Set Up Help, don't take the mick.

There's plenty of performance that can be squeezed out of a Rega deck with proper setup.
So, how's your deck set up?

There is little to the P2 as you said. If you can put it on a decent equipment table, stand or wall mounted. Set the cartridge alignment, you should have a card with the T/T to do this. Balancevthe arm and cartridge, but be careful not to damage the stylus. Set the weight to the cartridge, if you do not know this start at 1.75 and experiment. The bias, when set, should allow the arm to lower in a straight line and allow it to track without side forces, the alignment and weight will affect the sound. Make sure the cartridge bolts are nipped up not cranked up!

Clean the stylus and record and listen. Experiment with the weight, as I recall heavier will emphasis bass more.

My first deck was a P2. You may still find the dynamics lacking when compared to the CDI. Listen for a while then go back to CD.

If this fails...............sell your LP's

Good Luck

Milan

The arm falls straight when using the lift, however it does fall fast leading perhaps to the idea that the arm is set to heavy so mabye a little adjustment is in order this I suppose could account for the extra bass going on.

If all that don't work I will just have to hold out for a better deck or sell up and and live with CD,(not a problem) except I do have a good 80 albums, seems a shame to waste them.

quote:

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Originally posted by where's vuk?:
my projekt 1 beat the pants off the replacement, a rega p25. which makes me think at the least the projekts are underated. the regas are....

regards
shahreza

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My Projekt 1.2 served me well for a number of years but it's replacement (an old Thorens) sounds a lot better for less cash.

Regards
Steve

--Eric

The cartridge is a bit of overkill but I got it at a very good price because one day I *WILL* get a better deck. However I can't remember for the life of my what its called. Its an MC one anyhow.

I will get back to you folks on it I should have said in the first place, doh.

you do have the right phono boards for your MC cartridge don't you? Because if you're using MM boards... it won't work properly.

regards,

Mark

Have you tried the deck 'display' side up on a Mana SoundFrame?

Alex

snigger, I ain't that dumb!

Alex.

very good.

I won't be buying into the mana phlisophy right now, presumably one of these frames will be circa 200-300 quid, well I could get a second hand linn for that which I believe would reep better results.

Plus the girlfriend don't want 'That Crap' in the house.

Her words not mine.

Please no more on mana in my topic!

snigger.

The cartridge is a Dynavector Karat 17D2. MK.II

Try saying that when your drunk.

I have a Rega alignment card. If you want to try it drop me an e-mail and I can post it over. Don't forget that you need to balance the arm with the cartridge in it. Set the tracking weight and bias to zero, then set the counterweight so the arm 'floats'. You should be able to move it with a gentle puff. Then set the tracking weight at 1.75gm (it dials in on the arm, if the 250 is like the RB300). Re set the bias.

The cartridge should be OK, I've not heard one. But maybe the stylus is worn?

Regards

Milan

I notice if i remove the material disk from the glass platter the cartridge dosn't get any where near to the glass before the arm is at its lowest point. Does that make sense? theres about 2-3 mm clearence, is this right, I would have thought it went all the way.

Andy

I have increased the weight a tadge and that seems to have tidyed things up a bit, however it has had a poor effect on the treble??? It made it sound like theres a tonne of dust on the needle when there ain't if you understand me.

Because its MC (or is it) I am having to whomp the amp up to about 12 oclock for a resonable listening experience, this is having an effect, presumably microphonics or something, any way if I get within a foot of the deck, touch the plinth etc, this resonds through the needle and consequntly through the deck. I think it would be fair to assume this is going to be causing problems regardless of if I sit still or not.

One thing to say after some extensive listening, (Something I havn't to date done with vinyl) the seperation and 'stereo' effect is a lot nicer than from the CDi, but so far thats about it. Wish I had kept better care of my records.

So can I assume I have gone as far as is possible with this basic deck?

Would investment in a better deck increase my enjoyment of vinyl or further enhance the difference between CD and record relegating forever the deck into the 'second' source catagory.

Ah well, never mind.

