DIY - Mods on TT, related parts

Got this link while surfing the WEB on Tonearms ;

http://www.aqvox.de/REGA_250_300_Tonearm-mod-humm-free-remove-signal-groundrega_mod.html

cheers

Rega arm (250/300) wire and cable are IMO, poor or economical quality. It would be so ideal if a high quality cable straight through from cartridge to plugs for a huge benefit. They are budget tonearms, aren't they and thats what they're supposed to be, and therefore "just usable" wires.

Bad soldering as well.....as you say good quality wires and workmanship ....would improve SQ....

cheers

Did you know that Rega tonearm have soldered joints inside the tube, couple of inch after the cartridge clips? Its not one whole length down to the arm column. Very simple, look at the thickness of wires at the cartridge, then the wire at the other end at the column.

... and Frankie of Pipit fame, mods RB-tonearms by ripping out the nasty stock wirings and re-wiring them with homogeneous cabling throughout.

Forgot which was his favourite cable used for this kind of mod though...

Anyway, IMO, early Rega arm wires are terrible if it had survived to the present and all the wires and cabling should be replaced if given another lease of life. I rewired mine along with own devised special tweaks and wiring technique, resulting in something quite superior compared to another bog standard RB300 I have.

There's a trick is by putting a certain amount of twist in the cabling section within the RB-XXX cast tube, using it as weight ballast to give abit more inertia to the arm for better matching with certain low compliance carts.

Hi....

Over the weekend, I dismantled my spare TT's RB251 tonearm...and the quality of the wiring is ..... ...all that was running through my mind.

Where can i get some good quality wires, locally...plan to have a straight run from end to end.

Also, on my Planar 3 TT, did some mod jobs on the motor which was hanging of a "rubber band". Double sided tapes were put in place, used a few metal / rubbers washers to get the right height adjustment to the sub-platter. Boy, no more wobble of the motor, steady as she goes.

Did some sound dampening work in the motor section. Oil the motor and screwed on spikes purchased from ATS.

After which a two hour audition with Bee Gees, Dan Fogelberg, Carpenters LP's ...boy what a pleasure it was, compared to before the mod job.

cheers

wingman wrote:Also, on my Planar 3 TT, did some mod jobs on the motor which was hanging of a "rubber band". Double sided tapes were put in place, used a few metal / rubbers washers to get the right height adjustment to the sub-platter. Boy, no more wobble of the motor, steady as she goes.

No idea how you did it all, but note that the motor just sticking to the plinth with d/s tape isn't the ultimate solution. The motor have to be supported from the bottom with the plastic cover pushing against the bottom of the motor to be permanent. The motor just hanging onto the sticky tape may fall off if thats the only adhesion.
Thats the trouble with old Planar motors mounted with some rubber ring to suspend the motor. They purposely bend the wings of the motor flange for fitting. Its a very crude arrangement, and staightening the flange back is quite a chore. Thats why Rega offer a nice upgrade kit with nice new 21st century Premotec motor, new PCB control board to give a Rega a new lease of life and possibly better sonic improvement. The only place for the old Planar motors is the bin. Applies to old LP12 motors too.

wingman wrote:
Also, on my Planar 3 TT, did some mod jobs on the motor which was hanging of a "rubber band". Double sided tapes were put in place, used a few metal / rubbers washers to get the right height adjustment to the sub-platter. Boy, no more wobble of the motor, steady as she goes.

cmboy wrote:
Thats why Rega offer a nice upgrade kit with nice new 21st century Premotec motor, new PCB control board to give a Rega a new lease of life and possibly better sonic improvement. The only place for the old Planar motors is the bin. Applies to old LP12 motors too.

the premotec motor is less noisy and vibrates less than the original motor.

if u want to use the original motor, it's better to use mike lim's motor isolation base. that way there's no contact between noisy motor and plinth.

If its me and for reasons I know best myself, I'll not resort to workarounds but a permanent solution with the motor upgrade kit, moreover the kit doesn't cost an arm n leg.

CM...

Thanks, for your views.

Yeap...thats taken care off...the motor now sits on a rubber base product..dampens vibrations as well. ( slight pressure to keep the motor in place - sits in a cut out groove) The cover holds all the jigsaw in place.

cheers

Hi...

Caption from another forum and i believe some of you may have explored ;

"Rega Planar 3 runs fast. A simple fix.

Timed my 1979 Rega Planar 3.

100 revolutions took 178.96 seconds.

That is 33.527 r.p.m.

Which is 0.6 % fast.

The bearing has a pulley diameter which is a little over 10 cm.

So I bought some plastic insulating tape (black). The label says its thickness is 0.15 mm.

I wrapped three complete layers, with no gaps or overlaps, around the pulley. That should increase the diameter by 0.9 mm. That is a 0.9 % increase, which should slow the platter by 0.9 %, for the same motor speed.

Now 100 revolutions takes 179.1 seconds.

That is 33.443 r.p.m.

Now, the maths do not add up; that is still 0.3 % fast. But it is probably within the error of my timings with a stopwatch, and I do not know the tolerance of the stated tape thickness.

My timings were with no record tracking. Probably the force of the stylus will slow the turntable a little more.

Anyway, I did some A/B comparisons of LP and CD issues of the same material, and the pitch difference that I noticed previously (LP a fraction of a tone sharp) has disappeared. Much better.

So I do not feel inclined to add further layers of tape

Simple, cheap. No side effects. Also reversible. Unless the tape, when removed, leaves sticky stuff on the wheel.

Any increased tension on the pulley belt or bearing must be negligible compared with moving over to the larger motor pulley wheel for 45 r.p.m. "

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Suffice to say, by increasing the diameter of the pulley or sub-platter would bring the speed to the desired level, which is 33 1/3 plus / minus ?


cheers