Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Taylo Monitor review
My review of Tyler Acoustics Taylo Reference Monitor, it was posted at Harmonic Discord, but that site is no longer working.
I have been thinking about writing a review for a while, and a suggestion from Dan finally got me started. I bought a slightly used pair, direct from the factory, in an Audiogon auction. I also bought the custom speaker stands and some Dhlabs T-14 speaker cable. Ty takes equipment on trade in, so he always seems to have used speakers for sale on his website, and he also puts them up in Audiogon auctions fairly frequently.
When I got my speakers, they looked almost new. There were some very minor blemishes on the bottom, but otherwise they looked pristine. When I talked to Ty about them, he said they were not even really broken in yet. Oh, that is one really good thing about Tyler Acoustics, you can just call them up and talk to Ty, the owner. He has always made time to answer my calls, and is very friendly and helpful on the phone.
The Setup
My current setup is a Sony SCD-C333ES Cdplayer, connected to a AMC CVT 1030 and Monster M500 IC’s to a Quad 306 amp to my Taylo’s. I have them biwired, using DHLabs T-14 for the bottom, and old Randall Research speaker cable for the tops. The Randall stuff is made up of a bunch of small gauge Teflon insulated wires, put together in a big braid.
Room is 12 W by 18 L x 8 H. It is carpeted over a cement foundation. About 12 feet of the right side of the wall, on the speaker side of the room, is not there, as this is where the kitchen/breakfast room connects to this room. The rear wall has a large window, which is covered by a vertical blind. I think the blind helps deflect the rear wall deflections. There is a large entertainment center with a TV and the stereo in the front of the room.
I put the speakers a little over 5 feet from the front wall, to get them in front of the entertainment center. The speakers are a little over 3 feet from the side walls. Currently, I use very little toe in. I used to have about 1 inch of toe in (1 inch difference between distance of right and left sides of speakers to front wall). I tried about ¼ inch toe in, and found I still had good focus, and a better soundstage. I am still going to experiment in this area. As I do not want to be kicked out of the house, I do not have any room treatments.
I have also used a NAD 906, 30 w by 6 HT amp, but I like the quad better. The quad has better focus than the NAD, and also the mids sounded fuller with the quad than the NAD. The NAD does seem a little quieter, with a blacker background than the quad. The NAD also had a better low end than the quad.
The Stands
Let me say a few words about the stands that come with. They are very well made, made of MDF, painted black. They can be filled, but I have not done so yet, as I move them too much. I have to move the speakers on top of the entertainment center, and stands out of the way, when I am not listening to music. I have a two and a four year old, so I can’t leave the speakers out in the middle of the room.
Stands have brass cones on the bottom, which can be height adjusted to level the speakers. Only problem with the cones is it’s hard to get them through the carpet, to directly couple to the cement. Stands came with 4 hard rubber “feet”, which the speakers sit on. I have since changed the feet to four Vibrapod #3’s. I think the pods help the definition of the speakers. They seem to have a cleaner sound with them, but that could be my imagination. I do not have help around to do a double blind test, so I just have to try swapping and listening. The ‘pods also let the speakers play louder without distortion. Before I used pods, I heard the some distortion on an Andrea Boccelli cut at load volumes, it went away when I put pods on. Only issue I have with the stands is they are a little tall, would prefer if they were 2-3 inches shorter.
The Shopping
Before I bought the Taylos, I listened to many speakers: B&W Nautilus 805, Joseph Audio RM7 Sigs, Paradigm active 20’s and Studio 40’s, Sonus Faber Concerto’s, Speakercity DIY MTM 18, Revel M20’s, Anstrom Legato, Dunleavy SC1’s, Dynaudio Contour 1.3’s, Monitor Audio Golds, Proac Tab 2000’s, Reference 3 MM De Capo’s, Soliloquy 5.0, Spendor 3/5, Tannoy S8, and Westlake Audio not sure model number.
As you can see, quite a list. I live in LA, so there are a lot of high end audio stores, who carry a lot of different speakers, so it was not too hard to do, except it took a couple of months to do this. I would carry the same CD’s with me, and a RS SPL meter, to make sure I listened to the speakers at the same levels.
I did no home auditions of any speakers. I was going to, but then when the Taylos’ went on auction, I bought them because I got such a good price. The Nautilus 805’s and the RM7 Sigs were my next choices BTW. 3MM De Capo’s were really nice too, but they do not have a center speaker available for HT.
