That was about my perception. While there are uncritical cartridges, their appeal rarely was big.
Well said, my thoughts as well. Not knocking them, I just found others I liked better.
I am sad. I placed an order for the new belts for my RP10 but it never got filled. Bah.
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Well, the appeal of tweaking with Rega is that you can take the lower end models and incrementally improve them to sound as good or better than a level or two above their price point. The Reference subplatter from Groovetrace is an excellent product and made a substantial sound quality improvement, as did the Delrin platter. The counterweight and record clamp produced subtler changes but still were good investments that add to listening enjoyment. And using anything other than their silly feet for the turntable gives further improvement. Adding the TTPSU and upgrading to a higher cartridge in the line and experimenting with belts have also been quite beneficial overall. I enjoyed making the changes and feel connected to the table in ways that I might not had I bought a 6 or 8.
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My first Rega was the RP10/Apheta 2 over 5 years ago. I upgraded to the P10/Apheta 3 in 2020 and I’m very pleased with the upgrade. The P10 is noticeably quieter, and the RB3000 arm/Apheta 3 sounds and tracks better than the RB2000/Apheta 2. My only tweak is the Herbie’s Way Excellent mat that eliminates static and is within about .5mm in thickness of the felt mat so virtually no effect on VTA. I think it sounds better too but obviously YMMV. I have the Luxman EQ-500 vacuum tube phono stage because I prefer a tube phono stage and it’s actually quieter than the Aria that I had before it.
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On page 29 of the current Stereophile, Michael Fremer has some hints for more or less possible Rega azimuth adjustment of cartridges and tells why its 3 point cartridge mounting standard is not recommended (even with Rega cartridges).
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