I used to quite like Rega, but...

[Spectral Morn]

OK, so taking this thread off in an obvious ludicrous direction, how WOULD people choose to spend £6,114 on a new vinyl playing device?

Oh and Marco, you're not allowed to say a gold plated Techie....

Oracle Delphi mk5+turbo psu, Graham 2.2 S/H arm and a S/H VDH cart maybe a VDH 1 or 10 at a pinch. That should come in and around the price.


Regards D S D L

[Marco]

OK, so taking this thread off in an obvious ludicrous direction, how WOULD people choose to spend £6,114 on a new vinyl playing device?

Not me, Steve, for the simple reason of the laws of diminishing returns...

I've been there and done that in the past, spending £7k on brand new 'hi-end' CDPs, etc, but now that I've learned how to get maximum SPPV from using my knowledge and experience, and thus judiciously selecting the equipment I use, those days are over.

With hi-fi, not just turntables, I demand that the vast majority of the cost price equates to out-and-out performance, not simply paying for the prestige value of a badge and aesthetic fripperies. You can bet your boots that when you get to £6k plus for a turntable that a lot of the latter is part of the equation

Witness the lunacy with the pricing at Linn these days! LP12, Ekos SE, Keel, Akiva, Radikal & Urika = 'High-end Linn reference turntable' - £15,970... [Cough!]

No, either late this year or early next year I'll be buying my 'ultimate T/T' for life, which will be one of Dave's fully refurbished SP10s, to which I'll have fitted an SP10 Time Step PSU, 12" Jelco tonearm, and a high-end SPU or EMT XSD-15 cartridge, with the lot housed in a nice slate plinth. Then it'll be job done.

I would then happily put that against ANY turntable in the world - yes even the mighty Rega P10!

Marco.

[Marco]

Hi Rob,

Rega make some extremely fine TTs that aren't hampered by an elastic band or weedy motor.

Rega do indeed make some decent T/Ts (I've owned most of them) and I like the P9, but I know we disagree on the belt-drive thing. You probably know my stance of this so there's not much point in me repeating it

It is sad that they've moved so far up market though.
That is basically a P9 taken to extremes, ie even lighter and more rigid plinth and probably even finer arm tolerances.

Actually, what I wrote was slightly tongue-in-cheek. Although the P10 is to all intents and purposes 'ridiculous', I wish them all the best with it and hope that Rega sell plenty - simply because I like to see British companies doing well in the marketplace.

There's enough Chinese-built and foreign stuff around at the moment, so more power to Rega for throwing their hat into the ring at the high end. It's just not a product that would interest me.

Probably best we listen to it first though before writing it off.

Most definitely. I would never do anything else. It was just too hard to resist having a little 'poke'

Marco.

[hifi_dave]

The picture of the new Rega is a prototype - one of many which might well not see the light of day as they have been playing around with all sorts of designs. The price has not been fixed nor has the design or the launch date which, I am told, will be at least a year away.

[DSJR]

Marco, How many P9's or P10's do you think Rega will make and/or sell in a couple of years? A few dozen possibly! That ceramic platter is apparently VERY expensive to fabricate and they're now using this stuff in the bearing. I'm sure some bright spark will find out the laminate they are playing with in the plinth.

The Techie donor player you use has something like THREE MILLION sales to its credit - the tooling was paid for decades ago and this is one reason why they can keep it as cheap as they have I suspect. The SP10 you'll be buying will be on its fourth decade by now and would cost a good few grand if made today - and that's without plinth I suspect...

Rega's worst problems with wow were fixed with the fixed motor mount, along with the worst of the motor vibration IMO. I would agree that for a few quids worth of better bearing "hardness" and a polished arm-pipe, they're making loads on the arm (they always were the most profitable part of a "Planar" according to Roy.

Currently, my favourite six grands worth would be a NAS Dias with their 12" arm at least and a good grands worth of ZYX cartridge. Any change would go towards a really top quality phono stage (but only if it really did better Glenn's offerings). I'd never buy a tweaked SP10 package without doing this one comparison first. The weight of the Dias platter and the graphite based disc contact removes obvious wow&flutter and I love the way the disc is terminated by this material (same as my old Mentor had)

[RobHolt]

Here's a P9.5 I prepared earlier:

Oh Matron, she's lost her skirt!