The Speaker
In case you do not know, thought I would describe the speakers. These are monitor speakers, but pretty heavy, weigh about 40 lbs each, I think. Tylers uses thick MDF to make the cabinets, think it is 1.5 inches thick. He uses the Scanspeak Revelator tweater, and a Seas aluminum mid/woofer with a brass phase plug. Nice, expensive stuff. He also uses Hovland caps, in the signal path, and other quality components in the xover. Internal wiring is DH labs wire, unless you pay for the upgraded Cardas wire.
Store Sound
I went down to San Diego to hear these in a store who had a used pair. I did not buy from the store because the pair they had was zebrawood finish, which was kind of funky and my wife was already not happy about buying speakers. Listened with NAD 2100 amp, Adcom 565 preamp, Adcom CDP. Tried to use equipment on par with what I had. I took notes as I listened to different songs, and the notes say things like great soundstage, good depth in soundstage, transparent, speakers disappear, good focus, good definition and no grain. I remember being impressed with the 3 dimensional aspect of the soundstage, where you get width, depth and height. Most other speakers I heard don’t do the height aspect very well. I was also impressed by the ability of the speakers to disappear, and make it seem like Diana Krall was in the room with me. They did this as well as anything I heard.
The only area where the Taylos were bested was in the mids by the Nautilus 805’s. The 805 have a very rich, full sounding midrange, which I liked. However, since I did not hear this quality in any other speaker I heard, I wondered if the 805’s were colored in this area, so in the end, I am not sure the 805’s were really better in the mids.
Home Sound
When I first got them, I did not like them as much as when I heard them in the store, but I figured that was because of what I was feeding into them, so I started working on the rest of the system. I got rid of the jumpers Tyler uses between the binding posts, and after some listening, settled on my current speaker wiring. A set of Monster cables was also in the mix.
I have added the preamp and cdp since getting the speakers, along with numerous tweaks, such as changing the AC outlet, playing with Vibrapods, changing a couple electrolytic caps in my amp, just started rolling tubes in my preamp (I just got the preamp).
Good points
I love the way they soundstage. With my current setup, the sound gets well outside of the speakers, especially on the open wall side of the room. They do not seem very setup dependent, as I move them a lot, and it does not make a noticeable difference in the sound.
They are mostly non fatiguing. This is a big deal to me, since I seem to be sensitive to this. I am not really sure what causes it, but I can tell when it is happening. I have made changes, like when I first put in the preamp, I started to notice a little fatigue. Rolling tubes has fixed this, since it came with cheap Chinese tubes that are kind of harsh. Mostly, I can listen for long periods of time with no fatigue.
They are very transparent. I used to have a pair of the original quads, and no, they are not as transparent in the mids as those, but I am have not heard anything that is. These are very good though. They also let me hear when I make a tweak for better, or for worse.
One last good think about them. To me, they are detailed without being analytical, that is they let me hear the nuances in the music, but they are still musical. I really did not hear any over analytical speakers in my list, but I heard many that were not as detailed as the Tylers.
Bad points
They do not do the really low notes, but that is to be expected of a 2 way monitor. They really do not have any faults, that I can spot, other that this.
I have been thinking about writing a review for a while, and a suggestion from Dan finally got me started. I bought a slightly used pair, direct from the factory, in an Audiogon auction. I also bought the custom speaker stands and some Dhlabs T-14 speaker cable. Ty takes equipment on trade in, so he always seems to have used speakers for sale on his website, and he also puts them up in Audiogon auctions fairly frequently.
When I got my speakers, they looked almost new. There were some very minor blemishes on the bottom, but otherwise they looked pristine. When I talked to Ty about them, he said they were not even really broken in yet. Oh, that is one really good thing about Tyler Acoustics, you can just call them up and talk to Ty, the owner. He has always made time to answer my calls, and is very friendly and helpful on the phone.
The Setup
My current setup is a Sony SCD-C333ES Cdplayer, connected to a AMC CVT 1030 and Monster M500 IC’s to a Quad 306 amp to my Taylo’s. I have them biwired, using DHLabs T-14 for the bottom, and old Randall Research speaker cable for the tops. The Randall stuff is made up of a bunch of small gauge Teflon insulated wires, put together in a big braid.
