Looking for cartridge and phono stage to compliment the Rega P5

[jsaliga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif In other words although it may sound sensible to apportion the budget evenly between the various bits this is in fact quite wrong.

I think it is sensible to spend most of the budget on a turntable, but not so much that one is left with chosing from bottom rung carts and phono stages just to have a working system.

I am also a believer in synergy between components of a system, so that is something else I was interested in.

As I said before, I do appreciate your opinion. You have a great deal of experience with analog setups (yes, I have read a lot of your posts) and I respect that. But there is far from unanimity of opinion on this topic. One reviewer, for instance, felt that the Ortofon Rondo Red was a great match for the Pro-ject RPM 5. I trust that you would probably disagree with mouting a $500 cart on a $649 table. I don't know if I would go for that either. But I mentioned it to show that there are differing oppinions, which can make choosing an approach somewhat difficult.

The discussion may be moot. I am trying to close a deal on a used Rega P7 with external power supply and Benz Micro Glider H2 cart with 80 hours on the entire setup. The asking price is well within my budget and leaves enough room for a decent phono stage. I received a note from the seller and asked him if we could discuss it over the phone. If that converstation goes well then I will most likely close a deal on it.

--Jerome

 

[JadeEast]

That sounds like a good deal and the Benz doesn't need
a step up transformer, nice find.

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsaliga /img/forum/go_quote.gif One reviewer, for instance, felt that the Ortofon Rondo Red was a great match for the Pro-ject RPM 5. I trust that you would probably disagree with mouting a $500 cart on a $649 table. I don't know if I would go for that either. But I mentioned it to show that there are differing opinions, which can make choosing an approach somewhat difficult.

Price isn't always a such a sure indicator as you need to take into account international exchange rates and the weakness of the Dollar which make kit imported into the US more expensive, although this does slightly favour imports from mainland Europe over those from the UK. Rega is more overpriced than Pro-Ject in the US for this reason.

Technically though, these days the quality of tonarms fitted to the Rega, and to a lesser degree the Pro-Ject / Music Hall decks is such that they are certainly capable of running a good quality moving coil cart but to really appreciate what such a fine quality transducer can do you should really mount it on a better deck. Although Pro-Ject are stronger in the design of plinths than Rega perhaps.

The point I am trying to make is that the cartridge's abilities are to a large part defined by what the arm and table allow so to put it simply a good quality MM cart like the Audio Technica AT440 will sound better on a Linn LP12 than it will on a Rega P5, even though it's the same cart. Moreover it can also sound better than a fancy MC on the Rega. This is what you might call synergy and it's not something which I feel is generally realised.

Beyond basic mechanical matching issues of compliance and so on which are largely accademic these days as everything is medium, the fact that the performance of a cartridge can be improved by better quality components upstream of it is hard to get your head around but there it is.

I have seen this demonstrated time and again so before you part with any money do go and listen at the dealer you mentioned...

 

[jsaliga]

I understood the point you were making from the beginning but it's now academic.

The seller of the Rega P7 setup on Audiogon called me and we just concluded a deal.

--Jerome

 

[memepool]

Cool. I just thought these are good points you've raised about the elusive concept of synergy and what the priorities should be for getting the best possible system for a particular budget, so it was worth trying to explain it as clearly as possible for general reference.
Good luck with the Rega. A wall shelf would be another thing to add to your shopping list if you havn't already as these tables need careful siting to give of their best.

 

[jwilldermood]

The wall shelf is a great idea. Target and Apollo both make them. I bought the Apollo because it is a little bigger.

 

[randerson3024]

A Lyra Dorian cartridge is an excellent contender. I recently gave one to a buddy who uses a Rega 25 for his birthday, and it sounds great.