My first Rega upgrade - groovy baby!!

[RoDa]

Wingnuts and two different sizes of washers have arrived.
Excited to see if they will fit the screws on the way....




Other thoughts:
- Is the Incognito rewire kit a no-brainer?

I'm afraid that the problems with tracking related to twisted cables are too common after this tweak/upgrade.
....and is it really that much of a difference on the RB700?

REGArds
Rolf

[james73_2008]

My first Groovetracer product:



More pics and progress reports over the weekend...


James H

[watercourse]

Wingnuts and two different sizes of washers have arrived.
Excited to see if they will fit the screws on the way....




Other thoughts:
- Is the Incognito rewire kit a no-brainer?

I'm afraid that the problems with tracking related to twisted cables are too common after this tweak/upgrade.
....and is it really that much of a difference on the RB700?

REGArds
Rolf

Hope the hardware all fits together well! Ask if you have questions.

Re: Incognito - I have really enjoyed the benefits of the rewire. Big difference IME. So much so that I've DIY-ed ICs from Cardas tonearm wire, so that I have the same wiring all the way from the tonearm to the amp. Very smooth but detailed, warm and balanced tone, very good ambience retrieval. Much higher resolution and better balance than stock, not to mention the increased stoutness of the wire over stock.

I'm not sure what you mean by the problem of twisted cables? If you're concerned that in doing the rewire, you might accidentally twist the cables too tightly and then affect anti-skate, I did not run into this problem. That is to say, the anti-skate settings did not change after the rewire. The Incognito kit has more than enough wire to be able to leave enough slack to avoid this, and the instructions are very helpful.

All that said, if I were to do it all over again, I'd source the materials on my own and rewire it for less than the price of the Incognito kit. But I've done it before and I'm ok with a soldering iron. What you get with the Incognito is the convenience of having everything prepared for you, which makes it nice and easy. If you choose to install the Incognito yourself, you still will need to solder on the cartridge clips.

If you're sending away to have someone else perform surgery, there are many options other than Incognito. I haven't heard any other rewire products, so I can't recommend any other, but I'm very happy with the Incognito and Cardas tonearm wire in general.

[RoDa]

My first Groovetracer product:

More pics and progress reports over the weekend...

James H

Gongrats, James!

REGArds

[RoDa]

Hope the hardware all fits together well! Ask if you have questions.

Thanks! Will do

Re: Incognito - I have really enjoyed the benefits of the rewire. Big difference IME. So much so that I've DIY-ed ICs from Cardas tonearm wire, so that I have the same wiring all the way from the tonearm to the amp. Very smooth but detailed, warm and balanced tone, very good ambience retrieval. Much higher resolution and better balance than stock, not to mention the increased stoutness of the wire over stock.

Cool. This is quite an obstacle for me, since it means a devitation from my "100% reversible" path....
But I'm on the egde of straying from that path already with the drill-through tweak, so.....

I'm not sure what you mean by the problem of twisted cables? If you're concerned that in doing the rewire, you might accidentally twist the cables too tightly and then affect anti-skate, I did not run into this problem. That is to say, the anti-skate settings did not change after the rewire. The Incognito kit has more than enough wire to be able to leave enough slack to avoid this, and the instructions are very helpful.

I've read a few stories about too tight wires on different places in the arm causing "full throttle" anti skate or similar issues.
Your experience is very helpful and settling.

All that said, if I were to do it all over again, I'd source the materials on my own and rewire it for less than the price of the Incognito kit. But I've done it before and I'm ok with a soldering iron. What you get with the Incognito is the convenience of having everything prepared for you, which makes it nice and easy. If you choose to install the Incognito yourself, you still will need to solder on the cartridge clips.

There's a unused silver set for sale in Norway for 165£ / 264$
(New 200£ + shipping + taxes)

If you're sending away to have someone else perform surgery, there are many options other than Incognito. I haven't heard any other rewire products, so I can't recommend any other, but I'm very happy with the Incognito and Cardas tonearm wire in general.

I know, the Audio Origami mods look amazing, maybe a chromed arm-tube...





First, new feet and drill through tweak. Then we'll see.
Cannot stop, must tweak my Rega ...

[watercourse]

You might also ask Laudanum on this forum - he has had much more experience rewiring with different wire types, including silver. Maybe start a different post - go for two stickies!
Silver is good stuff. Different sound than copper. I've had good experiences with both DIY solid core and stranded (Kimber) types. The main concerns with tonearm cables are how flexible the wire is (you don't want too stiff), how durable it is, and then electrical characteristics like braided shielding and low capacitance.
Also, Bacobits is quite happy with the stock wiring and he has had experience with the Incognito cables on other arms, so there may be arguments for leaving it alone. Again, the reason I rewired was due to a previous owner being too rough with removing one of the RCAs and ripping out the wiring.

[RoDa]

Thanks watercourse.
I've put the rewiring project on hold, too risky and non-reversible for my taste...

But, today a shipment from Analogue Seduction arrived. Always a pleasure to deal with those guys!






New shoes







Installing these is easy as one two three!







One down, two to go







Before ....



...and after








They really look nice! Haven't listened since installing them half an hour ago, but I don't expect a revelation.

The P5 looks like it's floating with it's new shoes.






REGArds
Rolf

[brassnwood]

It's been 3 hours Rolf since you installed the New Shoes
So, How does it sound
GC

[RoDa]

It's been 3 hours Rolf since you installed the New Shoes
So, How does it sound
GC

If you put a gun to my head I would have to say that maybe the sound is a bit tighter. Bass cleaned up a bit and percieved better dynamics? Maybe.
Look nice though, don't they?

REGArds

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

We won't put any weapons of any kind to any heads. That would be very impolite.

My Planar 3 sits on spikes that sit on dampers that were originally intended to be placed under a washing machine. This works surprisingly well. These things isolate like it's nobody's business, and especially the lower end of the spectrum benefits significantly from this. In oher news: next week my new used Transrotor will be back from its check-up and all this will be irrelevant...

[watercourse]

In oher news: next week my new used Transrotor will be back from its check-up and all this will be irrelevant...

This means that you will not help people in the future with Rega-related questions?

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

Of course I will. I'm nice like that!

[RoDa]

We won't put any weapons of any kind to any heads. That would be very impolite.

My Planar 3 sits on spikes that sit on dampers that were originally intended to be placed under a washing machine. This works surprisingly well. These things isolate like it's nobody's business, and especially the lower end of the spectrum benefits significantly from this. In oher news: next week my new used Transrotor will be back from its check-up and all this will be irrelevant...

Transrotor to replace a Rega? LOL, that'll be the day

I actually have 8pcs of these:
http://www.audioserenity.co.uk/iso-9h/s ... tion-pads/

They have the perfect diameter to fit the bottom on the original feet, if I cut away the bottom rubber spikes and the inner rings on the original feet I may try these AS-feet.

Cut away these:



And add these: (Not the correct angle and size in my picture of course..)





REGArds

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

Transrotor to replace a Rega? LOL, that'll be the day

That day is coming really soon now... Yeah... I'll probably be selling my Groovetracer Reference subplatter too...

Those isolation things look kind of similar to mine, except I bought mine at the local hardware store for six euros per 4. And mine are white...

Rotor on!
Frank.