Room is 12 W by 18 L x 8 H. It is carpeted over a cement foundation. About 12 feet of the right side of the wall, on the speaker side of the room, is not there, as this is where the kitchen/breakfast room connects to this room. The rear wall has a large window, which is covered by a vertical blind. I think the blind helps deflect the rear wall deflections. There is a large entertainment center with a TV and the stereo in the front of the room.
I put the speakers a little over 5 feet from the front wall, to get them in front of the entertainment center. The speakers are a little over 3 feet from the side walls. Currently, I use very little toe in. I used to have about 1 inch of toe in (1 inch difference between distance of right and left sides of speakers to front wall). I tried about ¼ inch toe in, and found I still had good focus, and a better soundstage. I am still going to experiment in this area. As I do not want to be kicked out of the house, I do not have any room treatments.
I have also used a NAD 906, 30 w by 6 HT amp, but I like the quad better. The quad has better focus than the NAD, and also the mids sounded fuller with the quad than the NAD. The NAD does seem a little quieter, with a blacker background than the quad. The NAD also had a better low end than the quad.
The Stands
Let me say a few words about the stands that come with. They are very well made, made of MDF, painted black. They can be filled, but I have not done so yet, as I move them too much. I have to move the speakers on top of the entertainment center, and stands out of the way, when I am not listening to music. I have a two and a four year old, so I can’t leave the speakers out in the middle of the room.
Stands have brass cones on the bottom, which can be height adjusted to level the speakers. Only problem with the cones is it’s hard to get them through the carpet, to directly couple to the cement. Stands came with 4 hard rubber “feet”, which the speakers sit on. I have since changed the feet to four Vibrapod #3’s. I think the pods help the definition of the speakers. They seem to have a cleaner sound with them, but that could be my imagination. I do not have help around to do a double blind test, so I just have to try swapping and listening. The ‘pods also let the speakers play louder without distortion. Before I used pods, I heard the some distortion on an Andrea Boccelli cut at load volumes, it went away when I put pods on. Only issue I have with the stands is they are a little tall, would prefer if they were 2-3 inches shorter.
The Shopping
Before I bought the Taylos, I listened to many speakers: B&W Nautilus 805, Joseph Audio RM7 Sigs, Paradigm active 20’s and Studio 40’s, Sonus Faber Concerto’s, Speakercity DIY MTM 18, Revel M20’s, Anstrom Legato, Dunleavy SC1’s, Dynaudio Contour 1.3’s, Monitor Audio Golds, Proac Tab 2000’s, Reference 3 MM De Capo’s, Soliloquy 5.0, Spendor 3/5, Tannoy S8, and Westlake Audio not sure model number.
As you can see, quite a list. I live in LA, so there are a lot of high end audio stores, who carry a lot of different speakers, so it was not too hard to do, except it took a couple of months to do this. I would carry the same CD’s with me, and a RS SPL meter, to make sure I listened to the speakers at the same levels.
I did no home auditions of any speakers. I was going to, but then when the Taylos’ went on auction, I bought them because I got such a good price. The Nautilus 805’s and the RM7 Sigs were my next choices BTW. 3MM De Capo’s were really nice too, but they do not have a center speaker available for HT.
The Speaker
In case you do not know, thought I would describe the speakers. These are monitor speakers, but pretty heavy, weigh about 40 lbs each, I think. Tylers uses thick MDF to make the cabinets, think it is 1.5 inches thick. He uses the Scanspeak Revelator tweater, and a Seas aluminum mid/woofer with a brass phase plug. Nice, expensive stuff. He also uses Hovland caps, in the signal path, and other quality components in the xover. Internal wiring is DH labs wire, unless you pay for the upgraded Cardas wire.
Store Sound
I went down to San Diego to hear these in a store who had a used pair. I did not buy from the store because the pair they had was zebrawood finish, which was kind of funky and my wife was already not happy about buying speakers. Listened with NAD 2100 amp, Adcom 565 preamp, Adcom CDP. Tried to use equipment on par with what I had. I took notes as I listened to different songs, and the notes say things like great soundstage, good depth in soundstage, transparent, speakers disappear, good focus, good definition and no grain. I remember being impressed with the 3 dimensional aspect of the soundstage, where you get width, depth and height. Most other speakers I heard don’t do the height aspect very well. I was also impressed by the ability of the speakers to disappear, and make it seem like Diana Krall was in the room with me. They did this as well as anything I heard.
