RB300 vs Technics slightly modded arm shoot out

One SL1210mk2 with STANDARD arm, RUBBER WASHER ON HEADSHELL REMOVED, 2M RED cartridge(Technics overhang/alignment), Sumiko headshell leads and Canare LV61S (c/w matching plugs) RCA outs.

One SL1200mk2 with standard Rega RB300 and Originlive adaptor plate, 4 mm spacer. 2M RED cartridge. Rega alignment.
Both alignments I understand are similar giving lowest distortion towards the centre groove, sort of like Stevenson.

Both on same surface, levelled and setup to perform at their best, cartridges had similar 'running in times'.

Both tables used the same rubber mat and wool felt mat topper with the PIG spindle clamp. Both also had the lids down when being played damped with a spare rubber mat. Some care was taken with cable routing.

THE REST OF THE SYSTEM.

Phono stage was an EAR 834P of modern vintage (around 3 years old).
Interconnect was QED Qunex 2.
Power amp was a IMG Stageline STA-300 PRO-POWER AMP(500WATT).
Speaker cable was Microphonic Audio.
Speakers B & W 705 and matching stands.
Mains cables mostly Russ Andrews 'Yello' ( sort of cheap Kimber ).

MUSIC.

Dire Straits - Love Over Gold ( Telegraph Road )
Elton John - Blue Moves ( Your Starter for, Tonight, One Horse Town ).

We would have liked to try more music, but time was against us i'm afraid, it's surprising how long these things take!

LISTENING.

The system was allowed to warm though for an hour before any real lisening took place as the EAR834P does change quite alot duing the first 1/2 hour or so. We used the same LP for listening on each table.
We listened to table A then B then A again and vice versa to make sure what we were hearing was 'correct'. I've condensed our remarks.

We listened first to the TECHINCS arm, it really made a good job of everything to be honest, didn't seem to do much wrong, very enjoyable indeed in isolation, low surface noise, good bass, nice open detailed mid and treble, sound stage was wide and high, I was getting nervous......

2nd REGA. Higher surface noise. Oh right! There's the bass we were ( not ) missing! The Rega goes lower and tighter than the Techincs arm with more punch and better decay. The left hand on the Piano ( Elton John ) was far easier to follow and when things got busy it held on to the bass where the Techincs tended to retract both ends of the spectrum into the mid loosing dynamic contrasts and 'closing down'. Treble seemed not as good as the Technics, dirty, rougher, and sound stage hieght not as good either.

TECHNICS again. Sounds good! Lower noise floor than the Rega arm confirmed. Top end treble is more open, sweeter, sound stage higher. It's altogether a slighlty more polite edited version with the Technics, the Rega seemingly chasing down every last bit of detail.

REGA. Yep there's our bass back again, sound stage lower but we now notice the layering of voice/instruments, the Rega really is better at keeping the seperate elements of the song easliy decernable, this was especially noticable on Telegraph Road where things can get a little busy, Mark Knopflers fairly gruff vocals coming across really well with meaning, catching the 'throatyness' yet enabling the rest to carry on around him with out breaking sweat.

TECHNICS. This arm did seem to have the edge on the upper mid and treble dynamics, it seemed to have faster transients but neither of us were convinced that this was due to the Techincs arm having a lighter balance(??).

Overall view:

REGA.

Better overall stereo
Better bass
Better lower midrange
Deeper lower bass
Bass decay better captured
Capture of breath type noises better
Better vocal separation better
Better overall dynamics
Soundstaging clearer.
WORSE treble, dirty
WORSE surface noise.
LACKS soundstage height.
NOT VERY ADJUSTABLE EASILY.

TECHINCS.

Better sweeter (perhaps cleaner) treble, smoother more open.
Sound stage had more height
Lower surface noise.
Sound tightens when a little busy, treble and bass contract to the midrange.
VERY ADJUSTABLE EASILY.
Pretty good for the money!

The Verdict For Us.

Rega wins on sound, but it's pretty close to be honest, the Rega really showed the Technics arm a clean pair of heels when the going got tough, when the music got loud, complex and demanding. Considering you have to pay around over £200.00 pounds ( new prices, the parts I used were 2nd hand ebay items ) to get this improvement says something about the the original arm, it's pretty good and makes a very nice noise indeed. The Technics arm is far more easily adjustable and you can swop carts easily, where as the Rega is just as easy to use day to day once set up, doing the mod is fiddly and getting the cartridge set up is more difficult.

Don't forget this 'test' is in this system and room not yours and with mine and Dads ears not yours !
Of course your mileage may vary.....

Edited by freefaallrob - 03 Sep 2008 at 10:36am

Hehehe, the EAR834P is my Dads ( used to be mine ) I actually use the onboard stage of my Cyrus 1 amp at present. Strangely enough I was just mentioning over on the Vinyl Asylum i'd like to try one of your designs......i'm not sure the Technics arm is better though

Has anybody noticed hum pick-up via the cartridge on the SL1200/1210 mkII?

I only get this using the Music Maker Classic so far?

Yes, I know that combo is unthinkable, but as I got mine by bartering sweat, I've felt able to do crazy things with it. Now if I'd paid real cash for it I doubt if I'd have done the same. Then again, I could have bought a nice used Peugeot for that kind of money...