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Help buying first analog rig - Clearaudio Concept or Rega P6

I am in the process of purchasing my first major analog rig since I was teen back in the 80's. My system has been digital. I had a period of about 8 years where I did not do much with audio as we were moving and building a new home. Shortly after our home was built, but before the basement was finished and the alarm was installed, we had a break in. Among the many things other things taken, they took a box of my CD's, basically all my SACD's. So when I the basement was finished and got setup again it prompted me to get into streaming. I have a dedicated listening room which is pretty big 16 x 25 and 9' ceiling on a concrete slab (i know that helps with turntables) with laminate flooring and area rug. My System is pretty straight forward digital.
-Innuos Zen mkIII to stream and play my ripped CD's along with other hi-rez digital I have purchased and some DSD's
-Chord Qutest fed with a Shunyata Alpha USB from the Zen
-PrimaLuna EVO 400 integrated
-Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII 
-Purist Audio Venustas Luminist Speaker and RCA  cables, Shunyata Venom NR V10 power cables

The only small stack of vinyl I own is what I had as a teen, 80's rock which I may listen to occasionally, but I plan on buying new vinyl. I listen to a lot of Jazz - Coltrane, Davis, etc, a lot of modern bluegrass mostly female vocal like Sarah Jarosz, Sierra Hull, Alison Krauss.
The 2 tables that I seem to have gravitated towards are:
-Rega P6 with Hana EL 
-Clearaudio Concept wood with the black satisfy arm and either their Concept MC or Maestro V2 cartridge.

I know the Concept does not come with a dust cover, no big deal for me, I can always add one down the road.

Phono pre
-Sutherland KC Vibe
-MS Phenomena 2+

My budget was originally 3000 for the table/cart and pre, but I really like the concept wood ascetically, it would fit nicely in my rustic/industrial decor which has a lot of wood. I know its not about ascetics, but I am just not crazy about the look of Rega, but it does get great reviews. My rack is butcher block and iron pipe, so the table would sit on the top shelf next tot he PrimaLuna. I am the kind of person that does not mind tinkering and I understand the inconvenience of records vs digital, but I am looking for the natural, openness and beauty that vinyl brings to the system. What am I missing?
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millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
@millercarbon..I agree with the value of adding the Townshend Pods but from your experience would you see the impact of the Pods being greater than the initial impact of upgrading the tonearm? Thanks.

Done both. Still can't say. Put Pods under enough different things to say with confidence they are a very significant improvement. Changed tone arms as well and that is another really big one. With tone arms though they are all different and so not having heard yours I just can't say.  

A good tone arm, wow. Had a Graham 2.2, it is a really nice arm. Went to Origin Live Conqueror, could hardly believe how much better it was. No way any amount of Pods or BDR or fO.q tape or ECT or PHT, all of it together cannot touch what the Conqueror did. Which I guess is fitting, seeing as it cost more than all those put together! 

That's the thing. For what Pods cost it is hard to believe the same amount of money will buy an arm that much better. But you would probably never buy an arm "only" a couple hundred bucks more than what you have. Usually for a component upgrade to make sense it takes a larger increment. That is where the tweaks come in. They let you get the improvement with smaller incremental costs.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,159 posts
 
Shoot JM, get yourself a Clearaudio Statement and be done with it. The Goldfinger might just be a little rich so you can cheap out and get yourself a Lyra Atlas.
naimfan
166 posts
 
JM - 

I recently tried a Rega P6 with the Ania MC against a Clearaudio Concept and a MoFi Ultradeck.  I kept the Rega (and then bought not 1 but 2 LP12s - but that's another story).

For me, it was the best sounding of the three - it goes the best job with musical flow, pitch, timing, etc.  It also went lower than the Clearaudio and MoFi, with better definition.  There's a lot more technology in the Rega than meets the eye, as @mrklas pointed out above.  I also bought a Rega Aria Mk3 phono stage, which, as you'd expect, synergizes beautifully with the P6/Ania.  

Also, think about service and spares - which is something Rega, in particular, has been terrific about over the 45 years they've been making turntables.  

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Do yourself a favor and buy Japanese MM cartridge with long history and good reputation. All those Rega or MoFi are inferior carts and people compare them to some other inferior cartridges trying to hear the difference.

Even dirt cheap Empire MI from the 70s is better than all of them.

Audio-Technica carts are great, I’m a big fan of AT-ML170 OFC and AT-ML-180 OCC, but they are very expensive. 
perkri
885 posts
 
Hi. I had the same challenge when getting back into vinyl/audio. Same TT’s. Went with the Concept. As I had no opportunity to audition either, it was based on reviews and aesthetics. Plus, I had a Rega back in the 90’s, thought I would try something different. 
I had an issue with the lifter, It wouldn’t hold the arm up. And I did pull the motor and remount it as it was starting to get noisy.  I replaced the feet with spikes which I put onto aluminum discs which rested on thin sorbothane pads. The whole thing sat on a 40lb box filled with sand which was on a wall mount bolted to the studs.

A friend picked up the P6 which is a very nice deck. However, the VTA issue, has forced him to add spacers. Not sure it’s such a big issue from a performance standpoint, but it is a pain to adjust…





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