Rega RB300...great arm, terrible design (tonearm wire)

[Beagle]

The RB300 is a great tonearm. However, the design leaves a lot to be desired, where the tonearm wire is concerned. The wire is thin, the plastic covering is stiff and hard to work with, and flexes in basically one spot (where it comes out of the arm tube). The whole area is cramped and crowded once you get the cart installed and lined up, and the wire is forced into this S shape and eventually snaps. The standard cartridge pin clips were obviously designed by someone who hates LP's. Cart pins are not standardised, and you have to open and close those flaps on the clips and they eventually snap off. If you decide to mod with Cardas clips, you solve one problem while creating another, because the Cardas are so long, you have an even bigger problem with cramping and wire flexing. And if you use the heatshrink tubing, you have yet another problem area,

Oh, I suppose if you just threw on a MM with user-replaceable stylus you could avoid all this but with an arm of this calibre, you should have a design where you can install carts without cringing, waiting for something to break under 'stress'.

Roy Gandy sure seems to go against the proverbial turntable grain, what with these questionable design features and felt mats and the like.

Has anyone ever had similar ongoing problems or had a non-standard wire mod/upgrade done to their RB300?

[Vinyl-Addict]

I have Cardas wire, a single run, terminated with Cardas connectors. I love this wire, brought the performance of my P3 to another level. The stock cable is crap but the price of the arm is still a bargain, even with the crap cable. Do yourself a favour and upgrade the wiring, you'll be happier! :)

[Gary]

Rob at Applause Audio agrees with you! He claims he rewires a Rega every week - sometimes two!

I believe him.... and Vilyl-Addict, too! :)

[Sckott]

The arm wiring is *****. Easy to fix.

http://www.hi-fi.com/diy/rega/

Just watch the detail in the how-to. Getting the arm wire and doing it is a 2 hour job, tops. Cardas or Van den Hul wire is highly recommended.

[AudioEnz]

Think twice before you rewire a Rega RB300. The wire is the easy bit. Ensuring that the bearings are correct is difficult.

[Upstateaudio]

One option if you don't want to mess with a rewire is to sell the present arm on Audiogon or Ebay and purchase a modded and rewired arm. That's what I did.

[Graham Start]

Originally posted by Gary
Rob at Applause Audio agrees with you! He claims he rewires a Rega every week - sometimes two!

I believe him.... and Vilyl-Addict, too! :)

I wonder if anyone else in TO provides this service... my previous experience with Rob was not pleasant.

[Shakey]

Try this link.
http://www.britaudio.com/Incognito.html
The guy here is really a pleasure to deal with and you can call and talk to him direct.
I've bought stuff from him and he is a enthusiast/devotee when it comes to British gear. So with that said you know a little in advance how he leans.

[Sckott]

Ensuring that the bearings are correct is difficult.

Yes, don't mess with the bearing torque. As long as you can thread the wire in and you don't have an overwhelming desire to mess with the bearing seal inside the arm, then all should be fine. If you tighten or loosen that screw inside the arm pivot, kiss the sucker goodbye. :( It cannot be repaired by mortal tools or man.

One wrong move by just being curious of that screw for the bearing will kill the arm. Only Rega technicians have the tools to fix that including proprietary ones that are set to torque, and it takes weeks to get right.

I've ruined a Rega arm bearing. But that's because I was stupid :(

[Beagle]

Originally posted by Sckott
The arm wiring is *****. Easy to fix.

http://www.hi-fi.com/diy/rega/

Just watch the detail in the how-to. Getting the arm wire and doing it is a 2 hour job, tops. Cardas or Van den Hul wire is highly recommended.
Wow Sckott, that's a virtual manual on how to do it. One of the most detailed, concise things I've ever seen. Thanks! Whether I have the patience or discipline to pull it off remains to be seen. But it does need to be done...

[Sckott]

At the very least, the crappy tonearm wire from the arm-cork to the Preamp (the one with the RCAs) should be replaced right away, if not, when it fails (and it will, you'll get loose, sporadic connections). If you don't wanna fool with wires thinner than 2 strands of hair, a soldering iron and even a midrange Radio Shack gold cable that's cut at one end solders nicely once you take apart the "cork" at the arm pivot with the solder joints on em.

You can leave the tiny wires attached to the "cork" on the arm, slice into the cork and resolder better RCA 'tonearm' wire. But what I did is desolder the tiny wires from the cork, tape the wires to the outside of the arm (so I didn't lose em) and soldered things together and checked connections with a variac. Easy. Took me 30 minutes to do. http://www.hi-fi.com/diy/rega/join.jpg

A Rega RB300 is not without it's faults, but the truth is, [most] everything can be remedied and even bettered with some careful skill. This makes the arm not only a great buy, but empowers the user to repair simple problems which can be impossible in other arms in its class.

[Beagle]

Thanks Sckott. When I had the tonearm wire replaced two yeaars ago, I had the cable upgraded to the RB900 w/Neutrik plugs. So it's just the red/white/blue/green tube wiring I need upgraded. Does this make things easier/cheaper to DIY?

[Sckott]

If you have the soldering thing down, yes. Get the armwire and clips ordered and get that ready 1st. It IS tricky, but it's absolutely described in that article.

Another thing I would recommend is alligator clip arms. They sell small clip tables in Radio Shack so you have another set of arms while you're trying to solder teeny connections.

[Gary]

Originally posted by Graham Start
I wonder if anyone else in TO provides this service... my previous experience with Rob was not pleasant.

Yea, he has some definite ideas on things....

Try Audio Excellence on Bayview above Hwy 7. They send it out somewhere.... but at least they can get it done!