Catridge choice for my RP3

Have also ordered a RP3, with Elys 2. All reviews rave about the player, will be interesting to try it at home.

Will be collecting my RP3 next week, was advise to pair with Elys 2 by the dealer....

Have a 30 year old vinyl player (brand no longer exists) at the moment. The old player probably has an Ortofon red cartridge. What is amazing is the functionality and workmanship offered. Belt drive, s-shaped arm, stroboscope, fine tune speed, precision weights, adjust antiskate. Will the minimalistic Rega RP3 sound much better?

Hi. The problem with Rega decks is the lack of arm height adjustment. The Rega cartridges are very shallow and line up perfectly with the arm as it stands. However, should you fit, say, an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge, the arm slopes back towards the bearing end. The tracking angle will now be slightly lower than recommended - but better to slope this way than the other - down toward the stylus. Theoretically this will increase distortion figures making the treble brighter, etc. Having said that we have sold other combinations of cartridge on Rega's and they still sound great even though aligment is not perfect re: height.

If I were buying an RP3 today, I would order it with a factory fitted Elys 2.

Less hassle and it's not a bad cartridge. (Bearing in mind that if you order the RP3 and Elys 2 together, as a package, you get the cartridge for £74 instead of £115 and free, professional fitting & alignment thrown in.)

any cart you fancy, the height of the arm is easy enough to correct with Rega supplied shims. Even dealers can fit them, (well, some can). Is your phono stage MM only, or MC, and what sort of budget?

Benz Micro silver or gold depending on the stage

Nagoaka MP 200 MM

Rega Exact

I really dont understand the general feeling of, 'dont adjust the Rega arm height'??? OK its a pain but not exactly difficult, takes about 10 minutes on the P5/700. The problem is the cost of Rega shims, 'after market' metal shim sets are OK and cheaper, I bought a set comprising of; 1mm, 1.5mm and 2mm for £21 on fleBay, they needed edge dressing but work fine.

I looked at a new RP3/arm/Elys, in a dealers show room yesterday . . . The arm base sits up on 3 small spacers, very flimsy IMHO  . . . compared with the 700 arm . . . however, I can see an argument for fine point isolation.  It looks like the 3 point shim fit under the spacers, or do they do varying spacer heights?

As said before, Rega should know what they are doing?  I have a high regard for their TT's, but they do sound better with the arm height adjusted to suite the chosen cartridge if different from Regas own, so why be restricted to one make of cartridge?

CJSF

B&Q can supply washers that are a lot cheaper than the shims.

It is worth bearing in mind what the OP actually said...

CJSF, a person new to turntables is not going to have the skills/experience of people like you and I who have been fitting and aligning cartridges ourselves for decades (I did my first one over 30 years ago and my last one 2 years ago and fitted/aligned many others for family, friends and colleagues over the years.)

If the OP (dennisk) has a good, local Rega dealer who can do all the necessary work, then fine. But if not, I would strongly recommend keeping things easy by ordering an RP3 with the Elys 2 factory fitted.

Shims/spacers, removing/replacing the arm etc. is almost certainly going to be out of the 'comfort zone' of any turntable novice.

Have now been listening a little bit more on the 30-year old vinyl player which I'll use to compare with the Rega RP3+Elys 2. The higher frequences are clearly missing, big difference from any CD. Hope the Rega will not miss out on those. Also, there is a clear speed problem with the old player (piano changes in pitch). Hope the Rega will have reasonable stable speed. However, with this in mind, the sound is actually more concert like than any CD player!

The pitch instability is likely to be down to a stretched/worn drive belt.  A new belt will probably resolve the issue, to be fair.  

You won't have any discernable speed issues with the RP3.

The missing high frequencies could be down to wear on the cartridge and/or stylus.  Also some older cartridges were softer sounding than modern designs.  Again, replacing the cartridge would probably resolve the issue and I wouldn't expect you to have any such issues with the RP3/Elys combination.

More of a general observation over a while now, even shops dont suggest it can be don if a different cartridge is chosen?  The words, 'easy life' and 'party line' come to mind?  The OP does say he 'ordered' the TT, so one assumes a dealer is involved?

I now duck, go and have my dinner . . . :D  CJSF

What is this 'party line'?

We no longer have to share telephone lines and (and far as I know) Rega is not a political entity 

So I don't get your frequent 'party line' references.

Do you mean the difference between people like yourself (an ex hifi industry manufacturer who likes - and has the confidence and skills - to experiment and take things apart and customise etc.) and other people who prefer to set-up a turntable with a minimum of fuss?

If so, I wouldn't count either approach as a 'party line'. Some people like to experiment/tweak/tinker/customise and some don't.

No politics there. Just a different level of user involvement with a consumer durable.

Chebby, I'm not going to bite, I'll leave you to work it out  . . . I'm enjoying my music, as it happens, a CD of Debussy's poetic impressions . . .

CJSF

Exactly, I used clear plastic plumbing washers from a plumbing centre on my Gyro, when I had my last cart. The were a perfect fit and cost 15p. Don't fall into the audiophile trap with things like this. They really do see us lot coming, you know. Well, not me anymore, I saw the light!