The closest I could come was Rega's own RB300 tonearm, surely the best-selling perfectionist tonearm of all time. After that came the Rega Planar 2 turntable, a sample of which I owned and loved in the early 1980s. Next on my list was the original Rega Elys, a moving-magnet cartridge that sounded as chunky and direct as it was cheap and magenta.
All the products on my list were simple, purposeful, cost-effective things lacking in pretense and filigree; much the…
More about tonearm settings: The rear of the RB101's armtube…
There are three major components to this RP-1 Performance Pack, as it's called. First is a drive belt that not only looks different from the original—the new one is white, and appears very slightly thicker than the old one—but actually feels somewhat grabbier. (I'm probably the only nerd left who remembers, as a child, buying white silicone-rubber tires as upgrades…
Description: Two-speed belt-drive turntable with manual tonearm & moving-magnet cartridge. Motor: AC synchronous. Platter: phenolic resin. Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm. Tonearm tube: aluminum alloy. Downforce calibration: none. Antiskating mechanism: magnetic. Tonearm effective length: 240mm. Cartridge: Ortofon OM 5E. Recommended tracking force: 1.75gm. Output: 4mV at 1kHz, 5cm/s. Wow & flutter: unspecified. Rumble: unspecified. Rega RP-1 Performance Pack: Upgrade kit for Rega RP-1 comprising new drive belt & platter mat, new Rega Bias 2 moving-magnet…
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 Mk.II turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU & 90th Anniversary SPU, Shindo SPU, EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Wavelength Cosecant, Furutech GT40, Peachtree iDecco (digital input to line output only) USB D/A converters; Stello U2 USB transceiver; Apple iMac G5 computer with Apple iTunes; Sony SCD-777ESSACD/CD player.
Preamplification: LFD LE phono preamplifier; Auditorium 23 Hommage T1, Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto & Vosne-Romanee…
Ten hours later, the world seemed a much different place. It was surprisingly warm and sunny when Rosemarie and I arrived in Munich, the long flight smooth and uneventful. Though we didn’t manage to capture any sleep during the trip, we were nonetheless charged with a fair…
Would this turn out to be a sexy hi-fi show?
No such luck, but I found something similarly delightful: A friendly greeting from the hotel, in charming, 8-bit glory.