What's your opinion of the lounge? Heard some say it best the leahmann blackbox and that won the blind face off at analog plannet?
So, I'm going to play the contrarian here and repesctfully push back a bit on Dave's comments about Regas. I like Rega turntables...a lot. I have a P5 with a GrooveTracer subplatter (the one with sapphire jewel thrust pad bearing and a ceramic ball bearing). The RB700 arm has a Sumiko Pearwood Celebration II moving coil cartridge. I find this table to have excellent musicality, rhythmic drive, bass articulation and definition. It's a kick out the jams kind of turntable, and what's remarkable about is that it compares quite favorably with approximately $13,000 Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V and Koetsu Vermilion turntable. You get about 85% of the performance of the Michell with the Rega P5/Sumiko for about 1/6 the price. I also have Clearaudio Concept, and while it is quite a good table for the price, IMO, the Rega P5 is better. The performance for dollar that table provides is pretty amazing, in my experience.
Fair enough. I should note that I think the RP1/3 are the weakest of the lot, and things do get better with the RP6 which I guess is more comparable to the older P5. That being said, my Ace Space 294 combo with Shelter 7000 and Stillpoints clamp into my Sutherland will also make short work of the Gryo, even without the features of the Hyperspace which is a true giant slayer. I also prefer heavy mass designs, which is kind of antithetical to the Rega mission.
Dave, are you referring to a Nottingham deck when you say Ace Space? I've heard those several times at the Analog Room in San Jose, CA and they are great TTs. Haven't heard the Shelter 7000, but it would be interesting to put it up against my Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, if only for grins. Also, heard great things about Stillpoints, but not sure it would be compatible with the Michell design. My Michell TT deck didn't cost me $13K, actually more like $5800, as I bought the SME and Koetsu for $1500 and $1800 respectively. What is the Hyperspace?
So, I'm going to play the contrarian here and repesctfully push back a bit on Dave's comments about Regas. I like Rega turntables...a lot. I have a P5 with a GrooveTracer subplatter (the one with sapphire jewel thrust pad bearing and a ceramic ball bearing). The RB700 arm has a Sumiko Pearwood Celebration II moving coil cartridge. I find this table to have excellent musicality, rhythmic drive, bass articulation and definition. It's a kick out the jams kind of turntable, and what's remarkable about is that it compares quite favorably with approximately $13,000 Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V and Koetsu Vermilion turntable. You get about 85% of the performance of the Michell with the Rega P5/Sumiko for about 1/6 the price. I also have Clearaudio Concept, and while it is quite a good table for the price, IMO, the Rega P5 is better. The performance for dollar that table provides is outstanding, in my experience. I could easily live with table as my only TT, no problem at all. I also love the cherry surround for the base. With my Soundsmith retipped Grace Ruby The lovely Sumiko Pearwood Celebration II...a very Koetsu-like moving coil at a great price.
Haha I like the puma signiture in the pics. This is what always gets me about regas I never heard some one say that a rega sounds good only ever heard "after I modded X the rega sounds good." This kind of turns me off to regas. Still I never heArd rega only ever heard a vpi nomad with some grado sr80i done I still have much to learn. Signed up for the show do hopefully I can't get some experience there.
I don't know about the lounge, but the two of the best phono stages I've ever heard are 1) my EAR 324 and 2) the Zesto Audio Andros. The Sutherland 20/20 is also supposed to be superb, but I have not had the opportunity to hear one. I have to admit I would love to have the Zesto, but my EAR is no slouch in any way, and has been rated a Stereophile A class phono pre for many years (and I got it at an absolute killer price).
Nothing beats going out there and listening for yourself. That being said, just for comparison here's a Hyperspace. I like em big and I like em heavy
checked them out but they are a little above my price range.
