Rega Rp1 Disappointment

[banerjba]

I have both P1 and a Pro-ject Debut in the fleet and the latter is better built and better sounding out of the box.

My Rega's bearing took a long time to break in (couple of hundred hours) for pitch stability. The Pro-ject only took about 50 hours. The OM5 cartridge takes about 15-30 hours to break in.

The Rega's platter is uneven but ours have been flawless sound wise and looks nice.

My big boy table is a P5 and I also own a Rega amp, pre amp and tuner. Rega makes great sounding equipment with so so build quality. Once set up right they last a long time. 30 year old Rega Planars are everywhere.

Talk to the distributor.

[pulsetsar]

This is the only problem that I have found with the deck though, still very happy, infact it's beating my Arcam CD73 player hands down. Just bought a Scritti Politti album that sounds absolutely stunning.

Agreed. It crushes my Arcam CD73, which I thought was pretty good!

[shared_gum]

I am having the same "tonearm floating towards the arm-rest" issue with my Rega RP1 at anti-skate set to 1.75, and I am addressing it by keeping the anti-skate at 1 or below. My platter is not as bad as the one in the video on page 1 of the thread, but there is a very slight wobble. It's more noticeable with records on, but if I remove my records and mat, there is still some very slight platter movement that may actually be hard to spot with a naked eye.

Finally, it sounds really good. I will probably upgrade the cartridge at some point, but for now, I am happy with the sound and don't want to mess up a good thing. My beat up jazz and classic rock records sound really good, but when I played more heavily distorted heavy metal music, I did notice some lack of detail due to the cartridge. I have very picky ears - some may not even notice, and it stills sounds better than the same cd.

I look forward to using this player in years to come.

[sonna]

I too have the RP1. After viewing the video with the wonky platter, I immediately checked mine. And I have to say that its absolutely fine. No wobble or anything.

The anti skate took quite a bit of adjustment but no longer reverts to its original rest position when I lower the arm.

[lustman]

Hi all,
i'm new here

I have the same problems than Signal64,
and one more,
if i screw the balance weight onto the tone arm up to the stop pointyhe at 2g, The cadridge Om5 slightly touch the vinyl,
so i oblige to screw the balance like show in the picture



somehow i m happy with the sound, it's clear
but with a lack in the bass medium and bass

i will surely update with an another cadridge

[mikroid]

Same problem here.
I don`t have the balance counterweight unscrewed so much, like in the previous picture,but still some revolutions were needed in order to avoid cart touching the record during record play.

I plan to buy a Shure SFG-2 stylus tracking force gauge to check if there is something related to actual mass of counterweight or a factory defective cartridge.

Sorry for my english

[lustman]

i' m not fan of the OM5,
i choose a stanton 500 gold that is a cheap and good cartridge

[banerjba]

The Ortofon 2M Red is a good replacement - $100 and nice deep bass and good detail articulation.

[baiof versognai]

back to the bias issue, I believe is normal for the arm to drift back...the whole point is to counter act the centripetal force of the record spinning...
On my deck (Rega P2/RB250 - Denon DL110) I had to set the bias all the way up to 2 to make it through the bias settings tracks (vtf at 2g)

[maintreqd]

Anti - skating set to 1, tracking force to 1.9, fed into a Cambridge 640p - it can get the music out.

I must admit to being confounded as to how to adjust anti-skate on my RP1, however it doesn't seem to be a real issue at present. Still I do wish i could figure out how to adjust it... anyone have any tips?? I know the debut iii has a hanging weight, it looked pretty ridiculous to me and is a main reason i veered toward the rp1 over the debut iii... but now i can't even find out to set it at all on my rp1!

Also must admit that i have the bias set to 0 instead of the recommended 1.75, even though the counterweight is flush with the stopper as indicated in rega's setup instructions. if the bias is set "correctly" the arm wants to track back to the rest at rapid speed and will pull backwards across the record while tracking. no good at all.

I now have an 850 dollar P1, but when you're first getting serious about vinyl you don't know how serious you're going to get.

you nailed it. the rega is my 2nd player in under a month (upgraded from the audio technics AT PL120) and i'm already wondering if i should have spent more and gotten a p3 or something greater? i plan to be collecting and spinning vinyl for a long time if not forever.

[bacobits]

For me here it has always been less than the VTF. Usually around 1 or less.. My VTF is at 1.80.
1 or less is fine and you shouldn't get that drift out to the armlock.

[Laudanum]

"I know the debut iii has a hanging weight, it looked pretty ridiculous to me and is a main reason i veered toward the rp1 over the debut iii..."

That hanging weight bias/anti-skate system has been used on a lot of tonearms over the years. I've never had any complaints about the performance any of the tables/arms Ive had over the years due to that type of anti-skate. Im not picking here, just pointing out that it's not a great reason to discount a tonearm or table/tonearm combination from a performance perspective. But it is understandable that you just dont like the looks of it.

I should also point out that some arms have no provision for antiskate at all and some folks dont apply any on some of those that do. In fact, it's not unheard of for some folks with Rega arms to adjust anti-skate down to the minimum. I wont say "turn it off" because there is still some applied by the magnet even at zero setting. The Rega arms magnetic anti-skate doesnt have a reputation for being all that great and can vary, and seemingly often does, from arm to arm. None of this is to say that you made the wrong decision with choosing turntables. Just that the hanging weight isnt "ridiculous" in application. As I stated, that it looks that way to you is completely understandable as it is you that has to be happy with the table both in appearance and performance.

[maintreqd]

"I know the debut iii has a hanging weight, it looked pretty ridiculous to me and is a main reason i veered toward the rp1 over the debut iii..."

To be fair it wasn't the only reason. I did read in numerous places that the rega was bit of a better choice than the debut iii as far as sound quality produced and tracking reliability. Just didn't want you thinking i approached the decision with sheer vanity in mind, haha.

In fact, it's not unheard of for some folks with Rega arms to adjust anti-skate down to the minimum. I wont say "turn it off" because there is still some applied by the magnet even at zero setting. The Rega arms magnetic anti-skate doesnt have a reputation for being all that great and can vary, and seemingly often does, from arm to arm.

see this is where i'm confused, because I literally can't figure out how to adjust the anti-skate on my RP1 to begin with! any clues? All I can adjust is the counterweight's distance from the stopper (currently it sits flush with this) and the bias (currently set to 0 even though instructions say it should be matched with the VTF for the stock cartridge - about 1.75 - which is something that still boggles my mind since 0 is the only bias setting that prevents the arm from tracking back across the record's surface).

[watercourse]

see this is where i'm confused, because I literally can't figure out how to adjust the anti-skate on my RP1 to begin with! any clues? All I can adjust is the counterweight's distance from the stopper (currently it sits flush with this) and the bias (currently set to 0 even though instructions say it should be matched with the VTF for the stock cartridge - about 1.75 - which is something that still boggles my mind since 0 is the only bias setting that prevents the arm from tracking back across the record's surface).

Bias = anti-skate. Is this where your confusion is, or with adjusting the anti-skate?

If the latter, there are some very recent posts in this forum about how people set anti-skate, and the different results they get from different methods. The moral of the story is: you can listen to what Rega says, or you can experiment on your own like others, including myself, have done. In the end, trust your ears.

BTW, my anti-skate is under "1" with tracking force set to 1.8g.