The only area where the Taylos were bested was in the mids by the Nautilus 805’s. The 805 have a very rich, full sounding midrange, which I liked. However, since I did not hear this quality in any other speaker I heard, I wondered if the 805’s were colored in this area, so in the end, I am not sure the 805’s were really better in the mids.
Home Sound
When I first got them, I did not like them as much as when I heard them in the store, but I figured that was because of what I was feeding into them, so I started working on the rest of the system. I got rid of the jumpers Tyler uses between the binding posts, and after some listening, settled on my current speaker wiring. A set of Monster cables was also in the mix.
I have added the preamp and cdp since getting the speakers, along with numerous tweaks, such as changing the AC outlet, playing with Vibrapods, changing a couple electrolytic caps in my amp, just started rolling tubes in my preamp (I just got the preamp).
Good points
I love the way they soundstage. With my current setup, the sound gets well outside of the speakers, especially on the open wall side of the room. They do not seem very setup dependent, as I move them a lot, and it does not make a noticeable difference in the sound.
They are mostly non fatiguing. This is a big deal to me, since I seem to be sensitive to this. I am not really sure what causes it, but I can tell when it is happening. I have made changes, like when I first put in the preamp, I started to notice a little fatigue. Rolling tubes has fixed this, since it came with cheap Chinese tubes that are kind of harsh. Mostly, I can listen for long periods of time with no fatigue.
They are very transparent. I used to have a pair of the original quads, and no, they are not as transparent in the mids as those, but I am have not heard anything that is. These are very good though. They also let me hear when I make a tweak for better, or for worse.
One last good think about them. To me, they are detailed without being analytical, that is they let me hear the nuances in the music, but they are still musical. I really did not hear any over analytical speakers in my list, but I heard many that were not as detailed as the Tylers.
Bad points
They do not do the really low notes, but that is to be expected of a 2 way monitor. They really do not have any faults, that I can spot, other that this.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
magic box
From the Oct 2005 PS audio newsletter
The Magic BoxI'll end this cartridge discussion with an interesting story, of many years ago, concerning a certain Magic Box. Back in the early 1970's when Stan and I were running PS Audio and primarily building phono stages, we got a call from a fellow named Owen Bennet who claimed he had a "magic circuit" that could turn a $15 Grado moving magnet cartridge into something that sounded superior to any moving coil. At first we paid little attention to this wild claim as we tired of spending time dealing with over-the-edge customer claims we (supposedly) needed to investigate and then change our products to reflect their discoveries. Discoveries like: our preamp sounded better upside down, it sounded better without an LED and so on.We eventually invited Owen and his partner, Tony Dichiro, to our California facility to demonstrate the Magic Box. Stan and I were both dumbstruck because, low and behold, the damn thing worked. It worked well and it did just as advertised. How the heck...? Well, after a lot of needling (pun intended) we got the boys to explain what they had invented and, to this day, I still think it's one of the coolest ideas I've seen.They explained that one of the problems of a moving magnet cartridge was rising inductance at high frequencies. This simply means that into a fixed load (like the 47K standard load for MM's) the loudness of the cartridge would be reduced as the frequency went higher. 'OK', we said, 'so what? We can compensate for that'. "No, you can't really, because the way it rises is complex, not a straight line or predictable function". Moreover, it was different for every cartridge.So, they opened their little Magic Box (where the magic lived) and inside was a simple op amp (integrated circuit preamplifier) and, lo and behold, another MM cartridge soldered to the PC board! Here was an identical Grado cartridge, sans needle, soldered into the feedback loop of the op amp. Brilliant. Faced with a complex impedance problem, all they did to solve it was reverse the complex response by placing it in the feedback loop of an amplifier. So, whatever the cartridge did wrong, the same cartridge in the feedback loop did exactly the opposite and the result was a flat line response that was simply breathtaking!We passed on the Magic Box as a PS product because it would require every owner of a moving magnet cartridge to buy two: one for the turntable and one for the correction circuit. These wonderful ideas finally found their way into a company and products you may remember, Kinergetics. Ahhh, as Satn was fond of saying, 'the bad old days' .
