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Why couldn't I love my RP6?

raysablade

pfm Member
For a long time I enjoyed and respected, but could not love, my RP6/Exact combo.
  • It sounds great when I'm listening to it, always engaging and strong but never tiring.
  • I listen to it more than once a week and whilst I am listening to it, I am never unhappy.
  • Its red livery is the colour I would choose for any turntable were it available.
  • It is easy to live with and until recently a dealer was on hand to swap the cart when required.
I love the rest of the system it sits in. Falcon Q7s, Sugden A21SE Signature, RME ADI 2. All components that I have zero desire to change or upgrade. The RME is particularly interesting in that respect because its clinical dissection of digital streams contrasts perfectly with the warm embrace the RP6/Exact combo offers vinyl.

Nevertheless, I just could not stop thinking about alternatives to the RP6 and what could replace it.

For a long time, I thought the problem was the hideous font Rega chose for the "RP6" script, but thinking it through if you offered to swap me a newer P6, I suspected I would feel the same discomfort. So, it was likely to be a Rega thing.

That said, if I did take the direction my mind has started to settle on: an LP 12 chassis in a custom red colour, it would be with a Rega arm and Exact cartridge so I wouldn't be walking away from Rega. Therefore, it must be something to do with a chassis I've been sold on for over 30 years.

This morning, whilst listening to Mary Love FWIW, it dawned on me. The Rega Planar 2 that I had started out with was a great budget choice and I must have perceived it's simplicity as a value-based compromise. It would have been bigger and more complex had I had more cash to spend.

As I had more cash to spend and went up the Rega range the chassis technology employed and the whole resulting package got lighter. I know why Rega do it, I'm a regular Rega customer after all, but the scrimping and saving family man in my subconscious hadn't caught up. One day he still aimed to trade up to something appropriately heavy.

Having understood that I am completely content.
 
I liked the RP6 / Exact I had. I went to an RP8 with an exact, simply more "analogue" sounding to my ears at the time! Really did like that even better with a MP-500 cart, then a Quintet Black. Then heard a WT Simplex with a DV20x2L.........well, only one way to go then!
 
Regas are unattractive to me because :

They are belt drives (I like DD)
They have no suspension whatsoever
They have a glass platter (I prefer metal)
The felt mat doesn’t support the records properly
They still look really dated
The tonearm finish has always been so-so

These are the reasons why I’ve never had a Rega over the last 40 years. I did have an RB300 at some point though, not very good.
 
Regas are unattractive to me because :

They are belt drives (I like DD)
They have no suspension whatsoever
They have a glass platter (I prefer metal)
The felt mat doesn’t support the records properly
They still look really dated
The tonearm finish has always been so-so

These are the reasons why I’ve never had a Rega over the last 40 years. I did have an RB300 at some point though, not very good.

I think that is fuller explanation of what I needed to explain to myself. I can appreciate all of those differences with the competition and the impact they might have. I have a pile of spare cash to put into something better finished and more substantial,

However, baring a short excursion away to Clearaudio I've stuck with iterations of the same Rega design over the same 40 years.

It sounds fine and it is all I need.
 
I think it looks far too basic for such a player, it could be an rp1, 2, 3, it should be removed alongside the 2.
 
I think it looks far too basic for such a player, it could be an rp1, 2, 3, it should be removed alongside the 2.

You could say the same about most Rega players. I had an RP10 and sat next to a P1 nobody would have guessed the price difference.

One day he still aimed to trade up to something appropriately heavy.

You need to be really careful as perceived value and performance often don't go hand in hand. Most of the heavyweight turntables I've heard I've not liked. I wouldn't call the LP12 heavy, it's average. The top Regas are very light.
 
Get a properly fettled Thorens TD124 and you’ll never need anything else.
Or, perhaps, a Classic 301 or 401 (my own favourite being the flush strobe 401).

Interesting that you suggest a 401. One of the more recent assaults on my confidence in the RP6 came via this ad.

Then this morning the old un-suspended workhorse was doing such an admirable job that I turned the argument around and asked myself "why do you want to change?"

 


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