AIG Phono Equipment Reviews

Rega Turntable Tweaks   

Introduction: Hardware and  Software

Rega Planar 3 - tweaked

      It seems like forever since I've written anything about vinyl, a long stretch of time having elapsed since I reviewed the Anthem Pre 1p and Rotel RQ 970 BX phono stages. I'm still listening to the Rotel, in fact, and after all the evolution that's been going on in my analog front end of late I'm still amazed how good this $300 phono stage sounds. No wonder they've been swapping hands on Ebay at fairly healthy prices. If you're looking for an under $1000 phono box you need to check one of these out. At less than $200 on Ebay it's a screaming deal.

      Like any music junkie I've been acquiring records, by both ordinary and not so ordinary means. A four month work stint in Vancouver, combined with the most disposable income of them all, per diem, allowed me to acquaint myself with one of the very best record stores I've come across in Canada: Zulu Records on West 4th ave.

      Good independent stores like Zulu seem to be flourishing despite the overall decline in music retail. With a phenomenal selection of indie rock and small/independant label titles on CD and LP, and an impressive used CD section, it's no surprise Zulu has attracted a loyal following. Toronto sure could use more places like this.

      Seattle has some great independent record stores as well, not to mention a vibrant music culture. On a couple of weekend trips down the coast from Vancouver I found all kinds of great stuff, and lots of vinyl, at both Easy Street Records and Sonic Boom. If what's going on with California's Amoeba Music is any indication, stores like these are consolidating what remains of the brick and mortar retail music market, attracting the serious music buyers away from floundering chains like Tower Records (as I write this Tower Records has just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection). Amoeba, with stores in Berkeley, San Francisco and what they claim is the world's largest indie record store in Hollywood, did US $50 million in business last year, posting a 50% increase over the previous year. A 60% margin on used CDs is a major part of their successful game plan.

     Amoeba's Hollywood location has quickly become my favorite record store anywhere, and one of my favorite places in town. Phenomenal catalog depth (a claimed 300,000 titles in 30,000 square feet of space), astounding used selection (grouped right along side and sometimes in the same bins as new stuff), huge amounts of new and used vinyl, a staff truly passionate about music, great prices, and on and on. I get a big grin on my face every time I walk in the door. They even publish a quarterly guide, entitled Music We Like, featuring the (often deeply obscure) personal picks of their music-mad staff. Not the last word in Classical selection, but otherwise everything a record store should be and much more.

      As for acquiring records by less conventional means, I recently managed to stumble into my second "celebrity vinyl score". A few years back I ended up on the receiving end of a pile of records being discarded by Canada's own master of art house horror, David Cronenberg. I came away with a variety of good discs, the most unusual of which was a copy of Debbie Harry's Rockbird autographed to him by the singer in 1986 (Harry starred in the Cronenberg film Videodrome a few years earlier). This time it was William H. Macy (best known for his brilliant work in Fargo) who was cleaning out his attic and had boxes of vinyl earmarked for the dumpster. His assistant, a friend of mine from film school, let me rescue whatever I wanted before it hit the trash. Discarded records can be hit and miss, so I was pleasantly surprised to pull out some Bob Marley, a bunch of Leo Kottke, Muddy Waters, quite a large amount of Steve Miller, Paul Simon, Rickie Lee Jones, and many more worthwhile discs. Most of them are in really good shape too. You can't beat vinyl when it comes to unbelievably cheap (or free) software, although Amoeba, bless em', has quite a few used SACDs and DVD-As already.

      As for analog hardware I've been steadily working on trying to wring ever more performance from my Rega Planar 3. One of the best things about owning such a popular product, produced in great number over a period of many years, is that more people will inevitably dream up ways of improving it. The exploding tuner market for Honda Civics is a perfect example, modifying Civics beyond recognition a major California pastime. The audio world's closest equivalent is probably Rega turntables and arms, which can be tweaked, tuned, and modified in a myriad different ways. So far about all I've done is slap a Ringmat on the glass platter in place of the stock felt mat (a significant upgrade right there). With an Audio Technical OC9 feeding the aforementioned Rotel phono stage I was getting darn respectable sound, and even better sound more recently with a Clearaudio Aurum Beta S reading the grooves. Over the past year or so, however, I've been able to go well beyond respectable sound with a number of new products meant to improve Rega gear specifically, and one to improve turntable performance in general.

Origin Live RB 300 Structural Tonearm Modification

      In business since 1986 this British company is starting to gain more and more recognition in North America for its Rega arm modifications as well as for its own arms and turntables. It's easy to tell that the owners are audio fanatics themselves and their excellent website offers a wealth of information and advice for the turntable tweaker and plenty of detail about their products.

      According to Origin Live the major shortcoming of the Rega RB series of arms (the RB300 included with my Planar 3 is second up in the line from the RB250, bundled with the Planar 2) is the end stub/counterweight assembly. The structural mod replaces both the end stub and the counterweight with new parts designed and built by Origin Live. You might be wondering, as was I, just how sonically significant such a change might be. Well, according to Origin Live, far greater gains can be made with this mod than with any other, including rewiring the arm for instance.

      "This is an extremely critical area," they claim on their website, "as the counterweight represents by far the highest moving mass in the arm and affects any tonearm's performance more than can be imagined. The work involves removing the rear end stub (which is normally just screwed into the end of the Rega arm - a sonic disaster), and replacing it with a new stub, which is then torqued onto the arm by a thin high tensile bolt. The stub is also designed such that it presents a low contact area onto the arm tube and is therefore decoupled, yet far more rigid than the original. This also allows the counterweight to be rigidly torqued onto the stub using an Allen bolt."

