SN2 + Rega P5

What cartridge are you using?

I have no idea. I have not bought it yet.  If I use MM type, can I avoid getting stageLine?

I am not sure about the pros and cons on MM vs. MC For Riga P5.

thanks

MM is a safe buy and good quality. You need Stageline N or Rega Fono MM phonoamps. 

SN2 does not contain a phonostage. The Naim Stageline is a phonostage that will work with the SN2 and is powered from Aux2 on the back of the SN2. Other phonostages are available. These will typically be supplied with a wallwart power supply. These phonostages can be plugged into any unused input on the back of the SN2.

If choosing a Stageline, make sure to order one appropriate for your cartridge, eg. Stageline N for a moving magnet cartridge.

Chris

What Chris said.

Not sure if I understand this correctly, so assuming that I go for a MM catridge, I still need to get a stageline or a similar product by another brand?  Bare SN2 + P5 just wouldn't work? 

PTCM, SN2 does not have a phono stage. You can use any phono pre with any unused input.

thanks a lot

No it wouldn't work

as others have pointed out

You need a phonostage

it will need to match the cartridge so hardly available before you have settled for purchase

I wonder why you have a P5 in mind ? maybe good s/h purchase but new RP3/RP6/RP8 is better, much better and very much much better, the one I'd choose if I could afford your amp too

Design is another matter

Cartridges is a jungle, I'd save on this and get the best TT you can afford, say RP6 w/Elys is better than RP3 w/Exact, I could live with P8/Carbon until funds....

Also beware the tonearm height on Rega TT cannot be raised/lowered makes another brand cartridge sometime an issue, I use a Shure 97Xe on my P3 with no issue so options are a strange size

I didn't realize the SN2 would power the StageLine.  Certainly makes a turntable a more attractive option for me.  Surprised my vinyl loving dealer has not suggested this before.    

So a SN2/StageLine/RP3 or RP6 would be an acceptable 'return to vinyl' setup?  

Hmmm ... maybe I should not have read this post.  

pat

I have a Supernait 1 and a P5 -- the Rega has served me very well over the years. That said, I heard an RP8 at my dealer last weekend and it was obviously better than my P5. Time marches on!

To the OP -- if you already have the Rega P5, a Dynavector 10X5 and Stageline N would be a great combo to go with it. Otherwise, I'd recommend getting an RP6 along with the Dyna and Stageline.

Good luck!

Joe

Or maybe its good you did!  My XS powers my Stageline.

I have an RP3 / Ely2, Stageline N, Nait XS, NACA5, Credo.  RP3 sits on the Vulcan wall rack (really good move here).

Vinyl sounds out of this world...I never listen to digital anymore because it all seems to sound the same to me, like the soul is lost from it.

Got two new 180gram Jazz vinyl last night and I listened to both of them straight through, twice!  I will listen to just about anything all the way through on vinyl, but even some of my favorite stuff falls short on digital.

Each new album is a different experience altogether.  My wife and I have a blast spinning records, the sounds and feel coming out of this thing shocks me sometimes.  I simply can't believe how much energy is emitted into the room.  My eyes often just roll back into my head while listening.

If you add an RCM to the mix, you can find $0.99 vinyl, clean it up and you have a cheap way to get glorious music.  Random stuff you'd never have even heard in your lifetime, about 1 in 10 is a real knockout record I then begin to cherish and force myself to wait before listening again.

Yes, its an RP3, but last night it sounded like I was in a Jazz club...I kept waiting for a waitress to come take my drink order.

Thanks again for everyone's input. If my budget is US$1.5k on this vinyl setup, what should I get?

Also, how do I know which specific version of Stageline I am supposed to get?   Can RP3 use different types of MM cartridges ?   Within those, one type would be compatible with Stangeline K ?

Coming from a CAS/CDP background, all these vinyl terms and intracacy are very technical to me. With limited resources, want to make sure I am making the moves.

Thanks everyone in advance.

Simple: Rega RP3 turntable

             Audio Tecnica 120E MM cartridge

             Lounge Audio Phonostage

Plug it into a line level input ( Tuner is popular ) of your preamp. You should have $$ left over for a decent RCA/RCA interconnect and at least a half dozen new LP's.

Easy deck to set up and enjoy and sounds quite good!

Good Luck,

Mark

Edit- RCA/DIN interconnect!

This Lounge Audio Phonostage has DIN connection ?!? so good ? Any other photostage brands with DIN available within my budget ?   I always feel that using RCA interconnect create X amount of decay no matter how expensive it is in the context of Naim setup.

First: It seems this was never answered in the thread...MM is fine.

Second:  The Naim Stageline comes with a SNAIC to plug it right into the Naim amps.  No power cord or audio connecter (the SNAIC carries audio and power).

