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Rega P8 feet- removable?

I’d certainly try the P8 with the metal Rega feet placed on a Symposium absorption platform. Works well with the metal feet on my LP12.

The LP12 has a very different sonic signature though. It has a warm, full sound whereas the Regas are colder and leaner. I'd be surprised if the metal feet sound better on the Rega.
 
The issue Rega have is using three feet with only one at the back. There is more weight on half the feet so the rubber gets squished and the deck is off level on a level surface. I've added a washer to the back foot on my deck to fix it but you shouldn't have to bodge things like that.

I've seen you walk this theory around the forum before but the Santoprene feet on the P8 are very resilient and don't deform at all. The first time I saw you say this I had to go and look at them to see if this was true. As with most things about the Rega design every aspect has been thoroughly thought out with nothing left to chance. I periodically check the level of my deck ( the platform which its on has been leveled) and it never changes.
 
The rubber feet will always be in compression, more so as weight is added with heavier platters. This has led to some wear on the feet on my P9. The rear foot has worn down by approximately 1.5mm, the front left half that again with next to nothing on the front right. Not bad after nineteen years and I'm not perplexed about it.
 
Wonder if it has anything to do with it being a different rubber compound, Santoprene as opposed to what they used previously.
 
I've seen you walk this theory around the forum before but the Santoprene feet on the P8 are very resilient and don't deform at all. The first time I saw you say this I had to go and look at them to see if this was true.

It's not a theory, it's a fact. The P8 is probably too new for it to have happened but if the feet or their tips are made of rubber they're going to get squashed. The rear foot on my RP10 was visibly squashed and effectively shorter than the front feet. As the outer plinth sat on much larger feet, which were not squashed, the inner and outer plinth did not line up and the platter was not level with the deck sat on a level surface. As the feet screw off I just put a washer between the foot and the plinth, probably about 2mm. The deck was serviced by Rega just before Christmas and, just in case they spotted it, I told them what I'd done and why and they left the washer in.

As with most things about the Rega design every aspect has been thoroughly thought out with nothing left to chance.

Sorry but, good as they are, Rega are not perfect. In terms of quality of design and manufacture they're up there with the best in their price bracket but they drop the ball and make questionable choices occasionally just like everyone else. You'd be hard pushed to find any manufacturer who never makes mistakes and to suggest Rega are an exception is blinkered fan-boy delusion.
 
The P8 is probably too new for it to have happened but if the feet or their tips are made of rubber they're going to get squashed.

Interesting, my Planar 8 was one of the first shipped in the US. I ordered it November 26 and it shipped from Chicago to me December 14, 2018. Just for kicks I took out my Pro-ject turntable bubble level and placed it on the platter and firmly pressed on the plinth over each one of the feet and they did not compress, if they had the bubble would have moved.
 
Just for kicks I took out my Pro-ject turntable bubble level and placed it on the platter and firmly pressed on the plinth over each one of the feet and they did not compress..

Perhaps they are made of a different material now. I can only relate my experience.

The rubber feet on older Rega turntables compressed over time too. From a structural perspective it would make more sense to have one foot at the front and two at the back but it would look crap and be even more of tipping risk than it is.
 
The LP12 has a very different sonic signature though. It has a warm, full sound whereas the Regas are colder and leaner. I'd be surprised if the metal feet sound better on the Rega.

The goal of the metal feet used in concert with the Symposium platform would be to improve vibration control. The result would be improved bass quality, timbral resolution, musical dynamics, imaging, focus, and virtually all aspects of the listening experience.
 
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The feet do appear worn which I'm guessing has been caused by compression over time.
The original P9 had what I call 2nd generation* Rega Planar rubber feet, only turned upside down and set into metal cups that attach to the underside of the plinth. These rubbers have 3 small pips that the plinth normally sits directly upon, with the solid ring of rubber down below making contact with the shelf. Flipped upside down, I can certainly see these tiny rubber pips not only compressing (which they equally, or rather unequally do, when pointing upward on the old lesser Planar models) but also wearing due to friction from one's P9 being moved about over time.