      For your 75 quid you receive a small box containing a new end stub and counterweight along with all the hardware and instructions needed to perform the swap. The operation is relatively simple, even for those lacking mechanical inclination, and the instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. The original end stub on my RB300 gave up quite a bit of resistance, but did eventually unscrew with some firm persuasion from a pair of pliers. With that done you wind a special insert into the exposed threads. The insert itself is threaded in the middle to accept the bolt which will snug up the new end stub. Getting the threaded insert in just the right spot proved a little finicky, the tolerances being tight enough that if it was wound in even a little to far, the bolt holding the end stub on wouldn't reach the threads.

      These minor hiccups notwithstanding, I had the new stub on good and tight in less time than it takes to play a side. I then rebalanced the arm, snugging up the new counterweight on the stub with its internal allen bolt once I'd arrived at the right tracking force (another good, and free Rega arm tweak is to set the arm's tracking force dial to its highest setting, effectively taking the internal spring completely out of the equation. You then set the tracking force manually by moving the counterweight. You'll need a stylus force gauge, but it's a worthwhile tweak).

      Immediately before making the change I had listened to a couple of records which I then re-played with the structural modification in place. First up was Bob Marley's Survival, one of the William H. Macy records. It wouldn't be reggae without some serious bottom end, and that's what I noticed first in listening to my newly modified RB300. Tauter, cleaner, and more fully formed, the bass was significantly improved from the stock arm. In fact, I repeated the words "fully formed" a number of times in my notes. This sentiment didn't just apply to the bass. Cohesive, coherent, solid, and "of a piece" are the words that come to mind to explain the overall improvement. Mircrodynamics improved, small sounds "jumping" out of the speakers more than they had before. There was greater smoothness in the mids and highs, and images floated wider, further outside the speakers, making for a bigger soundstage. All these things combined made for a more effortless, involving sound, the kind of sound that urges you to turn it up without punishing you with harshness. The kind of sound that never gets "loud", it just gets better…

      Beck's Mutations LP is a killer sounding disc, and playback with the modified RB300 it did not disappoint. Although very different from the Marley record, this gorgeous, mostly acoustic set benefited in the same ways from the structural mod: big, effortless sound with delicate, fine detail, again instilling the urge to twist the volume ever higher. The sound was also more cohesive and better integrated than before with more vibrant tonal color and complexity. In sum, more involving, more musical, and far more than I expected.

      75 Pounds Sterling may seem like quite a bit of scratch for an end stub and counterweight, but, as Origin Live suggests, this may very well be the most dramatic modification you can make to a Rega arm. After getting such excellent results I'm inclined to believe them. If these guys can truly transform the sound of an RB300 tonearm with what, in effect, is quite a simple modification, I salivate to think what one of their complete turntables sounds like. Needless to say I won't be returning the arm to stock. The stub stays.

What you need to consider when purchasing floorstanding speakers

 

There are primarily four things you ought to take into thought once buying floor standing speakers.

Space – however massive is that the space you propose to place these in? Floor standing speakers will be spectacular however in an exceedingly little space typically they’re an excessive amount of. Audio quality suffers while not plenty of space treatment. If you’ve got a smaller sized space, one thing but 8-10ft wide and 10-15ft long you’ll need to think about shelf speakers and a sub came upon. imaging will typically be higiher and space reflections will be relieved by seating distance from 2-way close to field shelf speakers. Speaking of sitting distance, with floorstanding speakers, you’ll need a minimum of 8-10ft of distance between you and therefore the speaker in order that the sound from the speaker system and woofers has enough house to completely meld into one before it enters your ears. 
Heres an example of the distance you should have between you and the speakers - see that chick? She's WAY too close. 

 

Of course, each speaker could be a bit totally different, however this is often an honest rule of thumb distance for 3-way or a lot of speakers.  Sound image and quality will suffer if it hasn’t totally shaped into one by the time it gets to you. With 2-way floorstanding speakers like the  Songtowers,

Salk SongTower Floorstanding Speakers 

distance will be nearer.  You’ll additionally need to create positive your the speakers aren’t stuff into corners. Rather 2-3ft from them therefore bass doesn’t become BOOMing and overwhelming. however finding your best sweet spot is your own challenge.  If you’ve got the flexibility, and a passionate parallelogram listing space, do that Golden Triangle approach. it’s what i exploit.

Music vogue – What quite music you hear will be greatly increased or detracted from by your speaker selection. Lucky most speakers below $1000 tend to sounds smart across an outsized form of music, however some have a lot of bump, thump, or detail than others. Some are arranged  back, smart for jazz or acoustic, whereas others that thump are higher for rock, pop, and rap. simply staring at the speaker specs wont tell you the way the speaker sounds, therefore you’ll need to analysis, scan reviews, professional and user reviews, to urge a thought of however the speaker can sound. If you can, it’s perpetually best to audition the speaker face to face with power and input devices almost like your home came upon.
Associated instrumentation – You’ll need to create positive that your amp and input sources characteristics match your speaker characteristics for a desired result. as an example, if your amp is understood to be bright, and you get speakers that are celebrated to be bright, the jazz band of the 2 will be over bearing and create listening unpleasant. If your pre-amp or tuner has high and low controls you’ll be able to modify for this. If they don’t, than it’s a serious a part of pairing your instrumentation. Don’t forget to mitigate the associated instrumentation called your listening space. certify to a minimum of place sound moistening material at the points of first reflection and behind you if you’ll be able to.  Here could be a smart reference article on 1st reflections points from PSAudio. it’s straightforward and might create a world of distinction for soundstage.
Home Theater or Stereo solely – If you propose to create up a house system at some purpose it’s smart to think about if the speakers you’re buying have associated surrounds, center, and sub speakers paired with the floorstanding. in an exceedingly surround system having matching sounding speakers is extremely vital.