Vinyl guys, I have opportunity to get the new Rega Naia but I will have to sell my Technics SL-1210GAE to help fund it.
I bought the GAE after I bought a SL1200G to compare to my Dr Feickert Blackbird due to the fact I wanted to compare direct drive to a higher end belt drive. I also wanted something lighter since I had injured my arm and had trouble lifting the Blackbird which I need to do to clean and service it at least once a year.
I felt the sound quality was mostly equivalent and probably better in terms of PRAT.
Looking at the reviews and talking to my dealer it seems the Naia is as good or better in comparison to speed stability to a direct drive. Plus it is a lighter table with lifetime warranty. The tonearm is titanium and seems of higher quality than the GAE.
I know the limits of the adjustability of the Rega arm, but once I have my DS Audio W3 installed I will not be changing it out. I have a separate turntable for moving coil, moving magnet and mono cartridges a Technics SL-1210GR that i might change out to the GR2 or the new Denon direct drive.
More importantly why are you contemplating the move? I had a Rega P8, and loved it. That said it just didn’t see as much play time as my other turntables. The reason had to do with it’s location, not the turntable specifically. Regas are fine, but what else have you considered at the price?
If you are looking for affirmation, then just get it. That said, I’d look around at similarly priced turntables prior to pulling the trigger. That’s just my nature.
I do enjoy my Technics SL-1200. I don’t listen to a lot of vinyl (gave away my collection and only kept 10 albums). Accordingly I have a “basic” setup which sounds great (to me at least) so I can’t justify a jazzier TT, Phono and Stylus for my use.
Not wanting to hijack your thread. Trying to explain why I think you dont need to replace your GAE or 1200G.
Here is a video by Oz from Let There Be Sound last week from my room. Use headphones and comment on the sound.
We tried with his phono pre and it sounds better (extended FR).
My vote is to keep your Technics and spend the funds on paraphernalia for your vinyl rig. In my case a fancier Phono Stage.
So far I haven’t heard any direct evidence/experience why you need to move to Rega. Just fancy sound bites.
Technics has active closed loop speed control, Rega does not. Rega motor is set to be very precise from factory but because of not having closed loop control it cannot accommodate for speed loss due to needle friction. I know this because I measured it with my own device that I built using an Arduino on my P10.
Here’s my setup to measure speed while the turntable is in use. Most measurement done is always with a free spinning table and does not account for the needle drag. This affect is different depends on if the needle is at the outer grove or at the inner one. And of course the tracking force matters as well. The rega would slow down as soon as the needle drops. I have since sold my P10 and no longer have this setup. I also don’t remember what each of the numbers represent. I could look at my code to remind myself but you get my point.
How many data points/samples per revolution? I assume u=your plan would be to input the delta as feedback to a motor controller. Sota, has an advanced version. The Phoenix Eagle PSU/RoadRunner Tach combo was also capable of speed correction. Downside is only one data point per revolution. Yes mass does matter, flywheel effect can and does minimize the amount of speed correction needed. IIRC SOTA picked up Phoenix and has since improved upon it.
One sample per revolution. I could add more but the free spinning result is already consistent with Michael Framer measurement in his review so I was pretty confident it was accurate enough. I could close the loop but that would require messing around with the motor controller and voiding warranty, in the end I decided to just sell it instead to free up the funds for something else, I don’t listen to vinyl that much anyway.
Don’t know if one TT is better than the other, but I will say…
Over the years, I have had multiple belt drive, idler drive, and direct drive TT’s. In the end, I kept coming back to my old reliable Technics SL-1700 Mk2 (which my father purchased new in 1979 - I was 4 years old), now sporting an Audio Technica AT-OC9XSL for the past couple of years.
Denon, Luxman, Yamaha and Sansui direct drive, Music Hall, Rega and Project belt drive, Elac Miracord, Garrard, and Lenco idler drive. In the end, I’m using the Technics SL-1700 Mk2, not because it’s my late father’s TT, but because it performs the best. Not to mention it’s all original with nothing more than standard maintenance over the years.
It would requires constant adjustments because the speed delta is different depends on the position of the needle. The stock setting was good for free spinning platter, but we don’t listen to that do we
