First Impressions of a P9/DV17D2/DV P75 Phono Stage.
Posted by: Jaybar on 28 September 2003
Guys-
I am new to the Rega world after having a Linn LP12 (Ekos,Arkiv, Lingo, Linto) for 23 years.
Loss of much of my vision required that I consider a much easier to maintain TT. I wanted something that was setup and forget it. I want to thank Scott Naylor and Mike Pranka for their un-ending support and also the guys who contributed herer . At the risk of a bad pun, given my visual loss, this was truely a BLIND PURCHASE. There werw many Rega dealers in NYC and NONE had a P9 for Demo. Although my dealer strongly supported a change to the Rega P25 or P9, I beleive I am the first customer who has purchased a P9. Was I frightened to invest this heavily on reputation---you bet.
I would also like to thank Bruce and Richard at Innovative Audio for their pre-sale and after sale support, setup and installation. Lastly, I would like to thank John at Audio Connection in Seattle and Mark at Audio Perfection who convinced me that analog was still vaible, despite my limited vision.
My initial impressiosn are that the P9 is far more neutral than the Linn. Musical nuances are much better. Overall PRAT is the equal of the Linn and superior in some ways that I cannot yet articulate.
From the Posts on the Naim forum, I feared an unrelenting drive that might tire me. Boy was I wrong. The overall flow of the music is FAR superior to the Linn. It seems neither too slow, nor two hard driving. Its just right and far more natural and varied than the Linn. I am not a PRAT junkie, but it does do PRAT very well. This is the one area that I find neither superior, nor inferior to the Linn, but different. Here Rega has its own style of presentation. It draws me in without beating me up or making me bored. PRAT and flow are very natural.
The biggest surprise were in its round earth qualities of imaging and tonal nuance. Immages are far more life-like and life-sized. There is a more three dimensional/flesh and bones quality to the images than with my Linn. Tonal variations and nuance are far superior. You also get quality detail retrival, w/o being buzz-sawed by hyper details.
In short, it compares most favorably to my preciously fully equiped Linn at a more reasonable cost. I wonder how it might sound with a DV cartridge that was on the same level as the Arkiv?
Its nice to be listening to analog agin, w/o fear the table will go out of adjustment.
I wish I had an XX-2 si I could set the Phono Stage to PE mode.
Thanks again guys,
Jay
I am new to the Rega world after having a Linn LP12 (Ekos,Arkiv, Lingo, Linto) for 23 years.
Loss of much of my vision required that I consider a much easier to maintain TT. I wanted something that was setup and forget it. I want to thank Scott Naylor and Mike Pranka for their un-ending support and also the guys who contributed herer . At the risk of a bad pun, given my visual loss, this was truely a BLIND PURCHASE. There werw many Rega dealers in NYC and NONE had a P9 for Demo. Although my dealer strongly supported a change to the Rega P25 or P9, I beleive I am the first customer who has purchased a P9. Was I frightened to invest this heavily on reputation---you bet.
I would also like to thank Bruce and Richard at Innovative Audio for their pre-sale and after sale support, setup and installation. Lastly, I would like to thank John at Audio Connection in Seattle and Mark at Audio Perfection who convinced me that analog was still vaible, despite my limited vision.
My initial impressiosn are that the P9 is far more neutral than the Linn. Musical nuances are much better. Overall PRAT is the equal of the Linn and superior in some ways that I cannot yet articulate.
From the Posts on the Naim forum, I feared an unrelenting drive that might tire me. Boy was I wrong. The overall flow of the music is FAR superior to the Linn. It seems neither too slow, nor two hard driving. Its just right and far more natural and varied than the Linn. I am not a PRAT junkie, but it does do PRAT very well. This is the one area that I find neither superior, nor inferior to the Linn, but different. Here Rega has its own style of presentation. It draws me in without beating me up or making me bored. PRAT and flow are very natural.
The biggest surprise were in its round earth qualities of imaging and tonal nuance. Immages are far more life-like and life-sized. There is a more three dimensional/flesh and bones quality to the images than with my Linn. Tonal variations and nuance are far superior. You also get quality detail retrival, w/o being buzz-sawed by hyper details.
In short, it compares most favorably to my preciously fully equiped Linn at a more reasonable cost. I wonder how it might sound with a DV cartridge that was on the same level as the Arkiv?
Its nice to be listening to analog agin, w/o fear the table will go out of adjustment.
I wish I had an XX-2 si I could set the Phono Stage to PE mode.
Thanks again guys,
Jay