Rega RB 1000 - Outgunned by Origin Live?

05-04-08: Cmk
Hi Cytocycle
Interesting comment about the Technics arm. I think Kevin feels the M5G version with the upgraded tonearm wire is good enough that it may not be necessary to rewire the arm.

I have an M5G, and while the upgraded wiring may not be quite up to what a fresh rewire with Cardas or Kimber would offer, I have no complaints and have never felt that the M5G tonearm wire holds the turntable back.

Get a Sumiko headshell or at least get upgraded headshell leads and clips.

I will also testify that the KAB fluid damper helps the the stock tonearm reach its potential. The tonearm's fine balance and extremely low bearing friction are now modulated by the damping fluid, eliminating groove chatter and minimizing overshoot. Suddenly there's plenty of soundstage and I can "hear the room," no question.

I lo-o-o-o-o-ve my SL1210 M5G with fluid damper, better mat, and record clamp. It draws me into any kind of music I throw on the platter--classical, country, rock, jazz, solo, small ensemble, or large--it all draws me in and moves me. Sometimes the music I play on this rig haunts me for days.

Cytocycle
I've heard the little brother of your TT, the Performance(?). Yes it is very quiet and has virtually no bearing chatter with the CMB. The Benz cart was also probably designed with the Clearaudio, hence the synergy.

Johnnyb53
The soundstage you get, is it 3D on good recordings? I was a bit concerned about the HifiWorld review with the modded RB250 where the reviewer mentioned the soundstage was somewhat 2D.

"Sometimes the music I play on this rig haunts me for days." At the end of the day, this is the most important factor, the music speaks to you. Great stuff!

Johnnyb53
The soundstage you get, is it 3D on good recordings? I was a bit concerned about the HifiWorld review with the modded RB250 where the reviewer mentioned the soundstage was somewhat 2D.

Are you kidding? When I sit in the sweet spot I feel like I'm on the threshold of a sonic hologram. In fact, several reviews of the SL12x0 series mention that they're good with depth, not so good with width. But I have both now by getting the Sumiko headshell/Denon DL-160 combo, replacing the stock headshell gasket with a thinner one, adding the fluid damper, and platforming the TT to drain vibration.

All those tweaks delineated the soundstage very well--widened it and added definition to the depth. It always had depth; now it presents depth to the back of the stage of a concert hall when recorded that way.

I have a Columbia "Great Performances" reissue of Stokowsky conducting the Bizet Carmen and L'Arlesienne suites, and the soundstage is breathtaking. It haunts me in between listenings.

I also have some live jazz records--L.A. Four at a jazz festival and the Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall, and in both cases I feel like the sounds line up in my living room like they did in the original performances.

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for all the information. It seems that Audiogon bloggers have little taste for either the Origin Live Silver or the Rega RB1000. Unfortunately, the arm will cost $300-$400 where I live to rewire. Although there are ways to help other other aspects of the wonderful Technics SL1210, there are really only two ways to fix the very grey and muddy sound of the tonearm. One, as discussed, is to rewire, then buy the KAB fluid dampener. The other way is to replace the arm with one of my preferred options: Either a 2nd hand Rega RB1000 (which has had full rewire with Cardas from stylus to RCAs -ie full length of the tonearm to the connections to the phono-stage) or an Origin Live Silver. Has anyone had experience with these tonearms? The Origin Live early models copped a bit of flack for quality control. True? The Rega 1000 is just a trumped-up RB300. True? Any thoughts regarding these tonearms would be greatly appreciated.

I have moved from a RB300 to a RB 1000 a few months back and would disagree that the RB 1000 is merely a trumped up version of its younger sibling. Have done an A/B comparison using initially a Sumiko Bluepoint 2 cart and later with a Lyra Helikon. The differences are not minor. Is it worth the price difference ? I am not even going to attempt an answer to that as at one level its a personal and subjective choice and if there really was an objective answer then the future of high end audio, IMHO, would be bleak. Given all my subjective limitations the RB 1000 makes enormous sense to me and I would not hesitate to recommend it. I have no knowledge or experience of the OL arms and therefore cannot comment.
Your choice of arm should take into account the cart you intend to use.
Just my 2bits.
Cheers