[Marco]

Dave,

The Techie donor player you use has something like THREE MILLION sales to its credit - the tooling was paid for decades ago and this is one reason why they can keep it as cheap as they have I suspect. The SP10 you'll be buying will be on its fourth decade by now and would cost a good few grand if made today - and that's without plinth I suspect...

ABSOLUTOMONDO!

*THAT* is exactly what I'm about when it comes to hi-fi - finding products just like the Techy (SL-1210 or SP10)! Jelco tonearms are another case in point and fully deserve the term 'giant-killer', as is the Sony - heck my system is full of this kind of stuff!

Why should I pay for a tiny (in comparison) 'high-end' manufacturer's R&D costs, tooling, etc, when I can get it for free with a wonderful product, or at a fraction of the cost, for the reasons you've described?

The difference with me, Dave, is I don't get a 'warm glow' because the turntable I use has 'Linn', 'SME' (no offence, Neil!), 'Kuzma', or whatever, written on the front... I'm quite happy to use a product from a mass-market Japanese manufacturer, PROVIDING that product is truly excellent. Unlike others with a comfortable disposable income to spend on 'toys', I am not a hi-fi snob.

The fact is, my heavily modified SL-1210, or the SP10 I'm going to get, will compete with designs at many times their cost, simply for the reasons you outline - so I can sit back and enjoy wonderful sounding music with a big smug grin on my chops from knowing that I own a genuine bargain

Marco.

[Marco]

Here's a P9.5 I prepared earlier:

Oh Matron, she's lost her skirt!

VERY sexy, Rob. That's about the coolest looking Rega I've seen!

Marco.

[DSJR]

Rob, you need the green wall shelf to go with it.........

Marco, I wish I had an income, as well as a disposable one You can't buy many goodies on three hours per week in a closed-shop town where 60% of the population is over 60 and retired...

[Spectral Morn]

Dave,



ABSOLUTOMONDO!

*THAT* is exactly what I'm about when it comes to hi-fi - finding products just like the Techy!

Why should I want to pay for a tiny (in comparison) 'high-end' manufacturer's R&D costs, tooling, etc, when I can get it for free or at a fraction of the cost for the reasons you've described?

The difference with me, Dave, is I don't get a warm glow because the turntable I use has 'Linn', 'SME' (no offence, Neil!), 'Kuzma', or whatever, written on the front... I'm quite happy to use a product from a mass-market Japanese manufacturer, PROVIDING that product is truly excellent. Unlike others with a comfortable disposable income to spend on 'toys', I am not a hi-fi snob.

The fact is, my heavily modified SL-1210, or the SP10 I'm going to get, will compete with designs at many times their cost, simply for the reasons you outline - so I can sit back and enjoy wonderful sounding music with a big smug grin on my chops from knowing that I own a genuine bargain

Marco.

None taken...I bought mine S/H (SME model 20) in fact third hand as the original owner had died and it was left into be sold in another shop (not the one I managed) by his wife (very sad he was a lovely man and I was involved in the sale of this deck...my first high-end TT sale way back when it had just come out 1991 ish). So when it was offered to me by a customer/friend (he had bought it off that other dealer...who by my understanding ripped off a Widow...You will pay for that someday) 2 and a half years ago along with a Chord phono stage and Ortofon mc7500 I jumped at it. As much to get a SME TT and 5 arm but because I am sentimental and wanted to have that TT.

I have never bought a new TT in fact the only new bit I have is my Graham Phantom arm and Bat VK10se everything else I have analogue wise is S/H..bar cartridges.

The problem as always is tooling costs and lack of scale, distribution margin etc. However sometimes you just have to pay for craftsman ship and I rate the Graham from that point of view.....pity about the £ and $ issue oh well.

At some point I will look into the Technics thing but not now...just had to cancel half of my sky subscription tonight.


Regards D S D L