Thanks Milan I got the card. I tried scanning it, but in the end have gone back to basics and traced it!

I will post it back soon.

Also, the cartridge is one of the best at avoiding pops and crackles. This is because it uses an ultra fine line stylus which digs deeper into the grooves - pops and crackles are normally in the upper section near the surface of the groove.

Things to look out for:

1. Setup is key with a Dynavector. They're quite sensitive to VTA and I know they aren't the same height as Rega cartridges. You need to get a hold of an alignment protractor to check, but I think you'll find that when the cartridge is in the groove on a record, then the arm will be at an angle - it should be horizontal. The only way to fix this is to get a spacer from your Rega dealer and fit it at the base of your RB250 arm, raising the rear of the arm and making it closer to horizontal.

2. Check the cartridge body is properly aligned with the headshell. Again, you need an alignment protractor for this. Place the headshell such that it lines up with the parallel lines on the protractor. Then move the cartridge such that the stylus tip is on the crosshairs and the body is parallel to the headshell. Get this wrong and it will sound like crap (oh and it sounds easy but is actually fiddly to do right).

3. Check the boards in your 92 to ensure you have the right ones, or get your dealer to look in there for you. There are MM boards and various MC boards available. MM boards are called 522. MC boards are 523. The MC board of choice for a 17D2 is the 523S. It's quite easy to check. Switch off the amp. Unplug the sources and power supply. Turn over the preamp. Undo the screws. Use a small screwdriver or knife to pull out the plastic pins that hold it together. Slide out the base from the cover (push the base from the rear to the front so the front of the preamp comes out from the cover immediately so it doesn't scrape all the way inside the cover). Looking down at the circuitry, you should notice two daughter boards next to each other in the corner. If you can't see a number imprinted on the boards, you'll have to take off a board by prising it from its seat - note there's a white plastic pillar which holds the board in place so you need to unclip that first (it's sprung). Don't use a lot of force - not necessary usually. Turn over and see the number. If there are no electronic components and simply straight through tracks, then you don't have the correct boards. If you have a straight-through board then you'd have to turn it up a lot to get any volume at all, so this is unlikely. If you have 522's (the numbers are imprinted on the board) then the loading is all wrong and this could be your problem (probable). Be sure to line up the gold contacts when putting the board back in place so it fits in properly. New boards will cost you around £85.

The 17D2 is extremely low output. Older ones were rated at 0.17mV and newer ones at 0.23mV. The 523 boards are not particularly high gain so the output of the 17D2 is always a lot less than that of the CD player. Getting more gain is very difficult since you get a lot more noise usually. However, I lived with a 0.17mV 17D2 into S boards for 5 years with no complaints (quite the contrary) so it's a combination that can win - admittedly mine was in a Michell Gyrodec but that's another story. The fact is I think there is a mismatch between your Naim boards and the cartridge, or the cartridge is sitting sideways in the headshell (bad thing!) so I would urge you to get it checked or check it yourself. You could hurt both cartridge and records if it's not correctly setup - not good since it's a £450 cartridge and a lot of vinyl is unavailable nowadays.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Are they the babies?

Not a lot in the 92 for your money is there

When I place the needle to the vinyl the arm to my eyes looks pretty spot on level wise.

I have kindly been lent an alingment card and have to say its scary trying to adjust without putting pressure on the needle tip, this seems to be the fatle floor in the rega alingment card!

I will persevere though, it looks to me like it might be a tadge out.

Will put my 92 back together now!

snigger.

My god it was miles out! I was totally scared using the rega cart alignment as its cardboard and the slightest touch of the platter and the needle was scraping and going, so I photo copied it and laminated it so it was nice and smooth.

The cart was about 4 mms to far back in the head and on the gimp. The weight was set beyond 2.4g (opps)

After sorting that lot out the result has been quite dramatic. The main difference is the crackle and pops have diminished presumably through less weight.

The bass is better, although the cart still has a bassy characteristic.

My thanks to milan, I will put the card in the post today.

Thanks for the help folks and roy on email.