Hello!
I suspect my old friend, Rega planar 3 /rb300 is, well, ageing...
I am not satisfied with the sonic quality (yes I know, plenty of reasons are possible), and thus recently I installed a new cartridge.
While making the adjustments, I noticed that the arm is not very „responsive“ in vertical movement—when it’s weight was zeroed, the arm‘s movement stopped after 2 up- and down- swings are best...
All other arms I have are much more flexible... shouldn‘t the rb300 be comparable? And could this be the reason for a dull sound?
I suspect my old friend, Rega planar 3 /rb300 is, well, ageing...
I am not satisfied with the sonic quality (yes I know, plenty of reasons are possible), and thus recently I installed a new cartridge.
While making the adjustments, I noticed that the arm is not very „responsive“ in vertical movement—when it’s weight was zeroed, the arm‘s movement stopped after 2 up- and down- swings are best...
All other arms I have are much more flexible... shouldn‘t the rb300 be comparable? And could this be the reason for a dull sound?
Thanks rayma
I hadn‘t the impression that the lateral movement was impeded—at least not more than the vertical movement...
I really need to get those other TT‘s spinning.
I once found that a large group of Grace arms had severe bearing problems, and informed/returned them to Sumiko.
There was a version II of the arm not long after, with no bearing problems at all, quite good in fact.
You can test horizontal movement by removing antiskate, neutral balancing the arm, and gently blowing
on the side of the headshell.
There was a version II of the arm not long after, with no bearing problems at all, quite good in fact.
You can test horizontal movement by removing antiskate, neutral balancing the arm, and gently blowing
on the side of the headshell.
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Aah, blowing, of course!
grace is one of those arms that made me suspicious about the rb...
First remove or protect the stylus, of course. I would highly recommend the Grace 707II (only)
for medium to high compliance cartridges, but these arms are not very common today.
It has less coloration than the Breuer 5A arm for example, though it is certainly not as well made.
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This is something I am thinking about constantly—I once wondered how it would sound if the plint was removed of its decorative resin covering, that is if the plint was bare chipwood...
My guess is it would sound worse, even paint improves the horror sound of chipwood/mdf.
Counting the swings the arm makes when zeroed is hardly a good indicator of bearing quality. Have you tried the Ittok paper test?
No, not yet. Will have to, just to saturate curiosity. The Planar 3 is an important part of our living room and must not be replaced...
Will have to establish other TT's in my workshop.
Well, i had a rega p3 with the rb300...
Set the tracking weight to 0 , zero the antiskating
too (although it's impossible with the rb300)
and throw a stamp on the headshell.
If the arm goes all the way down you're good theoretically...
(Make sure you position the arm outside the platter perimeter and keep
an eye not to let the stylus touch the plinth).
Sad to say but i lost my faith to Rega years ago. There are better
decks out there for the same money (or even less) no matter what the British
Hifi magazines want us to believe...
Set the tracking weight to 0 , zero the antiskating
too (although it's impossible with the rb300)
and throw a stamp on the headshell.
If the arm goes all the way down you're good theoretically...
(Make sure you position the arm outside the platter perimeter and keep
an eye not to let the stylus touch the plinth).
Sad to say but i lost my faith to Rega years ago. There are better
decks out there for the same money (or even less) no matter what the British
Hifi magazines want us to believe...
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