Rega upgrades/tweeks

Hi Williewonka,

Pace, Rhythm and Timing. Lot of folks question it's existence and validity. I will say that I think of it in terms of how 'involving' the presentation is, which is purely subjective, and can be measured from the size of my grin. From what I've understood about Regas, this is what these tables are designed to excel at. Their light mass construction is supposed to help enhance the liveliness and attack of the music. Rather than absorbing and sinking vibration like a heavy plinth design, these tables are supposed to shed that vibration quickly.

Regards,

The final tweek is complete - I finally mounted my Rega components on the completed plinth (mentioned in a previous append) this weekend.

The tweek cost around $50 for materials and IMHO well worth it.

The results were varied from one album to the next, but the one thing that did stand out was the amount of additional detail that is presented to the listener.
- the bass was a little deeper on some albums
- the mid range was definately enhanced to provide a much richer sound, but this was probably due to the change in VTA
- the highs on most albums did not appear to be any different, but on some Genesis, Phil Collins, Police and a couple of Tacet albums I have there was a marked difference in the high frequency details - cymballs for one were much more detailed and brass sound great.
- the music was definately very enjoyable and much warmer in the mid range.

I think the main reason for the improvement in sound is due to the feet - each foot is made up of
- a 1.25" glass marble
- on top of that sits a 1.25" steel washer
- on top of that are two 1/8" layers of underlay foam 1.5" round
- the whole thing sits in a 1.5" hole about 1" deep bored into the plinth
- the marble does NOT touch the sides of the hole

When the plinth is sitting on all three marbles it "floats" just like a suspended deck.
- Any sound that it tranmitted through the floor/stand/marbles/Washer is absorbed by the rubber - since the plinth is too heavy to be moved by any residual sound waves - voila! there is no tranmission to the arm and platter

The unit is basically three pieces of 3/4 MDF cut to almost the same size as the original Rega platter and glued together
Change from the original plinth include:
- the position of the motor is further from the arm, but the same distance from the bearing
- mounted the motor on an aluminum plate with a foam spacer
- the position of the feet now distributes weight more evenly between them, BUT they are at difference distances from one another
- the power switch was moved to the back left corner to shorten wiring and hopefully reduce interference
- made the bearing and arm mounting holes a loose fit to ensure both were securly drawn down to the steel washers that isolate arm and bearing from the plynth
- to centre the bearing I used teflon tape to fill the gap
- I already had the extended Nut with a collar to centre the arm in the oversized hole

Many have reported better success with Birch plywood, so I might just give that a try some day, but for now I'm a happy camper.

My thanks to Mikkysix for some info shared offline - it proved very useful.

Regards...

Williewonka, did you do Twl's strange tonearm tweak? If so, any thoughts?

Also, you might be interested to hear how Charlieboy built a 275 lb. isolation box for his TT using maple, sand and granite:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1169964085

Mingles...

Williewonka, did you do Twl's strange tonearm tweak? If so, any thoughts?

Not yet - I'm still thinking on that one.

I must admit that at this point in time I'm content to "Listen to the Music"

I listened to a couple of albums I haven't played for a while last night and the reproduction was amazing.

This plinth is bringing out an imense amount of detail and I believe now the Rega Elys cartridge is settling into its newly adjusted VTA it is performing much much better.

If Mikkysix's definition of PRaT is the size of his grin, then this plinth has tons of PRaT, since my grin was from ear-to-ear last night AND the feet were tapping! (my wife kept giving me these strange looks)

Charlieboy built a 275 lb. isolation box for his TT using maple, sand and granite

A 275lb granite isolation box eh! - Well fortunately, that's something else this plinth seems to cope with very well - it is rock solid and not suffering from vibration as far as I can tell - i.e. at normal listening levels.

This was another one of those tweeks from which I did not expect too much improvement - other than ending up with a nice looking deck. Mainly because MDF is not considered a great material - i.e. it has a sonic signature, mutes high frequencies etc..

I guess I lucked out with the design, because I have not witnessed any of the traits mentioned all over the web
- was it the steel washers that isolate the arm and bearing from the plinth?
- was it the position of the feet (i.e. an irregular triangle)?
- was it the glass marble feet with the foam suspension?
- was it the 3 layers of MDF or its mass?

I don't know, but I think it is the combination of everything - all I do know is that it works - amazingly well!

I think my next acquisition will be the Michell tonearm - now I have a plinth that is worthy!

Regards...

Adding the Funk Achromat to my Rega P3 was the most useless thing I ever did to the deck, as it made everything sound bassy and slashed the highs, muted midrange.My ugly felt mat is better sounding than Achromat.