Well for my birthday last week I decided to pony up and finally add that turntable I've been thinking about. I did some research and found one I liked on ebay (Rega Planar 25) at a decent price and went for it. Finally got my hands on it today and after fussing around for about 30 minutes with very very poor sound (think subway PA system quality) I realized that the needle was badly bent. Hey, I never claimed to be a genius. So I bent it back and, while the sound improved dramatically, the whole time I'm thinking, not only was it bent, but I just bent it back with my bare hands. This can't be good. So now I'm asking myself, should I just replace it? And if I should, what should I replace it with? I mean the last turntable I had was back in the early 80s and really back then all I did was listen to sex pistols at ludicrous volume levels, so that doesn't really help me. So I ask you, any suggestions on a good cartridge? I would like to keep it under $200, but if there's a compelling reason to go above that I am capable of being convinced.
The full system is as follows:
Rega Planar 25 w/ RB600 tonearm & slightly bent Exact MM Cart
NAD C162 PreAmp
NAD C272 Amplifier
A. Gallo Reference 3.1 Speakers
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for helping out!
-Charlie
Well for my birthday last week I decided to pony up and finally add that turntable I've been thinking about. I did some research and found one I liked on ebay (Rega Planar 25) at a decent price and went for it. Finally got my hands on it today and after fussing around for about 30 minutes with very very poor sound (think subway PA system quality) I realized that the needle was badly bent. Hey, I never claimed to be a genius. So I bent it back and, while the sound improved dramatically, the whole time I'm thinking, not only was it bent, but I just bent it back with my bare hands. This can't be good. So now I'm asking myself, should I just replace it? And if I should, what should I replace it with? I mean the last turntable I had was back in the early 80s and really back then all I did was listen to sex pistols at ludicrous volume levels, so that doesn't really help me. So I ask you, any suggestions on a good cartridge? I would like to keep it under $200, but if there's a compelling reason to go above that I am capable of being convinced.
The full system is as follows:
Rega Planar 25 w/ RB600 tonearm & slightly bent Exact MM Cart
NAD C162 PreAmp
NAD C272 Amplifier
A. Gallo Reference 3.1 Speakers
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for helping out!
-Charlie