WRT 'differential' compression of the old feet, I recall RG long ago describing having unequal weight distribution round the three support feet as being an intentional design feature; the intention being that, rather than having one resonance Fq being conducted into the plinth, there would be 3 different resonant frequencies that would essentially cancel one another out (or, at least not add to one another). Rega aren't the only solid plinth turntable maker to have designed this in, however, they may well have been the first to knowingly do so.

* Although, I do recall there having been some revisions previously.
 
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The LP12 has a very different sonic signature though. It has a warm, full sound whereas the Regas are colder and leaner. I'd be surprised if the metal feet sound better on the Rega.

Correct, the Linn makes everything sound warm, problem is once you realize that this continued sameness warm & bloated air is wafting over every track of every album played on an LP12 from a harp solo to a full orchestra you can't unhear this distortion. The Rega isn't "colder & leaner", it simply plays whats on the vinyl without adding any of the Linn distortions you've become so accustomed to like that warm glass of milk before bedtime. Everything played on the Rega takes on the refreshing air of the master and the recording environment, everything played on the Linn takes on the warm bloated sound you mention that can overshadows those subtle nuances. By contrast the Rega has scant inherent colorations that I can detect, if a track is colder & leaner the Rega will play colder & leaner, and if a track is warm with overemphasized bass the Rega will play warm & bassy.

The issue Rega have is using three feet with only one at the back. There is more weight on half the feet so the rubber gets squished and the deck is off level on a level surface. I've added a washer to the back foot on my deck to fix it but you shouldn't have to bodge things like that.

This is particularity amusing coming from you Mr Pig, you'll spend hours tweaking, purchasing & replacing endless LP12 parts, not to mention how Linn feet compress, dry out and crack too as do lid hinges etc., yet replacing new rubber feet for a Rega every several years is going too far for you? ...BTW over 2 years with my P10 now and zero squishing occurring on the rubber feet FWIW.
 
The rubber feet will always be in compression, more so as weight is added with heavier platters. This has led to some wear on the feet on my P9. The rear foot has worn down by approximately 1.5mm, the front left half that again with next to nothing on the front right. Not bad after nineteen years and I'm not perplexed about it.

You could rotate the feet round in position (1 -> 2,2 -> 3,3 -> 1), much like it used to be suggested that you rotate the tires round on your car, even incliding the spare!
 
You could rotate the feet round in position (1 -> 2,2 -> 3,3 -> 1), much like it used to be suggested that you rotate the tires round on your car, even incliding the spare!

I move the rubber feet around on my Naim chrome bumper gear when ever I have a piece in hand which isn't too often, really wish Naim still sourced those original feet.
 
Just checked my P9. The rear foot is indeed worn by roughly a couple of mm as is the left front by approximately half that.There appears to be no wear to the right front. The deck is nineteen this year.

I'm learning to take Mr Pigs's posts with a solid gallon of salt.
The LP12 has a very different sonic signature though. It has a warm, full sound whereas the Regas are colder and leaner. I'd be surprised if the metal feet sound better on the Rega.

I'm sorry to have to say this Pig, but your posts, des[pite my taking them seriously over many months, are becoming a little wearing to me. It's almost as if you know more about designing a turntable than Roy Gandy does.
 
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May I ask where you got your TT level @Chris Tarling
 
I'm sorry to have to say this Pig, but your posts, desipite my taking them seriously over many months, are becoming a little wearing to me. It's almost as if you know more about designing a turntable than Roy Gandy does.

That's ok, you're entitled to your opinion. I don't claim to know how to design a turntable but I will give my opinion on what they sound like and do you realise this thread is over two years old?
 
You could rotate the feet round in position (1 -> 2,2 -> 3,3 -> 1), much like it used to be suggested that you rotate the tires round on your car, even incliding the spare!

I did use coins under the feet to level when the turntable bracket was on another wall. Since moving it (2014) the slight wear on the feet (left front and rear) has caused it to sit pretty level. Not bad after twenty years :). It's always going to be out slightly with the old style turntable bracket anyways.
 


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