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Rega: is a rigid wall mount so important ?

daniele_g

pfm Member
I'm attracted by a Rega RP TT, but I've read somewhere somepeople who claims that you absaloodely need a very very rigid and stable base for it, such as a wall mount. "no hifi racks", they say, "or you'd better go for a different TT".

is that true ? is it so critical ?
I guess a stable base is good for any TT, but I think that a good dedicated hifi piece of furniture will do for most TTs out there without ruining sound so drastically as some say about Regas.

I cannot have the TT on wall mount... just a normal dedicated hifi furniture (Solidsteel).
 
Hi, Rega TT's need a light but rigid (wood is good) piece of furniture (heavy furniture is sound deadening)
For years I've used a small Ikea Lack table ;-)
 
Its all to do with sound and vibration transmission - the solid format of the Rega TTs does transmit vibration to the audio unless its completely isolated somehow - two obvious ways - a rigid wall mount if you have suspended floors is probably the best but if your floors are solid and dead then a quality solid rack of some type so long as it doesn't sing along with the speakers!
 
Rega's work great on their own wall bracket. And even better on a Mana Reference Table.

Cheers, Willem
 
There are a lot of variables when it comes to placing a turntable. As a general principle, the player is trying to read an extremely small variation in the walls of a vinyl LP. Anything that interferes with that is basically a bad thing (albeit sometimes the distortion can manifest pleasantly). It's very difficult to isolate your TT from all external vibration and noise, and how much reaches the player will depend on the construction of your property, the type of speakers you use, your flooring etc.

It is highly unlikely that with a reasonable bit of common sense and experimentation that you should not be able to find a solution that enables you to get the player working well.
 
I've been using various Rega's for over 15 years. P3, P5 and now RP8. I have never found them that sensitive to stand, rack, shelf. Not to try one based on gossip would be daft.
I use them as I often find myself living a long way from good dealer support. The lack of a need to fiddle and tune then works for me.
Dave
 
I've had a P3-2000 and a RP6 on top of a (heavy) Ikea Expedit filled with records, which itself is on top of suspended wood floors. It's fine.

I would like to try a wall shelf eventually to see if there's any improvement.
 
pease do, James, and then let me know so I decide :D
just kiddin'...

thanks for all the answers so far. based on your answers, looks like my worries are excessive: all TTs, more or less, like a stable base, but Regas are not so much more squeamish than others that I should avoid them if I don't own a wall shelf.
right ?
 
I've sold (literally) thousands of Rega turntables over the years and never had anyone complain about mounting problems. They are far less prone to problems than some bouncy turntables.
 
I use my RP10 on a rack and have not experienced any problems. Ditto with a P9.

Excuse me for being thick but what exactly are these vibrations and does anybody know how to measure them ? Apologies for drifting off topic.
 
They played records ok for me on floor mounted supports but many years later I found they sounded much better on level wall mounted turntable stands - both Rega's own and an Audiotech worked very well. Can be fiddly with the Rega one as it didn't allow for any leveling adjustment.
 
it's their philosophy. No one company in any area of the business is all things to all people, or rather, all design theories at once. But if you've bought into one particular philosophy, generally speaking, that company's products work best when dealt with according to the company's philosophy.
 
I've sold (literally) thousands of Rega turntables over the years and never had anyone complain about mounting problems. They are far less prone to problems than some bouncy turntables.

Weirdly, I have to utterly disagree with this. I owned Rega decks for three decades - from a 2 to a 9 - and they were wildly sensitive to what they were on IME. This is perhaps completely understandable from a physics standpoint.

I remember putting my favourite 3 on a piece of solid slate and it completely transforming the sound. I remember putting the same 3 on a Townshend Seimic Sink and getting a very different (though still attractive) sound, And I recall putting a 9 on a Mana Reference table with a very pronounced effect, and then on a Mana wall shelf with an even more pronounced one.

Rega's low mass philosophy is very interesting and admirable, but it does have reasonably obvious consequences for support and isolation - as opposed to high mass designs like SMEs.
 
yuckyamson and Tim Jones express what I (roughly) referred in my opening post.
I'm sure Regas will play "OK" (as Robn says) on almost any rack, but is "OK" enough, compared to the TT's potential (and maybe in absolute terms) ?

I would not like to spend lots of money to have a TT playing "OK" when, under different conditions, it could play "WOW, that's wonderful !"; I would go for a less sensitive TT that will play well on my rack whilst it could play, in optimum conditions, a bit better than well (like the one I already own ?).

that's the very sense of my topic. :)
 
I would have thought a Rega would appreciate anything the help reduce air, motor or structure bourne resonances, even if it's only sticky Sorbothane feet ... .
 
Rega's are naturally resistant to external excitation by design.
The low mass/high stiffness concept running through all Rega TTs means that while they can read a surface if unsympathetically sited, it's a 'clean' reading without much of the ringing and, in extremis, howl of many other non suspended decks.

If you can accommodate a shelf on a solid wall that is the best option IME, but the decks often work fine on floor stands, or even cabinets.
 
yuckyamson and Tim Jones express what I (roughly) referred in my opening post.
I'm sure Regas will play "OK" (as Robn says) on almost any rack, but is "OK" enough, compared to the TT's potential (and maybe in absolute terms) ?

I would not like to spend lots of money to have a TT playing "OK" when, under different conditions, it could play "WOW, that's wonderful !"; I would go for a less sensitive TT that will play well on my rack whilst it could play, in optimum conditions, a bit better than well (like the one I already own ?).

that's the very sense of my topic. :)

See my post # 2 and buy an Ikea Lack table (GBP 5?) and listen.....;)
 
And I recall putting a 9 on a Mana Reference table with a very pronounced effect, and then on a Mana wall shelf with an even more pronounced one.

Rega's low mass philosophy is very interesting and admirable, but it does have reasonably obvious consequences for support and isolation - as opposed to high mass designs like SMEs.

I couldn't agree more. My P9 works excellently on the Mana Reference, but if I add a layer (Sound Stage) the performance is less good.

In the end light and rigid remains the thing to go for.

My old P3 did fine on Rega's own wallshelf and a lot less good on a Target.

Cheers,

Willem
 
If your floor is concrete, or solid timber with no bounce whatsoever, a rack is going to be just fine. If not, a wall shelf can be a better solution, but many stud walls are too flimsy, and can be as bad as a bouncy floor.
 


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