I am very happy with my Rega P8 but do wish they were a bit smarter about cartridge architecture. I ruined two Rega MC cartridges because the construction leaves the cantilever jutting out and exposed. The only excuse I can see for this is that it makes initial setup a lot easier. After that, well it just a static lifted, spinning matt away from a bent cantilever. I switched to Ortofon LVB black MM and have been pleased with the sound after about 700 hours of spinning. By the way, that third screw on the Rega system is nice but here is a tip/trick. The third and forward hole is dead above the stylus so just set the front/back position of your non Rega cartridge appropriately.
Most high end cartridges have exposed cantilevers. There must be a performance advantage to this design. The cart that I use has this and the cantilever was torn off when I (foolishly) picked up a record that was spinning at 45 and the staticky felt mat came up and ripped it off. The mat met it’s final resting place among the egg shells and other kitchen waste.
I’ll admit it looks scary hanging out in the breeze, as though its asking someone to damage it. That’s why I put the guard back on and cover the table when I’m not using it. My wife has no interest in the stereo so if I damage it, it’s on me.
After a couple of month out for repair, I was told it would be better in the long run to turn my cartridge into Rega for the core charge and get a new one. That takes about $750 out of the sting. I ordered another Apheta 3 from my dealer last night. He says I should have it in a week. I’m curious, has anyone else experienced a cartridge failure like this? My brother is still playing a 40 plus year old Denon moving coil (forget the number). It may need replacing for other reasons, but it still plays. I’m curious if this is common.
I’ve not experienced a cartridge failure like this.
Oddly my Rega Apheta 2 had an issue with some “gunk” getting stuck on the stylus I think from some MoFi liquid cleaner. There was output from both channels but quite distorted. I could not remove the “gunk” so traded that cart in for the Aphelion 2. Sound Organisation has been great to deal with so far.
When I had one of their Saturn R CD player with a tracking problem, they were very easy to deal with. My issue with the turntable and cartridge is, both are used so the warranty doesn’t cover me. The new cartridge is ordered and they will give me something like a core charge for the old one. That takes a little of the sting out of it.
I’m curious what turntable you have and what your impressions were of the differences between the two cartridges.
What is to prevent the gunk accumulation on your new Aphelion? There was a time when I used the MoFi special solution with their cleaning pads, and do on rare occasion to this day. I’ve never experienced a gunk build up. I now clean in an ultrasonic bath followed by a distilled water rinse and vacuum dry.
I stopped using the MoFi liquid stylus cleaning solution and use the ONZOW gel type pad thingy. No more issues with “gunk” buildup.
It was this stuff that I think caused the issue:
Great move, I’ve steered clear of the liquid stylus cleaners for various reasons, and do use the Oznow as necessary. So far no complaints. A touch up with a dry DiscWasher stylus brush comes in handy as well, or Linn “jewelers paper”.
Mr Clean Magic Eraser does a good job and is very gentle. As you clean by “dipping” the stylus in an out with an up and down motion, its cleaning action is a bit different than a back to front process with a traditional brush, so I use both. I inspect my stylus with a 15x loop after each side, not to evaluate if I should clean the stylus but if I should clean the record.
Using any surfactant in my Degritter left a substance on the LP that would ball up on the stylus.
So I use only distilled water in the machine, a dry brush or Magic Eraser for the very rare difficult debris.
Once per month I use Disk Doctor stylus fluid with their carbon brush.
And I use a Ramar brush on the records.
Hmm. Do you have the second tank to do the ultrasonic final rinse?
Negative.
That’s likely a factor. Any ultrasonic cleaning with a surfactant, that doesn’t include a final rinse runs the risk of contaminants being left on the records.
You could be right. But in my experience, I don’t miss the application of surfactant. The Degritter 2 does a fine job with water.
I’ve been using 10 drops of Groove Washer Sonic in a little more than 1 gallon of “Zero Water” with a Vevor ultrasonic setup for well over 100 records and have seen nothing transferred to the stylus (I finish the cycle with a spray rinse, same water [SOLO 418 One-Hand Pressure Sprayer]). Perhaps your using too much surfactant.
All the fun I’m missing by not having a turntable…
Huh??? If I’d known that I would never have lent you a cable.
The dealer brought out and mounted my Apheta 3 factory rebuilt cartridge today. He mounted it and dropped it on his stylus scale. He turned around and asked me, who mounted the old cartridge? I’d bought the table and cartridge combo second hand from a Rega dealer. He assured me the table was set up properly. Me, fool that I am, believed him. Apparently, the tracking force was set at over twice the factory recommended 2.00 grams. Micheal (Listening Room owner) said, that’s what ruined your cartridge. Expensive lesson learned.
He had a Rega stylus force gage with him and measured the newly set cartridge at 2.00 grams. I had just bought a force gage from amazon thinking I was going to have to set it up myself. Mine flickers between 2.00 and 1.99 grams. I suppose I deserve it for not verifying the tracking force when I bought the table, cartridge combo two and a half years ago.