This page started a thread at diyaudio below:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66243
The Magic BoxI'll end this cartridge discussion with an interesting story, of many years ago, concerning a certain Magic Box. Back in the early 1970's when Stan and I were running PS Audio and primarily building phono stages, we got a call from a fellow named Owen Bennet who claimed he had a "magic circuit" that could turn a $15 Grado moving magnet cartridge into something that sounded superior to any moving coil. At first we paid little attention to this wild claim as we tired of spending time dealing with over-the-edge customer claims we (supposedly) needed to investigate and then change our products to reflect their discoveries. Discoveries like: our preamp sounded better upside down, it sounded better without an LED and so on.We eventually invited Owen and his partner, Tony Dichiro, to our California facility to demonstrate the Magic Box. Stan and I were both dumbstruck because, low and behold, the damn thing worked. It worked well and it did just as advertised. How the heck...? Well, after a lot of needling (pun intended) we got the boys to explain what they had invented and, to this day, I still think it's one of the coolest ideas I've seen.They explained that one of the problems of a moving magnet cartridge was rising inductance at high frequencies. This simply means that into a fixed load (like the 47K standard load for MM's) the loudness of the cartridge would be reduced as the frequency went higher. 'OK', we said, 'so what? We can compensate for that'. "No, you can't really, because the way it rises is complex, not a straight line or predictable function". Moreover, it was different for every cartridge.So, they opened their little Magic Box (where the magic lived) and inside was a simple op amp (integrated circuit preamplifier) and, lo and behold, another MM cartridge soldered to the PC board! Here was an identical Grado cartridge, sans needle, soldered into the feedback loop of the op amp. Brilliant. Faced with a complex impedance problem, all they did to solve it was reverse the complex response by placing it in the feedback loop of an amplifier. So, whatever the cartridge did wrong, the same cartridge in the feedback loop did exactly the opposite and the result was a flat line response that was simply breathtaking!We passed on the Magic Box as a PS product because it would require every owner of a moving magnet cartridge to buy two: one for the turntable and one for the correction circuit. These wonderful ideas finally found their way into a company and products you may remember, Kinergetics. Ahhh, as Satn was fond of saying, 'the bad old days' .
This page started a thread at diyaudio below:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66243
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
My system
Home - main headphone
Analog Source
Empire 208 turntable with corian plinth
Rega 250 tonearm and Dynavector 10X5 nude cartridge
Hagtech cornet phono stage
See link below for more info on table
http://randytsuch-new-empire-tt.blogspot.com/2005/08/empire-turntable-completed.html
Digital Source
Squeezebox3 with RWA analog mods with DIY power supply to
Audiosector NOS dac
Amp
Charlize digital amp with a SMPS.
Headphones
AKG K-1000's
Speakers
EVS modded pair of VMPS 626
Portable System
Rio Karma
superfi UE-5 Pro canalphones
Office System
Laptop/sound card
Monsoon M500 Speakers with two subwoofers
Some random pics
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/modules.php?set_albumName=albuv23&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
Analog Source
Empire 208 turntable with corian plinth
Rega 250 tonearm and Dynavector 10X5 nude cartridge
Hagtech cornet phono stage
See link below for more info on table
http://randytsuch-new-empire-tt.blogspot.com/2005/08/empire-turntable-completed.html
Digital Source
Squeezebox3 with RWA analog mods with DIY power supply to
Audiosector NOS dac
Amp
Charlize digital amp with a SMPS.
Headphones
AKG K-1000's
Speakers
EVS modded pair of VMPS 626
Portable System
Rio Karma
superfi UE-5 Pro canalphones
Office System
Laptop/sound card
Monsoon M500 Speakers with two subwoofers
Some random pics
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/modules.php?set_albumName=albuv23&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
Monday, September 19, 2005
Pacific Phono stage
Pacific RIAA Pre - 24V Version==============================
..................o-----------------------------------o------------+24V
.................R2.......................................R6
..................].....................................D---o---C7---o
............D---o---C1--R3--o----o-----o---G .............OUT
o---o---G......................................... S---o........... o
IN....... S---o............... R4........... R5 o o--o--o o--o--o R1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 o---o-------o--------o--o--o--o-----o---o-------o--------o--- 0V
R1 = 100k C1 = 0.47 micro
R2 = 2.4k C2 = 15 nano (ideal C2 + C+ +C4 = 99.3 nF)
R3 = 27k C3 = 15 nano well my copy says 100nF
R4 = 3k C4 = 68 nano
R5 = 100k C5 = 22 nano here its 30nF total
R6 = 2.4k C6 = 6.8 nanoC7 = 2.2 micro
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Empire plinth
Building a new plinth out of Corian.
