve speed accuracy and stability than it was. They go to the trouble of designing this ultra accurate machine to *measure* the speed....so why not just try and improve this down the line? That's only my point. They're fantastic tables. The lot of them. Top to bottom. No argument on that point. If I couldn't have an LP12, I'd have a Rega. It just seems that it's an addressable area for them and couldn't, in anyway, hurt.

Look Roy admits in the video he didn't build a MC for many years because he just didn't get the idea in his head clearly why it would/could work. Now he is. Maybe he just needs to come around to prioritizing speed stability. Hell, next thing you know he'll give a shit about VTA and Azimuth.
 
In general you want the unloaded speed to be slightly high, because it will drop when in use as the belt stretches. And IIRC the speeds shown were very much in the right area. The idea of Rega running audibly fast remains a myth...

I think it's fascinating that Rega are actually researching TTs in a proper way. I suspect they're quite unusual. I want one of their rotary encoder discs, and am prepared to pay...

Paul
 
Now there's a man who really deserves a knighthood. 80% export. Nice one.

Yes I was most impressed at that. I worked in electronic manufacturing for the first five years of my working life. I'd always had a very keen interest in the industry. I got made redundant three times because work was going abroad. It is truly heartwarming to see a British manufacturing wholly producing goods in the U.K. and exporting... they seem to be growing too!
 
On the other hand, Sir James Dyson, who moved his manufacturing to Malaysia...

[EDIT Actually, reading a bit closer, despite this fact there are many other things he's done to boost employment so it's not a completely fair criticism]
 
Listen to Cher's "I believe" if you don't believe me.

I do believe you, Joe, even without having to force myself to listen to Cher again. The way autotune is used in that song (and tons of current hits) is a deliberate misuse of the technology, sort of like how guitar amplifies use deliberate distortion. Phase and formant vocoding is capable of very high quality transformations, and autotune is just a rather unfortunate implementation of the technology...
 


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