Turntables
Hey all! I've been circling a Rega P10 turntable, which is their latest iteration. It has gotten great reviews by Rega afficionados, but not much notice from the TT community at large, that I can find. It's a deviation from the conventional thinking that mass=stability, and quiet. It is very lightweight, but stiff. I like unconventional, and am willing to take a leap, though. Question is, of course, has anyone had any experience with these TT's and what thoughts do you have? (Michael Fremer at Analog Planet did a 5 part video of the Rega factory with Roy Gandy a couple of years ago and I have to say I was really impressed by his devotion to his art and his conviction about the direction Rega has taken with its TT's.)
"This" vs "that" is a futile pissing contest. One of the "best" cart brands- Soundsmith, used VPI to demonstrate their fine carts, INCLUDING their top tier Strain Gauge setup on those crappy unipivots. The Soundsmith bookshelves and VPI's I heard(demoed by Peter himself) performed like a more costly setup.
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Hopefully in between liking this versus that there can be useful information shared.
My limited experience points to lighter tables typically being “cleaner sounding”… maybe that is like “livelier sounding”. Which to me has sounded a bit like the images flickering around at high frequencies and with a bit higher sound floor… versus the more massive tables having a lower noise floor and more solid images. I would say that the lighter tables seem seem a bit more detailed… but That detail is coming at a cost. I find massive is more forgiving in musical reproduction and more solid sounding. These are important personal preferences. Anyway… this is a partially baked hypothesis. I don’t have enough experience to feel I could realy defend it.
My thinking behind this is that high frequency vibrations are absorbed and transmitted throughout light weight tables. Heavy ones just don’t move because of mass. Additionally, when I got a Silent Running Audio Ohio Class isolation platform to put under my Linn. There was a very noticable improvement in image focus and solidity and drop in the noise floor. This made it perform more like a massive table.
On VPI unipivot arms. I think they sound great. I think what @dover was saying is that he prefers using a different kind of arm (that the mechanism wobbles when you pick it up and the anti skate doesn’t feel highly refined)… as opposed to it sounding bad. I found the arm and anti skate work great… but it looks less refined. I bring this up because how much I like using an arm does not show up in my list of priorities. If there was a unipivot arm that sounded better I would buy the unipivot again. That said… I have loved the two Linn tone arms I have owned because they are so wonderful to pick up and use. My unipivot sounded great and I would not hesitate to buy another if it was appropriate for the table. |
For just a bit more, you might take a look at Pure Fidelity, a small but top notch Canadian company https://purefidelity.ca/ I had their Harmony model and truly enjoyed everything about it until I made the jump to my Palmer. |