I bought two 1/2 thick pieces from Ebay. Cut them down a little, and then glued them together.
I glued one of the cut pieces to one side, because I need to raise my tonearm for the thick empire platter. Drilled holes for the arm and spindle. I used a wood hole saw to drill the hole for the arm, but I wish I would have done it differently. Hole came out a little large, and I have to put electrical tape around my VTAF to make it snug.
Tooks lots of sanding to get to this point. I sended the edges starting with 60 grit with my orbital sander, to get it even. It was not even after I glued it together. I worked my way down to 2500 grit (from an auto paint supply store), and finished with rubbing compound. Lots of work, but I was happy with the results.
Ready for the tonearm.
Legs are made from 1/2 inch "all thread", bought from home depot.
With the motor attached, it spins ;).
I bought two 1/2 thick pieces from Ebay. Cut them down a little, and then glued them together.
I glued one of the cut pieces to one side, because I need to raise my tonearm for the thick empire platter. Drilled holes for the arm and spindle. I used a wood hole saw to drill the hole for the arm, but I wish I would have done it differently. Hole came out a little large, and I have to put electrical tape around my VTAF to make it snug.
Tooks lots of sanding to get to this point. I sended the edges starting with 60 grit with my orbital sander, to get it even. It was not even after I glued it together. I worked my way down to 2500 grit (from an auto paint supply store), and finished with rubbing compound. Lots of work, but I was happy with the results.
Ready for the tonearm.
Legs are made from 1/2 inch "all thread", bought from home depot.
With the motor attached, it spins ;).
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Empire Turntable - Motor
So, here is the motor and everything else, after I pulled it out of the table. I traced the wires, and drew a simple schematic for it.
I ended up changing the power cord, because it was so old, and had a very cheesy plug on it. I was going to put in a bigger motor run cap in it as well, but then I saw somewhere that the motor is designed for a certain capacitance, which is on the motor. And the motor says 4 uf, which is what Empire used. So, since it works, I just left the old cap in.
Now, I was trying to figure out how to mount the motor. I wanted to not have it part of the plinth, which is different from how it came. It was isolated on three rubber mounts, but it is connected to the top, with the rubber mounts, in the original table.
I had a piece of 1/2' thick cocobola I was going to use for the armboard, but ended up doing something else, so I just mounted the motor to this piece of wood. I drilled out a few holes to screw the motor in, and one big hole for the spindle. I used thread all for the 4 legs.
I ended up removing the top plate from the motor assembly, this is the plate that allows the motor to move, with a spring to adjust the tension. It is meant to maintain the right tension on the belt. I figured I could just move the motor farther away if the belt gets loose.
That's it for now. Here are some pics.
My biggest mistake for this is I was not carefull when I drilled the holes for the legs, and one leg is crooked :(.
Rega RB-250 Tonearm mods
Rega RB-250 tonearm mods
Structural mod
That is what origin live calls their version of this change, but is really is just changing out the cheap plastic end stub with a metal one, and using a better counterweight.
I picked the Michell counterweight, as reviewed here
http://www.vinylengine.com/michell_tecnoweight.shtml
It was not cheap, but I liked it because it is easier to adjust the counterweight on it. It was a scale built in, versus the others where you just move it back and forth, and need a scale to set it.
Rewiring
I also rewired my arm. I got the arm cheap because it had an intermittent wire, so I just changed it out.
There are many pages out there that talk about rewiring regas, here are some links
http://www.hi-fi.com/diy/rega/
http://melhuish.org/audio/rewire.html
http://csown.dhs.org/hi-fi/rega_mod.html
And, here is what I did. Sorry, did not take pics while I was doing it.
I decided to use the Cardas tonearm wire from Percy for this job. Some people advocate the discovery wire, and solid silver wire, but I was worried about how this wire would effect tracking. Cardas is only 33 ga wire, and it is stranded to make it more flexible.
First, I removed the rubber stop from the bottom of the arm, and cut the wires at the little circuit card that is attached to the rubber. I cut the card off, and just saved the rubber stopper.
I tried to solder my old wire to the new wire, but when I tried to pull the new wire through with this method, it just broke the old wires, and broke the ground wire to boot. The tonearm ground wire went from the little circuit card to a little copper piece that is close to where the end stub screws into the arm. The copper is wedged into the arm to make ground contact there.
