Well guys, for once fortune has favoured me, mainly I think due to the current non availability of new Schiit Manis mine sold on ebay today for a pretty amazing amount, far more than I could have anticipated, so much so that the Rega Fono MC is within reach. In fact I picked up a loan unit this afternoon from my local Rega dealer to audition at home until next Tuesday.
Once set up I left it on the standard Rega factory settings of 100ohms and 1000picofarads and the lower of the 2 gain settings then settled down for an extended listening session this evening.
Firstly may I say Andrew Rothwell was correct about the low impedance on the Mani causing a drop in output, the Rega has more volume on the low gain setting than the Mani had on the high setting.
Well how does the ATF7/Rega combo sound ? In a word, brilliant, the lost treble is back to the proper level and I can now actually hear an accurate rendition of cymbals and other metallic percussion, just listened to a half speed mastered version of the 2009 remix of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield, the high harmonics and overtones of the metallic percussion were the best I’ve ever experienced off a vinyl record, it was tear jerking.
The combination seems to have no vices and is now just an open window into the music. The Mani on MC made the ATF7 underperform, now it can show its true quality and show it to be quite a bargain in moving coil terms. Thanks to Dave DSJR for the recommendation of both items, he really got it right, great stuff
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