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Unexpected issues with Rega planar TT, a respectful manufacturer product?

About a year ago I bough a Rega planar 2 turntable. I do not play much LPs, I bought it just for a few LPs I have. It should have around 20 hours of burn-in now. It turned out that a more than $600 unit has  a 1-dollar phono cable incorporated into it (which, by some reason is called a "premium" one). In fact, I did not see an RCA cable that bad even with cheap equipment. Well, not really nice but this was not yet fatal. A few weeks ago,  my attempt to use the TT has failed. One of the channels did not work, and after a few tests it was clear that it is TT, one of the RCA terminals. There was no force made on it or something similar.

Surprisingly, i did not find a technical support option on the Rega web page, they merely send you to their dealers. I have contacted the local Rega dealer and the answer was that they can check replace the cable at a some cost (whereas supposedly, it has a "life-time warranty" and it is a practically new unit). My question was, if they have some instructions to replace their "premium" built-in RCA cable, that I could follow for the replacement. Since then, there was no answer. I also contacted the US/International Rega dealer with whom I bough the TT, still no answer. 

In addition, the TT has another problem, just from the beginning. Normally, when it is powered on, the plate moves to the opposite direction. After several  (identical) attempts (on/off), it may finally choose the right direction. This is of course quite bothering but i did not try to clarify this issue before since i do not use the TT often. 

Normally I try to avoid complains but i think that this case is "quite special".

niodari
niodari's avatar
niodari OP
345 posts
 

@williewonka  

Thanks for your post! I did not think that this model was so old and so many improvements could have been made by an end user. You did an impressive job! Perhaps, Rega will say you thank you someday, and you may thank the God that He gave you the opportunity to learn, but not Rega for their poor job. I would not trust an audio company that does not give technical support, and put that cheap cables, parts inside their products. I bought this model because I liked the design and was not looking for something really good. But I did not expect that it can be so poorly made and with no technical support. What is then their "life-time" warranty? 

I am not really interested in improving this TT, i would be happy if it were just doing its job. The RCA terminal has no visual damage. While powered on, i tried to move it but there was no sonic response in the speaker (there is barely noticeable constant noise in the channel). So now i am in doubt now if it is really the cable or something less easily detectable inside the box. The leads to the cartridge look fine. 

 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,693 posts
 

@niodari 

I doubt it’s the cable. Did you actually physically check leads on cartridge or just visually inspected it? I had this happen to me with P2. Make sure the leads are on tightly. Take a tweezer or thin needle nose pliers and check every one of the 4 leads on the cartridge. 
If no luck there’s something else going on.

What cartridge is it?

niodari's avatar
niodari OP
345 posts
 

Now i am also doubting more that it is the cable. Yes I checked all four leads by a tweezer, they are tight.  Its a Rega carbon cartridge.

It's a good puzzle...

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,693 posts
 

I still think it’s cartridge related. Second guess would be a bad tonearm wire. One other check you can do is try to flip the channels by swapping leads and connecting the cartridge left ch to right and right ch to left. See what happens. If the problem moves to another channel, you most likely have a failed cartridge. If you have another cartridge you can try it would help. 

williewonka
3,131 posts
 

@niodari - WRT your original question

My question was, if they have some instructions to replace their "premium" built-in RCA cable, that I could follow for the replacement.

Depending on the arm, this can be tricky because the point where the cable is joined to the tonearm wire is inside the arm assembly - so oyu have to remove that plastic portion inside the brass threaded portion of the arm.

Are you certain the problem is one of the RCA plugs?

  • It could be the joint inside the arm assembly
  • it could be a break somewhere in the cables
  • it could be the cartridge (as another person pointed out

To be 100% sure - I would use a multi meter to test for continuity (i.e. Zero resistance) between those little tabs that clip onto the cartridge and the RCA plugs on the other end of the cable

  • If there is continuity, then the problem is with the cartridge
  • If there is no continuity then you will need to figure out where the break in the wire is.
    • you will have to remove the am, because the "break" may be inside the arm assembly itself

Here is a video of a Rega arm assembly. It is too fast to watch, so in your youtube settings (bottom right of youtube window) set the playback speed to 1/4 or something more useful.

The section of interest to you is about 85% of the way through the video where the guy attaches the cable to the arm

https://youtu.be/y8C5MQdLR74

Good luck - Steve

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