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Michael Fremer at Rega.

I watched the first hour earlier. Excellent stuff, genuinely interesting and informative. Michael's camera work is a little motion-sickness inducing on a 50" TV, but a small price to pay!
 
Thoroughly enjoyed watching that and so nice to see a designer with a solid understanding of his craft. Such a refreshing change from the mere 'assemblers' meeting market expectation which unfortunately make up the majority.

Don't entirely agree with Roy on MC/MM phono stage design though - not convinced you need two entirely different circuits, the front end perhaps but not the rest IMO.
Loved his comments on the ultimate phono stage though and how 'it will cost X because it doesn't need to cost any more' - refreshing honesty.

Will be buying that tracking force gauge when it appears :)

Now, new MMs please!
 
So Jim Marshall got it all wrong?;):D

I wrote deliberate, didn't I? :)

But what Marshall amps were good at was going loud - the deliberate distortion was really pioneered by Grady Martin, and commercialized by Gibson and Fender.
 
Originally Posted by Joe P View Post
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.
Hahaha! Very good. I'll certainly be repeating this to folk in the future.
 
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...

Having a foot in both camps, I will put this down to engineers being creative in some ways only- hence them being engineers. The musicians got creative in different ways. I am OK with Auto-tune being used in any which way. At least this "distortion" it isn't done under the cloak of authenticity like some singing voices.

Rega are defiantly one of the best companies around. I have been to the factory on several occasions and have always been impressed with their creative solutions. When a machine is best, use it and when a human is best, use them. They manufacture a lot in house. The way they set up the manufacture of their arms should be a lesson to all in the industry.
 
..a sneak peek at an upcoming RP6 successor.

https://youtu.be/KdgECTh-B9s

Eagerly awaiting new 2017 Planar 5, 6 or 7 to explorer if they are worthy successors

The 2016 planar 3 is better sound and build than replaced RP3 imo
In fact with a separate PSU I really don't miss my old Planar 9 ��

It would be interesting to see if Rega offer new MM range or mid level MC cartridges
 
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...

Paul

In the samples Fremer reviewed, after many hours of play, the tables measured fast. If it's running fast, it's fast.

As for whether it's "audible", of course you could argue that it isn't unless you compared it to something that wasn't fast.....and again, as I've said, this is but one aspect of a table's performance. And again, a table should ideally run at 33 and 1/3, or as close to this as possible. That isn't for debate. The importance of it, perhaps, is.....but clearly speed accuracy and stability is a priority for many manufacturers, moreso now with servo controlled units and Rega appears to be no different.

I don't understand where "myth" arises out of some sampled facts.
 
I don't understand where "myth" arises out of some sampled facts.
Because it is not substantiated as a Rega problem, and not contrasted with other non-servo belt-drive TTs.

And for example all turntables that use AC motors at mains frequencies are subject to variation of up to about 0.5%. Right now in the UK the grid is running 0.1% slow. A quartz crystal will vary with temperature by about 0.0025%. The numbers for the RP8 I see in the Fremer review and comments are less than 0.01% fast.

If absolute speed matters to you (and there are circumstances where it does) then you need a turntable that is adjustable and a measuring instrument that is more reliable than the turntable. Which is a non-trivial problem in itself. The strobe fitted to Technics turntables, for example, is no good. And anything attached to the mains is no good. And anything with a crystal may be no better than the TT you are trying to measure. Also when you measure it you must be playing a record with an average modulation, which probably eliminates using the W&F test track. And we know the Analogue Productions W&F track has its own (minor) issues.

It's a really interesting problem, probably an irrelevant one to almost all record player users, and I don't see anything to suggest that Rega are way out of line here. At least not so far.

Paul
 
Thanks for sharing. A fantastic company and Roy seems like an absolute gent.

+ 1

Incredible company and a very nice Owner/Director. A lot of research and advanced tooling. There is a lot of money there.

Interesting was the test benches for the different decks. Solid and high mass.
This is in direct contrast to the lightweight engineering of the turntables themselves.

It seems this is the way to site a Rega Deck ie. on a High Mass surface.
 
+ 1

Incredible company and a very nice Owner/Director. A lot of research and advanced tooling. There is a lot of money there.

Interesting was the test benches for the different decks. Solid and high mass.
This is in direct contrast to the lightweight engineering of the turntables themselves.

It seems this is the way to site a Rega Deck ie. on a High Mass surface.

The high mass surface was to isolate the test equipment more than the deck itself. Vibrations affect the accurate of the speed measurement and bearing rumble sensors.
 
The high mass surface was to isolate the test equipment more than the deck itself. Vibrations affect the accurate of the speed measurement and bearing rumble sensors.

Understand.

Wouldn't that make sense in a real use situation? Doesn't really matter what you isolate what from ... , no?
 
Understand.

Wouldn't that make sense in a real use situation? Doesn't really matter what you isolate what from ... , no?

Well I'd have thought so yes. It pays to experiment I suppose. Mine is stood on an IKEA kallax, full of vinyl and Linn LK kit. Put it this way, I wouldn't want that lot dropped on my feet... deck sounds just fine on there.
 
I've just watched up to part 4 - I was very impressed with RGs openness and clearly engineering led approach. It did make me want to get a Rega at some point in the future - likely if/when I'm buying my last table with no intention of changing.

Re the speed question/myth - I interpreted the chart on the wall as an indication that their acceptable tolerances, show a family of tables that do (with the amount varying depending on the mode) run fast as shipped.

I'm assuming that green is a pass = ship and yellow / red is fail = send back for fix.

There will of course some that are exactly on speed to what ever level of tolerance you find acceptable, but there are others that will be higher than that and none that will be lower.

Unless yellow on the chart is also a pass, though if it is why have it yellow and not just green.

But even if yellow = green = pass, then on the lower/mid range tables the yellow/slow band is smaller than the green/fast band meaning that on average the tables will still be fast.
 


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