I ended up running a piece of 30 gauge solid wire through the arm. It is pretty easy if you remove the end stub, and start from the bottom.
I then soldered the new wires to the 30 gauge wire, and pulled them through. It worked, but it was a little too fat at the solder point, so it pulled out to little rubber gaskets, one a little before the wires enter the bearing area, and one where the wires enter the tonearm tube. The point of these gaskets is to make sure the wires don’t mess up the bearing movement, I think.
I was able to pull the new wires back and forth, to get the rubber gaskets back in place.
I used a piece of solid 30 gauge wire for the ground wire. I soldered it to the same copper piece the old ground went to.
I drilled a small hole in the rubber stop, and pulled the tonearm wires though the stop, as well as the ground wire.
I carefully soldered clips on to the wires at the headshell. I reused the rubber piece that was there, to run the wires through.
I then pulled them back, to leave just enough at that end. Then, I put the rubber stop in at the bottom of the arm, but stuffed a little wire in at the bottom, for a service loop.
For now, I taped the wires to the rubber stop, where they come out of it. This is temporary, and I will glue them in place, as soon as I am sure it is all working ok.
I put on Eichman bullet plugs on the other ends. For a phono plug, the low mass design of the RCA’s makes sense to me.
I did not shield at all, was a little worried, but no noise when I connected.
Also, tracks fine. I was worried about how it would track after I rewired, but played a few albums, and they had no problem at all.
Structural mod
That is what origin live calls their version of this change, but is really is just changing out the cheap plastic end stub with a metal one, and using a better counterweight.
I picked the Michell counterweight, as reviewed here
http://www.vinylengine.com/michell_tecnoweight.shtml
It was not cheap, but I liked it because it is easier to adjust the counterweight on it. It was a scale built in, versus the others where you just move it back and forth, and need a scale to set it.
Rewiring
I also rewired my arm. I got the arm cheap because it had an intermittent wire, so I just changed it out.
There are many pages out there that talk about rewiring regas, here are some links
http://www.hi-fi.com/diy/rega/
http://melhuish.org/audio/rewire.html
http://csown.dhs.org/hi-fi/rega_mod.html
And, here is what I did. Sorry, did not take pics while I was doing it.
I decided to use the Cardas tonearm wire from Percy for this job. Some people advocate the discovery wire, and solid silver wire, but I was worried about how this wire would effect tracking. Cardas is only 33 ga wire, and it is stranded to make it more flexible.
First, I removed the rubber stop from the bottom of the arm, and cut the wires at the little circuit card that is attached to the rubber. I cut the card off, and just saved the rubber stopper.
I tried to solder my old wire to the new wire, but when I tried to pull the new wire through with this method, it just broke the old wires, and broke the ground wire to boot. The tonearm ground wire went from the little circuit card to a little copper piece that is close to where the end stub screws into the arm. The copper is wedged into the arm to make ground contact there.
I ended up running a piece of 30 gauge solid wire through the arm. It is pretty easy if you remove the end stub, and start from the bottom.
I then soldered the new wires to the 30 gauge wire, and pulled them through. It worked, but it was a little too fat at the solder point, so it pulled out to little rubber gaskets, one a little before the wires enter the bearing area, and one where the wires enter the tonearm tube. The point of these gaskets is to make sure the wires don’t mess up the bearing movement, I think.
I was able to pull the new wires back and forth, to get the rubber gaskets back in place.
I used a piece of solid 30 gauge wire for the ground wire. I soldered it to the same copper piece the old ground went to.
I drilled a small hole in the rubber stop, and pulled the tonearm wires though the stop, as well as the ground wire.
I carefully soldered clips on to the wires at the headshell. I reused the rubber piece that was there, to run the wires through.
I then pulled them back, to leave just enough at that end. Then, I put the rubber stop in at the bottom of the arm, but stuffed a little wire in at the bottom, for a service loop.
For now, I taped the wires to the rubber stop, where they come out of it. This is temporary, and I will glue them in place, as soon as I am sure it is all working ok.
I put on Eichman bullet plugs on the other ends. For a phono plug, the low mass design of the RCA’s makes sense to me.
I did not shield at all, was a little worried, but no noise when I connected.
Also, tracks fine. I was worried about how it would track after I rewired, but played a few albums, and they had no problem at all.
