My dealer had the force set at around 1.8, and the bias just under 2 when I took my P8 with Apheta 3 home. I found that LPs would "skip" backwards if there was a slight scratch, so it was recommended by someone to adjust bias to just above 1 and force to 2. No similar issues since the changes.
My understanding is the Rega gear is designed to work at lower bias/antiskate. So matching the two isn't necessarily going to be optimal. I've experimented with both a little, initially using 1.95 tracking and 1.25 bias. I would get the occasional jump/skip on less than pristine LPs. Since then I've kept tracking there and moved bias to about 1.75. sounds fine there. I'd experiment with bias between 1 and 2 and see what you think ...
Thanks for the comments. I’ve never given much thought to the bias setting, I wonder what the thought process is behind setting it to 0? I might give him a call tomorrow to check.
You should play with a lower force and see if you like the sound. I have my Apheta 2 at 1.87 with antiskate at 1. The sound is definitely airier at lower tracking force, which I prefer. I have an Apheta 3 new in the box waiting to replace my 2 in another year or two.
Anyone considering the Luxman or Chinook should take a good listen to the Black Ice Audio Fusion F159 phono stage ($1995 retail). Especially Rega and SME tonearm users that don't have the ability to adjust the very important azimuth parameter.
I’ve got an Apheta 3 and an Aria on the way to pair with my P6, but I’m really second-guessing whether this is overkill for the P6. Thoughts?
Thank you! I think I've been spoiled by the digital side of my setup, honestly. I'd really like to hear a substantial upgrade to my vinyl with these changes, especially considering the cost!
Hi all, I use a rega aria with the planar 8 and the apheta 3. I listen on stax headphones only. I don't use the recommended gain settings on the aria. I have the MC gain (1 and 2) both turned off. I don't see anything about that possible setting in the manual, so I don't have a clue what it does, but it definitely sounds warmer and less shouty than the recommended settings. The other settings on the aria are as recommended. Okay my questions: -what does it do when you turn gain 1 and 2 off on the aria? - did any of you play around with the gain settings as well and found that it doesn't only affect the loudness, but also the sound?
I'm a P8 owner with Apheta 3 and JC3 Jr. I'm set for about 1.92g and AS just below 2. Im getting a revealing high end and adequate bass. I feel like I'm a little light on midrange, where the guitars live. Did u experience anything like this? I've tinkered with VTF, moving it up, but things get muddier at 2g. This is a new A3 cart, maybe 15 hours on it. Any insight as to why the mids are not ideal with this setup?
So I have an answer to my own question. The table wasn't perfectly flat. It was close, but not quite. A thin shim under one of the feet dialed the midrange back in.
I purchased an Apheta 3 for my RP10 table over a year ago, and finally got around to installing it as I was starting to hear some degradation in the Apheta 2 (after 5 years!). My tech had looked at the Apheta 2 last year and said it still had a lot of life on it. I got one more year and it was definitely time--it was still tracking well, but mainly the highs didn't have the same sparkle and air. First, I have to note to replace the cart and get it aligned took all of 15 minutes. The Rega 3-point mounting makes life very easy for installing these carts. I set VTF to 1.79 to begin with. I put on Sandinista by The Clash, and there were all the highs I had been missing. Only half a side in, but I think the Apheta 3 is very similar in character to the 2, maybe just a little bit more refined. It is everything I loved about the 2 and then some. Very happy.
That it great - enjoy! I upgraded to a Planar 8 / Apheta 3 early in the year and got the Aria at the same time. Really enjoying it. I have a question out of curiosity - what gain do you have your Aria at? The reason I ask is that with my Apheta 3 the high setting (69.3dB) seemed to be causing clipping which I was able to confirm when doing needle drops** - uniformly flattened off peaks. I know the higher gain setting is recommended by Rega for the Apheta but I switched the Aria to the lower setting (63.5 dB) and that seems to avoid the problem. I do have one hotly cut 12” that still shows the issue at the lower gain. I have the loading set to 100 ohms as recommended by Rega. My conclusion, whether right or wrong, is that perhaps my particular Apheta 3 is an anomaly and has slightly higher output than most. I have no way to test this and as things stand I am happy. ** Using a simple Behringer UCA202 for ADC to laptop/audacity.
I have the Aria at low gain (63.5 dB) for the Apheta 3. I really have no issues. There are one or two LPs in my collection that are cut hot, where I can get vocal sibilance/distortion at peaks (for example the Hoffman/Gray cut of Joni Mitchell's Blue on the track My Old Man). With the Apheta 2 I was able to get rid of the sibilance entirely with the VTF set super high (like .95), but such a high VTF really deadened the sound overall so I went back to around .83 or so.
Thanks! That is interesting, You are also on the low gain. I have VTF set at the lower end of what Rega recommend ~1.9 but that’s a bit higher than your’s. (That’s not measured - just using the dial.) Rega do recommend the high gain setting for this cart but seemed too high for mine based on my observations. I feel more content now I know I’m not the only one on the lower gain on the Aria! My dealer was surprised when I mentioned it.
Thanks, and apologies I meant 1.83 not .83 but you know what I mean With the Apheta 2 I found at the lower VTF I get more "air" and detail. The higher I go, like 2 and above the sound would get very noticeably thicker. I went back to my post from last year and the tech had actually gotten the best tracking at 2.5, but I missed the sweetness of the lower settings and took it back down around 1.87 or 1.85.
I have my Apheta 3 set at 1.9 gm and just barely have the bias pulled out. As for loading, I like the sound of 47K better than the recommended 100
You have to be careful making assumptions like that when using an ADC device, many of them have pretty low input overload thresholds, much lower than a typical preamp or whatever the phono preamp output is normally connected to. I have one like that and have to be very careful with gain settings when making a recording, it clips the input stage so can't do anything about it via recording adjustments. But it is generally better to keep the gain lower rather than higher, always good to have a lot of headroom in vinyl playback.
Outside this thread but since bias was mentioned and you guys have P10s according to your profiles - I had a bias mechanism issue with my P8. The slider would slide back to less than one and there was very little resistance in the slider (although I didn’t realise that at the time as I had nothing to compare to). Anyway, I realised it wasn’t working properly and finally got around to taking it to my local Rega dealer. The arm went back to Rega and they sorted it quickly and I have it back. I now have bias set to a shade more than 1. Channel balance much better than it was previously!
Thanks @Davey - it occurred to me the issue might also be with the ADC overloading. It’s just that I had never experienced the issue with the ADC with previous carts (and different phono stage). But, yes, it could be another source of the issue. Too many things changed in my system at once and I didn’t spend the time to narrow it down. I still am happy with the lower gain setting on the Aria though.