Third: Whether now or down the road, add a record cleaning machine to your list.  This will eliminate a good deal of the noise floor associated with vinyl (especially used vinyl), except on the most scratched up records.  It *expands* your choice of vinyl, and lowers the overall cost associated with purchasing vinyl.

MM is all you'll need for quite some time from what I can tell...MC is when *big* money starts getting spent...the cartridges are outrageously priced...a Superline is not a cheap piece of kit.  You start looking at $6,000 turntables, $1,500 cartridges, $4,000 phono stages when you enter the MC realm.

Given what my RP3 can do, I'm sure an RP6/Exact is quite a machine, and I will probably not go past this.  Having a lot of good vinyl records is more important to me than going up yet another level, and if its not all set up just right it doesn't matter what you have.

For just about all the cartridges mentioned, the Stageline N is what you want from Naim.  It's what I have and this will service all the MM cartridges from Rega.  Was not a fan of the Rega phono stages.

I don't see myself moving to MC in the next decade unless a rich relative dies.  My wife pretends to be deaf most of the time, but she comments on vinyl quite a bit which always surprises me.

Hi.  I bought a second hand P5 with power supply whatsit for my re-introduction to vinyl about 18 months ago.  I only have a Naim digital source (DAC XPS2 DR) and use mid level CJ tube gear for the rest of the system. I did consider the Stageline but i did not like being limited in future cartridge options and would need a separate power supply to power it.

i have what i think you guys refer to as a mullet system.  My "mere" P5 only sits on a1970s lightweight coffee table for example ( i read that lightweight is good somewhere).  Whoever,  I do use a Dynavector Karat 17 D3 MC cartridge and the Zesto Andros Tube phone stage, both of which are not cheap.  The P5 in this context seems to do ok.  I took the Rega P5 down to the hifi shop and compared it to a Well Tempered Amadeus ( the one with the better plinth) with the next level up Dynavector cart and my phono stage.  To be honest i was not hearing night and day differences.  I thought the P5 with power supply did a more than decent job .  With only about150 records in my collection (only half are recent purchases)  the whole vinyl thing is a bit unbalanced.  Its more of a novelty, something a bit dufferent to enjoy, and the Naim DAC sounds better as its been refined to within an inch of its life with nordost reference cabling etc.  

The vinyl sounds different but it doesn't sound as real or immediate as the digital can. It does have something about it however other than just crack and pop.

What is your sources for DAC?  MAC audirvanna?  

SSD macbook with max RAM, Audirvana 2 ( much better than 1), Weiss INT202 firewire interface and Paul Hynes range topping SR7 dual rail power supply running them both, Nordost white lightning coax cable. I think there is some fairy dust in there as well, or it could just be household dust.

 thats Rega P10 money right here.

I would certainly agree at the bottom of the market.  With the law of diminishing returns apply across the board it would be less of a factor once above a certain level.  My reading suggested that the "mechanical"elements were most critical, ie the cartridges and the phono stage.  Thats no to say you should neglect the turntable, with platter speed and stability, general resonances etc.  mind you my experience is limited to 2 or three phono stages, a plastic Rotel, the P5, 3 cartridges and hearing aome bespoke tables at our audio club.

If you have a well set-up turntable, and a good piece of vinyl it is not a mullet by any stretch. 

Yes!  Vinyl is different from record to record, and for compilations from track to track.  Digital is all crammed through the same DAC!  Normalized sound!  Record-to-record vinyl is by definition unbalanced...its not all going to sound the same.

As for the immediacy I'll give you that, but I don't want immediate music, I want room filling...free music.  Vinyl has been more soothing for me than digital.  And no, I don't have a high end digital system but I've heard quite a few of them.

This is what I feel here, if people put the time and $$$$ into the vinyl setup that they put into their digital...they may be surprised.  Most I see go pretty far, but still cling tightly to their digital and are almost afraid to like vinyl.   As if its some commodity that goes up and down and they are afraid to invest in it.

It was only when I truly sold out, and really put the effort into tuning it and making sure everything was perfect that it happen.  In fact all the time I was worried about my phono stage being the issue, it was the cartridge not being right...and the speakers not being positioned perfectly.

To me (and others) the Fono added a lot more "bump" to the music, which becomes obvious pretty quickly.  The Stageline has a smoother and more true range of sound, where the Fono sounded big in some areas but off in others.

If you add in the lack of extra cables, its awesome...and its a Naim system right?

Again I feel people will drop $3k on a black box for a minor improvement in digital, but get real cheap when it comes to vinyl...and they end up not impressed.  Digital is also easier to set up by far, you put the box on a rack and plug it in.  Not so easy with a turntable setup.

Also its apparent folks immediately lose some love for their digital system as soon as a new DAC comes out...not so with Vinyl.  Internet down?  No worries.

*gasp* am I becoming a vinyl curmudgeon?