For all you Rega vinyl-heads out there. Rega has released their latest and greatest drive belt now applied to the P8 and P10 (see link below). I have an RP-10 and was using two of the better “white” belts but had to give these a try. They are advertised as the best most accurate belt made by Rega and are half the price of the white belt. I received mine from Analogue Seduction in the UK as I couldn’t find any domestic source. So far I’ve installed and measured/compared to the existing white belt. Wow and flutter is consistently lower by about 50% with the new belts (could be just new belts?) Anyway after a fine adjustment of the speed it’s stable to within 0.01 rpm so probably accurate enough!
Thanks for pointing that out. My turntable is not Rega but uses two Rega belts, so will give them a try. Just ordered a couple. Have been using the white ones for years.
People have been asking for these since the new models came out. They’ve been on sale for a month or so.
Wonderful turntable. When sold separately, that cartridge costs $10k. I wonder what to expect from it in terms of both SQ and warranty / longevity. Also, I wonder what it feels like if a one is ruined by accident. I busted a $2300 cart once. I could not forgive myself for a while.
I once bought a cartridge that cost $780 at a time when I made $400 a month. The place I worked at made their own lenses and they had a really good microscope. The head of the lab said let’s look at it under the microscope. Long story short while using the scope I removed the stylus tip as if I was born to do only that. So now I have a cartridge that is going to take me three years to pay for and it is not useful.
Fortunately the store had a policy of fixing one cartridge accident per customer and they gave me a new one. I would still be a customer if they still existed.
I thought about all of this when I mounted my new $10k cartridge. It does not offer a replacement stylus. My microscope damaged one did. I still on it, a Signet TK7SU. My first Shibata. Mmmmmm.
I have a good local repair shop (Expert Stylus), but it hurts. The last cart I bought was a Soundsmith that costs $1,500 and has a $300 click-in replacement. I don’t understand the pricing, but it’s a very nice cartridge and it gives me peace of mind. The replacement is I’m told pretty much by return of post, whereas cartridge repairs normally take months. Goldring have click-ins, Dyna do p/x, but the SoundSmith deal is the best I’ve come across.
