New Rega Planer 8 (P8) Turntable - Apheta 2 Cartridge Combo - Thoughts

mulveling

You hit it right on the head with the VPI guess.

I had actually tried vinyl a couple times and both times with decent but tough to set up units.

I under appreciated what it takes to get good sound out of these buggers. I know many say it is simple but I tried twice and struck out both times.

(1st time out)
was because I went with an odd and esoteric route. Not smart of me.

** VPI Prime with 
Haniwa Audio HCTR01 Cartridge and
HEQA01 Phono Equalizer 

These are $12,000 phono /cart combo set up. I paid $3500 for demo's so still not cheap but thought what the heck let's start with really good stuff. I just sold a couple amps and was playing with house money and took a shot. Yup - nice try... my fault :(

Needless to say the combo needed special IC's and special wires re-routed through the tonearm which I found out later. Sound was all rolled off and I just never could get it right. Got it better after trying a bunch of other cables but never worked right. Too bad because I am told this combo is great but that said my Bricasti digital blew it away and was so much better but only because I know I never got it right. I lost interest and sold / traded it all away to someone that could set it up and enjoy it because I didn't.

(2nd time out)
** VPI Aries 3D Special Edition (#47 of 100)
Mark Levinson No326s w/phono
Denon DL-S1 Cartridge

Same here. Sounded better but never right. I tried and tried and never got it right. I had an analogue guru. Super nice guy from agon felt bad for me and came over as he was local and he spent hours and re-mounted my cart and he decided the cart was bad and had to send back to dealer. 

Then month later tried another cart and that one had a problems also.

Bam, done and I jettisoned that system also. I really liked this system and kept the ML pre for a while because it was a great linestage also but the Simaudio P-8 is much better so i'm happy there :)

Well I thought, darn I spent a lot and bought a bunch of new records and really wanted a record player so though lets get a Rega table and a Rega cart and did my homework and found a great deal.

Then went looking for a good phonostage.

The Sutherland phonostage takes two IEC power cords so I made sure I got really good stuff for it also. I got (2) Audience AU24se Power Cables and a pair or RCA IC's that are Audioquest Fire. These are the power cables and the IC's the guy who sold me the phonostage was using and he offered me a great deal on the package.

I had such bad experiences in the past with phonostage IC's and the like that I wanted to get something I knew would work plus the seller totally hooked me up. He sold them all to me for less then they are worth because I bought it all together so I can't complain at all.

I could list them all for resale and make $1,000 but I have no interest in that I just want to play some records and my hope is they will sound as good - different then my digital.

I am hoping it sounds good enough to make me want to buy and get more records and enjoy this part of the hobby like so many of you guys do .That is hope. 

Sorry for the long response but wanted to answer your questions :) 

I went through similar problems with my Prime and lost interest in vinyl for a while.  My wife kept questioning me as to why I wasn't playing records when I spent so much on the Prime and accessories.  Took me a year to make a decision to move on to another turntable without the fiddly unipivot arm.  Very happy now.

Wow @fsmithjack ! Wonderful detail. The Aries 3 was actually one VPI table I really liked the look of, and had strongly considered for a time. But I wouldn’t have gotten a VPI arm mounted onto it. I feel that such unipivots are not a good starter arms - and I wouldn’t want anything to do with one even today. The Graham Phantom "unipivot" is an exception to this (it sets up like an absolute dream), but it’s really much more of a refined hybrid than a true unipivot.

I think the P8 is a good idea...I’m excited and hopeful you can come into the "vinyl first" (or at least 50/50) fold with us, from that model. The only issue is that if you stray from Rega cartridges you’ll possibly need to get shims/spacers to roughly adjust for VTA/SRA - but I don’t think that’s an insurmountable issue. I think the plug & play Rega cart bundled with the P8 is a good start, to see where your chips lie on this go-round. Phono stage choice looks solid, too, though I’m definitely a fan of tubed MM stage plus SUT. At this level a good solid-state MM/MC stage will give you best flexibility and low noise floor plus good resistive & capacitative loading adjustments to match your chosen cartridge.

AQ Fire cables - man, those are wonderful sounding cables! I sold off a couple pairs of those, and miss them. Happy new year, and fingers crossed for ya!

stereo5
Thanks for that glad I am not the only vinyl newbie not to struggle with getting set up with a new VPI table. What table/cart/phono did you end up going with?

mulveling
Thanks for all this great information. I really appreciate it. I read about those Graham arms. Those are amazing. I know what you mean about the tubed MM/SUT set up as I came really close to getting a Allnic 1201.

I had it down to that Allnic 1201. and the Sutherland Duo. I just could not believe the write ups on the Duo.

The main reason I bought the Sutherland honestly was because I met the nicest person I have ever dealt with for anything. I just knew I was dealing with a very kind and honest person and this was before I even knew his name. It was right before Christmas and come to find out his day job is a priest.

He hooked me up with the Sutherland Duo, Audioquest Fire RCA IC and 3 Audience AU24 se cables for such an amazing price. 

Here is all the info if anyone is interested. He will hook you up. Sold me gear for wholesale / dealer cost prices and way less than private sale prices so never mind dealer prices. 
http://sonarecoeli.com/

I know what you mean about the Rega and switching carts and maybe needing shims and all that. I want to avoid all of that at all cost. 

My dealer will give me 30% off discount on the Rega Aphelion. It is the only Rega update I can make. 

Do you think it is worth me to start saving for. I don't know enough about vinyl and want to learn more and get the best system I can for reasonable to use and money. The one review says the P8 table draws more from the cart than the RP10 and that is why they are re-doing the 10. Thanks so much for the help.


https://www.musicdirect.com/phono-cartridges/rega-aphelion-mc-phono-cartridge?gclid=Cj0KCQiAvKzhBRC1...