How about Pro-Ject RPM 6?

The Pro-Ject sounds better due to its better fundamental design. The Rega is going to require a really good stand or shelf as it's excessively sensitive to vibration. The other flaw is in the arm, or rather, how the arm is grounded. In the Rega, the tonearm assembly is electrically grounded to the left signal ground from the cartridge, this is a very big no-no and a serious pain to fix. The signal is corrupted as soon as it comes off the cartridge, the soundstage is collapsed & lots of low level details are erased. You can fix this by sending off the tonearm to Origin Live for rewiring, but that's going to cost you.

The Pro-Ject. The RM6 is a pretty good turntable, it does get the important things right, and I prefer it to the Regas. The RM6 has a more solid sound, better depth & layering to the soundstage, and unless the P3 is on a stand that's worth more than the turntable itself, it will also have better low-level detail retrieval.

The Rega may sound like it has a greater ability to carry a beat, however this is a bit of an illusion. Regas tend to run a little fast, and as I noted earlier they also tend to erase low-level details. This simplifies the music if you will and brings out the beat (sidenote: Linn has sold countless LP12s with the "listen to the beat" trick, a nice way of turning flaws into a bonus).

Overall, I think the Pro-ject wins out nicely.

Try this.



http://www.needledoctor.com/Music-Ha...2&category=351

The stock cartridge with this one is excellent. An upgrade wouldn't be necessary for quite some time. I am also looking into buying a new turntable. I researched the Music Hall, Rega, and Pro-Ject for quite a while. Most people prefer the Rega over the Pro-Ject. I'm partial to the Music Hall since I've actually been able to hear it and play with it. I also like the fact that the cartridge is top-notch for stock.

That website I gave you has all those turntables and more on it. Check it out.

*edit*

For some reason I didn't read model numbers and just assumed that were looking at much lower end tables! Forget everything I said.

But that Music Hall's still very nice looking! Eh?

I think this is a bit overstated and selective. The Rega tonearm wipes the floor with anything Pro-Ject have ever produced which is why you find it in various forms on decks like the Michell Orbe and many similarly high-end tables. Rega re-wrote the rule book on tonearm design end of story.

What Origin Live and others do to it mainly are structural modifications which basically amounts to replacing the counterweight and sandblasting etc to further tweak an already excellent design. The wiring is bog standard becuase it's a budget arm and can definitely be improved upon but most of the wiring issues people have with the Rega come from using Grado carts of an old fashioned design which have inadequate shielding.

All turntables require a decent support to give of their best, whether Linn, Pro-Ject or Rega and a purpose made wall shelf from the likes of Target or Apollo is around 100 USD, but a solid DIY effort using inexpensive stuff from somewhere like Ikea will work just as well. It's true all Rega's require this slightly more than some of the more expensive Pro-ject tables but both will sound rubbish if you just plonk them on a sideboard.

Rega's sound very good for the money and are pretty much the benchmark by which all budget turntables are judged. In the USA they are much more expensive than they ought to be because of the foreign exchange, but the same is true of Pro-Ject.

Music Hall are just rebadged Pro-Ject's sold under license in the USA from the same factory in the Czech Republic.

All these tables, along with the Goldring GR2 etc are worthy budget contenders, and also don't forget the ubiquitous Technics SL1200 which is better built than any of them but needs an upgrade to it's tonearm to really get the most from it.

The best course of action is to find a good dealer and go and listen before you buy. They may have some older Sota tables going cheap. Also check Audiogon. For the same price as a new Rega P3 you can pick up a proper vintage high end deck like the Thorens TD125/126 or something like a Linn Axis.

The best bargain in turntables produced in the USA is the VPI Scout but this is over 1000USD unfortunatey.

When the Rega arm is wired & grounded correctly, yes, it is superior to all Pro-Ject arms with the possible exception of the flagship one which I haven't heard yet. Once upon a time Rega did ground their tonearms correctly and this along with their design led to their well-deserved (at the time) reputation for superior sound. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there was a serial production change to the new grounding scheme which seriously compromises the sound.

Yes they do structural modifications as well, and yes the upgraded wiring is a factor, however, fixing the flawed grounding scheme is in my opinion the key improvement in the mods they offer. It fixes a fundamental issue whereas the other mods are more akin to refinements on the design. With moving coil cartridges, especially the lower output models, a tonearm which is not properly grounded becomes a huge detriment to sound quality.

They are pretty good, and I can understand why Regas are the benchmark for budget turntables, however in my opinion I think Pro-Jects do edge them out in the areas of performance which are important to me.

Don't know about the project 6, but a friend of mine bought a rpm 5 and put a 2ndhand ortofon MC25 cart on. I can tell you that its a very nice player, that arm that comes on it is actually very good and the deck is well capable of a bloody good MC cart and phono stage. Further recommendations are to add the speedbox which will give you 45/33 at the touch of a button and apparently improved sound as well. Works out about €600 here for arm and TT, I suppose thats about 800USD or so.

Fran

That's interesting. I have 3 Rega arms in various states including a recent almost fully modded OL one ( I stopped short of the slotted arm tube ). The difference between the stock 250 arm and the OL modded version is marked but the stock arm is still a very fine arm indeed, compared to other arms of a similar vintage from Linn and Logic.

The only differences I have noticed is that the OL seems to be a lighter casting than my older Rega although the design seems identical otherwise.

When did they change the wiring?





Never really been a big fan of Rega decks and they are way overpriced in the USA becuase of the exchange rates.

In Europe though where the OP is, they are more reasonable as of course are Pro-ject and giving credit where it's due, Pro-Ject did a lot to re-ignite the market at the lower end in the 1990s with the Debut and have obviously put a lot of effort into continuously improving their decks and expanding the range on offer ever since.

At the RPM6 level though the competition is stiffer. Both the Roksan Radius and Michell Tecnodeck are in this pricerange and are widely regarded as very fine decks so shop around.

My vote to PJ - RPM 6 or if you can RPM 9X...

GD

Nah, don't bother. The arm's a little finicky.

has anyone tried one of these? RPM1.3


for $500 new it looks super snazzy, just wondering if anyone's heard one or used it?