Rega Tone Arm upgrade

[cocoy]

Recently took the plunge and upgraded the tone arms on two (2) of my Technics SL-1200 MK2's to Rega RB-251's. The cartridges used are Ortofon DJS OMs.

After just a few minutes of listening I realized what all the fuss was all about. The difference in sound is like Night & Day. Aside from that anti-skating won't ever be an issue because of it's straight arm design. The only trade off is that the cartridge is fixed to the arm so cartridge rolling is not a quick option.

[DSA.audio]

I've read positive things about this sort of mod...

also read of positive experiences damping and rewiring the stock arm...

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=423836
no personal experience though...

[cocoy]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

[DSA.audio]

fantastic looking results...

[Richi]

The arm upgrade certainly does make a difference though changing the stock cable in the Rega will not give much of an improvement. What we need to remember is that Phono cartridges are sensitive to capacitance and a few pico farad can alter the tonal characteristic. So what may be heard as a change in sound is nothing more than cable length changing or the actual per metre capacitance measurement of the cable being different.



It would be much better to have a phono stage that offers loading value alteration.

[DSA.audio]

Originally Posted by Richi

The arm upgrade certainly does make a difference though changing the stock cable in the Rega will not give much of an improvement. What we need to remember is that Phono cartridges are sensitive to capacitance and a few pico farad can alter the tonal characteristic. So what may be heard as a change in sound is nothing more than cable length changing or the actual per metre capacitance measurement of the cable being different.



It would be much better to have a phono stage that offers loading value alteration.

that's possible with resistor value . changes in the circuits, right?

the Barney Oliver (the former head of HP engineering) amplifier manual describes how to adjust the phono stage for cartridges different than the one the stage was optimized for...

[misterharrison]

Originally Posted by cocoy

Aside from that anti-skating won't ever be an issue because of it's straight arm design.

Straight arms still require anti-skating, I think. Otherwise why would bonafide classic straight hifi arms like the SME V have antiskate dials? I believe the Rega ones have them too, don't they? It's linear trackers that don't need antiskate.

[Richi]

Some Phono Stages have switchable values for the loading resistors and input capacitors, the ideal is variable controls for both of these functions within the circuit. They then behave much like tone controls and alter the tonal balance that the cartridge will generate.

The Rega certainly does have anti-skate, the physical inertia will pull the cantilever towards the inner wall and the anti-skate will compensate by applying a force in the opposite direction.

[jensx]

Originally Posted by misterharrison

Straight arms still require anti-skating, I think. Otherwise why would bonafide classic straight hifi arms like the SME V have antiskate dials? I believe the Rega ones have them too, don't they? It's linear trackers that don't need antiskate.

Yes, you are right. The thinking that straight arms don't need antiskate, I think it comes from the vestax straigh arm scratching tables (PDX or so). In that case, this is indeed true. The Vestax scratching tables use a short straight arm without "overhang" (i.e. the cart is not angled). You have serious tracking errors with these, but you dont need antiskate.
Hifi straigt arms are just like techs S arms: you have antiskate

[darrylfunk]

if your gonna talk on this subject at least know what you are talking about... half of this stuff is just damn wrong....

[Richi]

Darryl,

What are you saying is wrong?

[darrylfunk]

Originally Posted by Richi

Darryl,

What are you saying is wrong?

well your comments were the only remotely accurate technical posts.

[vinyl_junkie]

Originally Posted by misterharrison

Straight arms still require anti-skating, I think. Otherwise why would bonafide classic straight hifi arms like the SME V have antiskate dials? I believe the Rega ones have them too, don't they? It's linear trackers that don't need antiskate.

Correct as the record spins the centrifugal force is still pulling the arm/needle to one side and anti-skate is required.

Get something like the hi-fi news test record to properly set anti-skate.

From memory that Rega arm you have does have an anti-skate control, don't quote me on this but I think it's that small silver lever thing under the Rega logo

[cocoy]

My apologies if I made any inaccurate claims regarding the anti-skating. My only reference to straight arms are from years ago. From this guys who was then pushing the Stanton STR8-150. He made that claim to me. Also read something of a similar note on a Vestax brochure more than a decade ago.

I defer to the experts on this forum.

[Special.K]

I Love My Rega arms, i'll never part with my turntables!