A stroboscope will always be far more precise than a gyroscope. Not everyone will crave perfect speed accuracy like I do but for me, the KAB Speedstrobe was a great purchase.
@Strat-Mangler, think you for the mention to your excellent thread; I've been looking forward to your "shoot out" conclusions. For anyone doubting the musical differences that different turntables give, if your review hasn't whetted the appetite, then simply listen for yourself. To anyone who has upgraded and found some records don't sound good anymore, the very real musical differences that @Strat-Mangler talked about in his excellent reviews, ensure that every record is musically better than the VPI Prime, so this is a true upgrade, rather than a difference. Happy listening!
Nice job and excellent review! Just wonder how did you manage to have such detailed comparisons between 2 turntables - did you have 2 identical cartridges or you mount and dismount it for this purpose?
Rega do supply shims and obviously have their own beliefs about VTA, which having performed blind listening tests on a few customers, I partially agree with: Rega 2mm Three Point Arm Height Adjustment Spacer - Stainless Rega explanation is in the above link.
Strat, what about the cartridge pin clips? Many people feel the Rega clips are fragile. How are the P-10 clips?
I've just read Fremer's view on this. He said to always extend the cable clips first a bit using a toothpick whenever you feel you need to use some force to get them on the Rega clips/pins.
I've always felt that all turntables have fragile clips, without exception. But the Prime's were definitely sturdier than the P10's. Nevertheless, I'm not hamfisted or clumsy so it's no issue for me but I can certainly agree that one needs to be careful while manipulating them.
With my hands and eyes I probably would never be able to mount a cartridge on those arms without removable headshell.. It is a pain for me even with them.. But at least clips are of no concern, as leads can easily be replaced )).
The wires in the Prime with unipivot tonearm don't have to go down through the bearing axis like most tables, so can be a little more stout and not cause undue resistance to the tonearm movement. It's always kind of a compromise. My Micro Seiki tonearm has a removable armwand so the wires can be big without any consequence, that's a plus, but of course there is an extra set of contacts inline, like with a removable headshell.
Yes, they aren't as rigid as some designs, but also one of the easiest to get tight on cartridges. In fifteen years and having fitted multiple hundreds of cartridges into RB250 and RB300s, I managed to break one tag, which was severely bent by the owner... I would suggest if anyone is worried about the Rega cartridge tags being flimsy, they probably shouldn't be fitting their own cartridge anyway. Edit. I can honestly say that I've heard more concern about fragile Rega clips from Technics owners on this forum, than all the time speaking to both owners and customers when I was a Rega dealer!!
Sorry; forgot to reply to this. No 2 identical carts. I merely mounted the cart on each table, back & forth. Wouldn't take long. Maybe 5 min at most. Really easy to remember *exactly* how things sounded when so little time elapsed between each try... and also when the results were so wildly different between the Prime and P10. If there had been 2 of the same cart, one could argue that one has 600h of playtime whereas the other has 200h so they'll sound different. That was not the case here. It was a direct comparison of 2 turntables using the exact same cart.
You have great hands!! Takes me forever to mount and remount carts, and I always afraid that with my clumsy hands to ruin leads.. But honestly I am not surprised at your finding. But it is not just turntables - it is tonearms, and P10 arm is miles better then standard JMW. Enjoy your P10! BTW, what floors do you have and what do you have under turntables?
Concrete slab. Nevertheless, the Prime would demonstrate vibrations if anyone walked hard with their heels around it. I tried a butcher block and a few other things - no change whatsoever. The P10 has no issues with footfalls. Nothing under the turntable.
I can dance, with my pretty considerable weight near my TT and nothing happens )). But I never had VPI ))
I really liked your review of the P10. It is a desirable turntable upgrade for me, but then I would have to upgrade my phono stage, probably my amp and the slippery slope continues. And I am listening to my gear in a 8x12 office space so my P3 suffices. But.....
Well, I don’t have anything of substance to report, other than it sounds great. I read your post right after my retipped Exact came back so I set it up that way; now of course I can’t really be sure since it’s the new and different stylus. I may try more experimenting just to see.
Hi P10 mates! Really great and knowleged review, thank you strat-mangler! I am a happy owner since late 2020. I purchased the unit s/h including a mounted Goldnote Donatello red high output mc. After so many spins over the years I am thinking about to replace the cartridge. But what for? Rega Apheta? Well that‘s very common. I am looking for something more special. Dynavector? We are getting closer… Maybe an EMT? Or VdH? Clearaudio Charisma V2 (MM)? Lyra Delos? Koetsu Black? Ortofon range? Grado MI may not work, due to hum issues? Well, I am asking for experiences. Some of the carts mentioned above will not be working properly with the rb3000 either… My phonopre is a EAR Phonobox deluxe (valve MM/MC) and a McIntosh MP100 (ss MM/MC, adjustable). Any thoughts are highly appreciated! Best regards, Jan/Hamburg Germany
You’re stuck in the Rega ecosystem, unless you’re willing to use a spacer and possibly an aftermarket counter weight on most of those cartridges you listed. You could just mount it and hope for the best, but more than likely the VTA will be off … and who wouldn’t want the VTA as perfect as possible if they spent that much money on a cartridge? I know that Strat-Mangler is using a spacer, but just be super cautious on mounting a metal spacer on the ceramic brace of the P10 … one little screwdriver twist too much and “crack”.
