New Rega P8

Typical of many British products the design is quirky at best using cheap materials to accomplish the task. Agree a lot more bs than substance and costing too many pounds than it delivers.
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It was a Stereophile reviewer who had the theory about the lively sound. I think one may(as in might) find that comment in the Recommended Components issue of some recent year. Those sections are available online. My Rega is a highly upgraded RP1. Tapping on the plinth does come through. Just as it does on many if not all turntables that are not suspended. However, I do not tap on the plinth while playing records. What really matters is how much noise the stylus picks up in normal use. My upgraded Rega is dead silent. Rega's are extremely popular. They sound great and score where or above one would expect them to in equipment reviews. Maybe there is a reason as opined by the reviewer for the reason that Rega's sound lively. Is that any worse than another brand of turntable that I will not mention that many people feel sucks the life out of the sound with over damping ? I mentioned before that Rega's use of the brace is no different than having the platter bearing and tonearm mounted to the subchassis in suspended turntables. The AR XA, XB, and 77-XB are perfect examples of that. What you do not want is relative motion between the tonearm and platter. Personally, I let my ears make the final determination of quality.
 
You know, at least one professional reviewer has noted that it was his belief (I cannot remember Fremer or Reichert) that the "lively" Rega sound was potentially caused by the hard shell plinths. He noted that tapping on the plinth and using a stethoscope revealed lots of noise in the unit that he believed must have been reflected into the signal.

Rega deserves credit for their tonearms and creating motion within the turntable niche. Their marketing/engineering/design schtick just seems like a load of BS to me. Light and rigid mean nothing to me when every important component is hard-connected to the others and free to transmit noise and vibration throughout.

It is very much possible! I recall playing with Denon DP-47f table, which has very lightweight plastic structure - I noticed sort of additional reverb added to the music. When in my experiment I glued sound absorbing sheets on it, this reverb was gone and sound became more "normal". I wounder if Rega plays on the same field by adding that reverb trying to make sound more pleasant to listeners.
 
Tapping on the plinth does come through. Just as it does on many if not all turntables that are not suspended. However, I do not tap on the plinth while playing records. What really matters is how much noise the stylus picks up in normal use. M

Vibrations are transferred from speakers are either by air or through stand on which TT is sitting. Also if platter bearing is solidly attached to plinth, then any noise from it is also transferred to tonearm.

Though I agree - most tables have this problem, so it is no unique.
 
Well, I think my Planar 3 sounds pretty good. It is not my best turntable, but I have never found it to be noisy and speed is right on. Success always invites criticism. Which modern turntables in its class are demonstrably better (that is, sound significantly better)?

Curious about what the "tapping on the plinth test" tells me? Seems to me that this would be common to any moderately priced solid base TT? In any case, there is an easy way to avoid problems caused by tapping on the turntable while in use...just don't do it.
 
Well, I think my Planar 3 sounds pretty good. It is not my best turntable, but I have never found it to be noisy and speed is right on. Success always invites criticism. Which modern turntables in its class are demonstrably better (that is, sound significantly better)?

Curious about what the "tapping on the plinth test" tells me? Seems to me that this would be common to any moderately priced solid base TT? In any case, there is an easy way to avoid problems caused by tapping on the turntable while in use...just don't do it.

I have to agree with your statements. Rega solves turntable issues in an unorthodox manner. They test out well. They are popular. Rega has a strong dealer network and excellent customer service. I enjoy mine. I do not tap on the plinth while playing records either. Even my cat has stopped doing that.
 
Vibrations are transferred from speakers are either by air or through stand on which TT is sitting. Also if platter bearing is solidly attached to plinth, then any noise from it is also transferred to tonearm. . .
Or possibly not. Fremer's review of the older RP8 included using a stethoscope to listen for motor vibration, and while there was "significant high frequency motor hum" with the stethoscope on the plinth, there was "nearly complete motor noise attenuation" with the stethoscope on the double brace that runs from the hub bearing to the tonearm mount, which seems to corroborate Rega's claim that "this design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances."

Well, I think my Planar 3 sounds pretty good. It is not my best turntable, but I have never found it to be noisy and speed is right on. Success always invites criticism. Which modern turntables in its class are demonstrably better (that is, sound significantly better)?
My RP3 is my best turntable--it's also my only turntable. While I couldn't say the same for its predecessor, the P3-24, when I auditioned it, I've found the RP3 to offer sound quality at a high enough level that I've had no regrets selling my aging LP12/Ittok and using the proceeds to buy the humble Rega. After a few years, now, I continue to be thrilled with its performance, listening to several lp's each day, thoroughly enjoying them and always wishing I had time to listen to more. I can't ask more of a turntable than that, and, given my age, this may well be my last turntable.

I've never had my particular sample tested for speed accuracy, but the lab report for the review at HiFi News found their sample to be just 0.01% off. I'm not sure how much credence to give to Fremer's iPhone app speed check, but even if his finding of 0.8% fast for the RP8 was accurate, it wouldn't bother me. The DIN standards for turntable speed accuracy was anywhere between 1% slow to 1.5% fast, and Gramophone Magazine's critique of the DIN standards, while finding some standards too lax, found this particular one to be stringent enough, saying that differences that small "would not be detectable by ordinary ears." My ordinary ears have never heard a hint of a problem with either speed accuracy or wow and flutter with my RP3.
 
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