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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".

128x128niodari
williewonka
3,075 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

niodari's avatar
niodari OP
299 posts
 

Thanks guys indeed.

I will try to get a bit more inside of this perhaps the video can be helpful. There are 4 wires leading to the cartridge, white, red, blue and green. How they match with two channels?

williewonka
3,075 posts
 

@niodari  - connect as follows as follows

https://manuals.denon.com/DP400/ALL/EN/OBAOSYdjavzsse.php

Scroll down for connection image

GREEN = Right channel ground (-ve)

BLUE = left channel ground (-ve)

RED = right channel signal (+ve)

WHITE = Left channel Signal (+ve)

Regards - Steve

niodari's avatar
niodari OP
299 posts
 

Thanks Steve!

I swapped the channels on the cartridge and the signal now comes from the other channel (the earlier silent one). So the problem cannot be the cartridge. I understand that it can again be in RCA terminal or one of the two cartridge leads of the right channel, or somewhere inside the box. The second option is very unlikely because all four wires look fine. 

I may try to change the RCA terminal but then I guess it may lose the warranty if it exists at all. 

I didn't check the video yet. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,775 posts
 

So now you know it’s not the cartridge. It was worth checking.
You should contact Rega for an authorized repair center that would be able to address both your issues…dead channel and the motor spinning in a wrong direction. 
The P2 is a decent table. it’s unfortunate you ran into these issues. 

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