Riggle Vtaf w/Rega P9 & RB1000. Good idea or not?


Greetings fellow vinyl lovers! I am buying a Rega P9 with the RB1000 arm. My cartridge is a Clearaudio Maestro. I would really like to have VTA adjustment capability with this table and have heard very good things about the Riggle Vtaf VTA adjustment wheel. Here is the question. Is it a good idea to install the Vtaf on the P9. Has anyone out there done this and what was your experience? The RB1000 has a 3 point attachment system that is different than the less expensive Rega arms, so I am little wary of installing the Vtaf on the P9. Also, this is an expensive table to mess with and I would not want to effect it in any negative way. By the way, I have about 5,000 records, 3,000 being classical, and I play vinyl most of the time.
Thanks,
Joe
jbcello

Showing 8 responses by jbcello

Hello 4yanx,
Please elaborate on your thoughts.
I am intriqued by the strength of your opinion.
Thank you Glide3. I guess the 3 point mounting system does not get in the way of the Vtaf adjustment wheel? What were the improvements to the sound on you Lenco?
Thank you Slaw3 for your unrestrained enthusiasm for the VTAF. It helps get rid of my hesitation. Do you have the P9 with the VTAf in your system or another set up with the VTAF?
Thanks,
Hello CMK,
Thanks for the pics. Yes, Pete does beautiful work. I will call him tomorrow concerning the P9 table and report back. Sorry for the late response, I have been away traveling.
Thanks,
Ok, I just got off the phone with Pete Riggle who sells and designed the VTAF. Pete is a very generous guy who takes his time in explaining how the VTAF works and how it is installed. For the P9 he sells a version of the VTAF that will work with the three point mounting system of the RB1000 tone arm. With this version comes a brass piece on which the 3 point mounting system rests. (I saw a picture of it somewhere online about 3 weeks ago, but now I can't find it.) Now the regular VTAF for the RB250 increases the height of the tone arm a little less than a 1/4 of an inch. I believe Pete said .23 inches to be exact. Now, the VTAF version for the RB1000's 3 point mounting system increases the tone arm height another 1/8 of an inch on top of that, so the total arm height is increased almost 3/8 of an inch when using VTAF with the P9 or P7 arms. This is quite a bit of tone arm elevation, but Pete includes different size shims to put on the rear side of the cartridge to tilt the cartridge back to make up for the increased tone arm elevation. He says using the cartridge shim creates no negative effects on the sound and enables you to have the benefits in sound that the VTAF provides.

Has anyone out there used these cartridge shims with their Vtaf? Where there any negative results from doing this?
Thanks,
Ok folks, I found the picture of the VTAF for the 3 point mounted Rega tonearm.
Here is the link.
http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vtaf/messages/15.html
As you can see this VTAF lifts the tonearm a bit higher, which is a concern of mine, but Pete insists that his shims take of the problem with no negative effect to sound or performance.
I thought of something in regards to using the Riggle Vtaf with the Rega RB1000 and P9. If one used the Cartridge Man Isolator between your cartridge and head shell of the arm, then the extra height of the Vtaf would be compensated for and there may be no need for the use of the shim the comes with the Vtaf.
http://www.thecartridgeman.com/isolator.htm