Deciding on Rega P3-24

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I went ahead and ordered my P3-24 in Racer Red!
Congratulations tek. Welcome to the Rega club. I have a Rega P5 with Exact cartridge and I am very happy with it.
I would love to exchange notes with other Rega owners on this forum and discuss tweaks in the system.
Manoj
 
Thanks everyone! Will probably be posting here in a few days for some tips on installing my cartridge! I've never self installed a cart on a non removable headshell before, so this should be interesting... (or more likely will end up being more frustrating than interesting!)
 
Thanks everyone! Will probably be posting here in a few days for some tips on installing my cartridge! I've never self installed a cart on a non removable headshell before, so this should be interesting... (or more likely will end up being more frustrating than interesting!)

Congrats on the new buy!!!!

You need to twist yourself a bit more into knots :)lol::lol::lol:) than before. That's it. It is a good idea to tie down the arm to the arm rest so that you avoid accidental swing while trying to fix the cartridge. Uncontrolled tonearm swing = very high chance of damaging stylus.
 
Good decision, Tek!

The safest bet on installing the cartridge might be to unscrew the tonearm from its base, and remove it from the TT plinth. You can then leisurely install the cartridge by turning the entire assembly upside down, after removing the counterweight to avoid stressing the arm bearing.

Alternatively, if you plan to do it in situ, then carefully connect all four leads to the cartridge pins before attempting to lock the assembly into the headshell with the two nuts and bolts. To make it easier, put the bolts upward and tighten the nuts from above the headshell. I assume, of course, you have some sort of stylus protection guard. If not, then the first method is a lot safer.
 
Also, it would be a good idea to downolad the arc protractor from vinylengine.com.
Either the Stevenson or Baerwald arc protector work better than the one which comes with the Rega table.

Manoj
 
Some questions: 1) Do turntables need burn in time like cartridges and amps too? 2) Will adjusting the VTA with a 2mm spacer affect the sound a lot? 3) What is the best way to minimize sibilance?

Pics to come soon!

First off, another round of congratulations!

The tonearm wire will improve and bed down with play.

2 mm is a lot of spacing. Try with 1 mm first and see the arm levels when playing records. A slight droop towards the business end of the arm is recommended by some analog experts. I personally try to follow that advice.

Sibilance could be because of an accentuated mid trebles due to the newness of the tonearm cable. It ought to settle down with 20-30 hours of play.

Take leave tomorrow and listen whole day:) and you would have put in about 8-10 hours of the burn in!
 
First off, another round of congratulations!

The tonearm wire will improve and bed down with play.

2 mm is a lot of spacing. Try with 1 mm first and see the arm levels when playing records. A slight droop towards the business end of the arm is recommended by some analog experts. I personally try to follow that

Take leave tomorrow and listen whole day:) and you would have put in about 8-10 hours of the burn in!
>>>
The taking leave bit is the best advice I've in a long long time. :)
 
I have heard only good things about P3, it has a huge satisfied user base, though I have not heard it I am sure it will sound excellent, when I was planning for a mid range table I did consider this model, two things lead me decide against it

1.Why even after paying 50K one has to pay for upgrades like PSU etc.., whats the point of supplying a below par stock cartridge with a genuinely engineered table? either you supply at least 2M red/DL 110.... or not at all
2. I failed to understand this spacer business, why a 50K TT will not have a vertical height adjustment? Rega have their own explanation, but they did understand/admit this issue and thus have made available spacer rings.

Nevertheless if these are not issues with someone this is a fantastic TT to listen to. I have always wished to own a Rega, as I have a NOS Pro-ject Debut III, RP1 is also not a natural choice. may be next year I will go for my third TT, meanwhile want to enjoy the 1210

al the best tek for your new TT, take some time out and immerse yourself into the ever addictive record listening

someone rightly said - standard black box CD players sonically have all the capabilities but they do not have the aura of a VPI scout - very true

Arnab
 
2. I failed to understand this spacer business, why a 50K TT will not have a vertical height adjustment? Rega have their own explanation, but they did understand/admit this issue and thus have made available spacer rings.

Hi Arnab,
Spacers are a necessity because not all cartridge manufacturers agree on the height of the cartridge. Typical cartridge height is 17 mm but there are variation here and there by few mm.

There is a whole industry centered around making mods for vertical height adjustment, superior counterweights, superior tube-counterweight stub coupling, or modifying Rega arms.
 
Based on Joshua's sound advice, I have taken "leave" from work today i.e. bunked :D
Gonna do some heavy listening!!
 
Haha congrats tek! Nice table. Regas made their tables to their carts so if you pyt a rega cart in you dont need to adjust vta. Inconvenient with other carts though. You better hope you boss is not a secret audio nut who's here under some assumed avatar :)


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off
 
So the TT was sounding a bit harsh so i decided to set the VTF to 0 and check if the tonearm balance was ok (i had set it yesterday when setting up the TT) and I discovered that it wasn't balancing, it was lifting up! So I reset the counterweight a bit until it balanced, and dialed the VTF to 2 gms and now it sounds much better. I can't help but feel it would hit the sweet spot once the VTA is sorted out with the spacers. Also, i am absolutely flabbergasted by this anti skating knob. Should I just pull it all the way out?

Edit: OK, after listening to it a bit more with the VTF reset, i have to say it sounds FANTASTIC now. All the problems of sibilance, etc are more or less gone. I might not even need the spacers i feel, it just sounds airy and great! :D
 
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Congrats, Tek! Way to go!

You did the right thing by recalibrating VTF. Sibilance is usually caused by non-optimal VTF/azimuth/anti-skate/VTA settings.
 
So I was just reading the Rega instructions (more like a few tips if anything), and I saw the part where it says not to remove the centre hub from the main bearing as it is factory assembled with a thick film of lubricant that can be disturbed when it's removed. When I was unpacking the table, there was some cardboard etc stuck around to make sure the motor etc didnt move, when i removed one under the centre hub i accidently lifted the whole hub out of the bearing. Like I mentioned earlier, when i tried putting it back it was almost like a vacuum pump or something, it wouldnt go all the way in smoothly. But once I put the platter back on it went down and was kind of "floating". Did I damage it? It plays and sounds ok... Is there anyway to test the centre hub is ok?

(Sorry for the complete noobish lingo, but I really am just trying to figure out what i'm doing!)
 
So I was just reading the Rega instructions (more like a few tips if anything), and I saw the part where it says not to remove the centre hub from the main bearing as it is factory assembled with a thick film of lubricant that can be disturbed when it's removed. When I was unpacking the table, there was some cardboard etc stuck around to make sure the motor etc didnt move, when i removed one under the centre hub i accidently lifted the whole hub out of the bearing. Like I mentioned earlier, when i tried putting it back it was almost like a vacuum pump or something, it wouldnt go all the way in smoothly. But once I put the platter back on it went down and was kind of "floating". Did I damage it? It plays and sounds ok... Is there anyway to test the centre hub is ok?

(Sorry for the complete noobish lingo, but I really am just trying to figure out what i'm doing!)

dont worry about it... these are "floating platters".... it'll setlle down on its own...
 
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