Rega apheta replacement

[Graemevw]

If you like a fast and incisive sound, look at the ZYX R100 02H if you can find one. The attack is almost Decca like, but with possibly a bit more power to it, extremely lucid too.

Sounds interesting, I'll look it up. Thanks.

Edit, at work, so just a quick Google.
Sounds like I may like it. What's the deal with the yatra version? Not found anything that tells me what the difference is yet.

Edit 2, seems compliance is as high as the art9?

[walpurgis]

What's the deal with the yatra version?

I've owned that one as well. It offers a more 'romantic' sound like the R50 Bloom and not the explicit nature of the R100 02H, which for rock etc. is the one to have in my view.

I've not found ZYX MC's particularly arm fussy, but they do need careful setup because of the stylus profile.

[Jac Hawk]

it's a pity we are in lockdown Graeme, Chesterfield isn't a million miles from me and in normal circumstances i would offer to bring my Art9 over so you can have a listen, in my opinion if the money is burning a hole in your pocket and you can't wait till restrictions ease then shelling out north of £1000 on anyone's recommendation would be silly and you should go with what you personally have heard.

[Graemevw]

I've owned that one as well. It offers a more 'romantic' sound like the R50 Bloom and not the explicit nature of the R100 02H, which for rock etc. is the one to have in my view.

I've not found ZYX MC's particularly arm fussy, but they do need careful setup because of the stylus profile.

Thanks, good info.

[Graemevw]

it's a pity we are in lockdown Graeme, Chesterfield isn't a million miles from me and in normal circumstances i would offer to bring my Art9 over so you can have a listen, in my opinion if the money is burning a hole in your pocket and you can't wait till restrictions ease then shelling out north of £1000 on anyone's recommendation would be silly and you should go with what you personally have heard.

Thanks for the offer, very kind.
I may well wait until I can audition some, I have my denon to use for now. I've messaged a local shop too as I think they are still doing appointments.
I'm in no major rush, but if I get used to having the extra money in my account I won't want to spend it!

[Lurch]

I've recently picked up a 50hr dealer ex-dem Hana ML to try as the reviews & owners comments have been so positive. I now see why its got the praise it has.
It's a very dynamic, rich, full bodied sounding cart but not uncouth with it. Great extension at both frequency extremes, fast nuanced punchy bass, a beautiful midrange, and detailed airy treble. Separation and sound staging are excellent.
I originally thought the ML would probably, be at best, be a sideways move from the Axia S I was running especially putting the £995 ML up against a cart whose final rrp was £1900ish.
Far from it, it resoundly beat the Axia (to my ears in my system) and easily met the expectations gleaned from the reviews.
As Hifi+ said, 'This is the best £3k - £4k cart you can buy for £1k.

[Graemevw]

I've recently picked up a 50hr dealer ex-dem Hana ML to try as the reviews & owners comments have been so positive. I now see why its got the praise it has.
It's a very dynamic, rich, full bodied sounding cart but not uncouth with it. Great extension at both frequency extremes, fast nuanced punchy bass, a beautiful midrange, and detailed airy treble. Separation and sound staging are excellent.
I originally thought the ML would probably, be at best, be a sideways move from the Axia S I was running especially putting the £995 ML up against a cart whose final rrp was £1900ish.
Far from it, it resoundly beat the Axia (to my ears in my system) and easily met the expectations gleaned from the reviews.
As Hifi+ said, 'This is the best £3k - £4k cart you can buy for £1k.

They do seem well regarded. I read a few reviews but kept seeing things like this being said (although not always with the apheta comparison)

'The balance is richer than with Rega’s fast and lean MCs which makes for a warmer presentation'

The thing is I didn't find the apheta lean in my system. Fast yes, dynamic yes, but not lean.
If I replace it with something alot of folks call 'rich' or 'warm', I don't think I'll get on with it.

I may be wrong though, I'd like to hear one and see what I think.
I liked the aphetas speed and punch. I liked the fact it did t gloss over anything that sounded hard.
Even though my speakers have 2" metal dome tweeters, my system is all valve, and I use SUTs, so warmth etc that will help with SS or bright systems may start sounding a bit thick in mine.

This is all guesswork though as I've not spent much time listening to other carts in the aphetas price range.
I only got the apheta as my wife (at the time) built it!

[Lurch]

I'm also all valves except MFA Passive Pre. PS is a BigBottle mk3 (2x pcc88, 1x ecc83) and amps are Icon Audio MB845SEs. The richness I mention above is in relation to the level of detail coming off instruments or the room, giving spacial clues
Deffo not thick and warm, not a hint of syrup anywhere.

[Graemevw]

I'm also all valves except MFA Passive Pre. PS is a BigBottle mk3 (2x pcc88, 1x ecc83) and amps are Icon Audio MB845SEs. The richness I mention above is in relation to the level of detail coming off instruments or the room, giving spacial clues
Deffo not thick and warm, not a hint of syrup anywhere.

That's reassuring!
The hana is the only cart I've seen that is pretty much on the nose of my 1k budget, that seems like a good buy/bargain.
Plenty of 750-850 'bargains' and a few 1250 contenders, but not much around 1k seems to get much fanfare apart from the hana's.

I'll check its compliance and put it back on the shortlist, see if I can't hear one at some point.

[Graemevw]

Hmm, seems the hana may have too low compliance to suit my arm.

This seems to be a common theme. Maybe I should switch back to my tangential air bearing arm.