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Analog Corner #295: Rega Planar 10 turntable, RB3000 tonearm, Apheta 3 phono cartridge

Lately it seems that the more Rega charges for one of its turntables, the less you get—and from Rega's performance perspective that's a good thing.

While some turntable designs pile on the mass, hoping to tame resonances and better isolate the record from the outside world, Rega has long advocated ultralow-mass designs. What's up with that?

Rega defines a turntable as a "vibration measuring machine." Therefore, they contend—and this is putting it as simply as possible—the lower the mass, the less energy the system can store, only to be later released to confuse and muddy up the…

Rega Planar 10 turntable, RB3000 tonearm, Apheta 3 phono cartridge Page 2

The P10 PSU outboard motor-drive unit uses the same electronics found in the older RP10. It features a DSP-modified low-tolerance squarewave-generating crystal. This most recent version, however, is housed in a new, attractive, more-rigid chassis said to yield improved drive performance. The individual motor/drive system's fine-tuning process smooths out any residual vibrational energy.

The new Rega RB3000 tonearm
Just because the RB3000 looks like the arms used on less costly Rega 'tables doesn't mean it's the same arm. For one thing, the three-point metal mounting base…

Rega Planar 10 turntable, RB3000 tonearm, Apheta 3 phono cartridge Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

RP10: Belt-drive turntable with skeletal plinth and separate power supply.
Dimensions: Turntable with dustcover fitted: 16.5" (420mm) W × 12.4" (315mm) D × 4.9" (125mm) H. Weight: 10.34lb (4.7kg). P10 power supply: 8.6" (218mm) W × 12.6" (320mm) D × 3.15" (80mm) W. Weight: 6.6lb (3kg).

RB3000: Pivoted tonearm. Pivot-to-spindle distance: 222mm. Effective length: 236.53mm. Offset angle: 21.56°.

Apheta 3: Moving-coil phono cartridge. Recommended tracking downforce: 1.9–2gm. Recommended load impedance: 100 ohms. Internal impedance: 10 ohms.…

Rega Planar 10 turntable, RB3000 tonearm, Apheta 3 phono cartridge Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, & Castellon turntable & stand; VPI HW-40 Air Force One Premium turntables; SAT CF1-09, Graham Elite, and VPI Fatboy tonearms; Lyra Atlas, Atlas SL, Atlas SL mono, Etna, and Etna SL, Ortofon MC Century, Anna Diamond, A95, Miyajima Labs Infinity (mono) and Destiny (stereo) Grado Epoch (mono).
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi One SACD player DAC; Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter, Roon Nucleus; Pure Vinyl and Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S, van den Hul Grail SE Plus.
Power…

Recording of March 2020: <I>Who</I>

The Who: Who
Interscope B0031280-02 (CD). 2019. Pete Townshend, Dave Sardy, Bob Pridden, Dave Eringa, prods.; Dave Sardy, James Monti, others, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics ****

What motivates an artist to make great statements?

Whatever it is, it's certainly a shock to see a rock-era songwriter rediscover his muse after some 40 years treading water. So it is that Pete Townshend re-emerges at the end of 2019 with his most powerful collection of songs since Empty Glass and the best Who album since Quadrophenia.

It's even more dramatic because this is not a solo…

Let rolling streams their gladness show

In the 1980s, the CD nearly pushed the LP to extinction. Nearly. For all the claims of "Perfect Sound Forever," the main thing offered by the CD was convenience.

Then, in the mid-1990s, the MP3 and the Internet made it easy to extract and distribute the information encoded on a CD. Secret websites raced to be the first to distribute free MP3s of new recordings, sometimes even before they were released. This went on for years, undermining record-company profits, before Napster came along and gave the record industry a high-value lawsuit target: no more suing widows and small children.…

Métronome Technologie AQWO SACD/CD transport and D/A processor

In an era when polar opposites compete as absolutes, it can be a challenge to acknowledge the different and equally valid ways in which audiophiles approach musical truth. But the reality is that our perceptions of how reproduced music should sound are determined, to a large extent, by how we approach the live experience. For live acoustic performances, some of us prefer a direct, up-close sound, where highs are most vibrant, the spatial nature of sounds is most distinct, swells in volume can sometimes seem assaultive, and detail is most easily perceived. Others would rather sit farther back…

Métronome Technologie AQWO SACD/CD transport and D/A processor Page 2

When questioned about the decision to only send hi-rez PCM and DSD via HDMI I2S, Clauzel responded, "Transporting DSD needs either USB, HDMI or more complex solutions like dual AES2. We thought HDMI would be very efficient, robust, and simple. We know that audiophiles aren't very fond of HDMI, but our object was to make a transport and DAC that would fit together without adding a proprietary link between them because we want people to be able to use our transport with another converter. If our customers require that we adapt [because their DACs don't have HDMI ports], we will. If we have to…

Métronome Technologie AQWO SACD/CD transport and D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

c|AQWO: D/A processor with switchable tube output and outboard power supply. Inputs: 2 S/PDIF (RCA), 2 AES/EBU (XLR), 2 optical (TosLink), I2S (HDMI), USB (44.1 to 384kHz, DSD up to 22.5MHz). Analog outputs: XLR balanced, RCA single-ended. Sample rates: 44.1 to 384kHz, DSD up to 22.5MHz on I2S (HDMI) and USB, 44.1 to 192kHz on S/PDIF (RCA), AES/EBU (XLR), optical (TosLink). Output voltage: 1.4/2.5/3.0V RMS. Output impedance: 100 ohms. Power consumption: 90VA.
Dimensions: 16.93" (430mm) W × 4.72" (120mm) H × 16.54" (420mm) D. Weight: 26.5lb (12kg). Elektra…

Métronome Technologie AQWO SACD/CD transport and D/A processor Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital sources: dCS Rossini SACD/CD transport & Rossini DAC & Rossini Clock & Network Bridge; EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor; Apple 2017 MacBook Pro computer with 2.8 GHz Intel i7, SSD, 16GB RAM; Roon Nucleus+; Linksys routers (2), Small Green Computer Systemoptique optical isolation bundle, TP-Link gigabit Ethernet media converters plus multimode duplex fiber optic cable (2); Small Green Computer linear power supply (2) & Small Green Computer/HDPlex four-component 200W linear power supply (2); external hard drives, SSD USB sticks, iPad Pro.…