Thanks Pat, the Shindo/Devore set-up certainly highlighted the Lenco's soundstaging and imaging abilities, as well as the particular strength of the Rega/Karat Ruby excellence in instrumental separation, due to the aforementioned speed. Michael and the others attending (hi fellas!) would be interested to know I later mounted an Oracle Thalia MC to the Rega, which is identical in construction and in specs to the Benz Ebony H (but with a retail price which is much lower), and there was a huge increase in bass reach and power (and the image is HUGE and instrumental separation excellent), so the Lenco/Rega pairing can go much further.
And in a further paean to the Rega RB-300, since it has a dynamic downforce which the RB-250 lacks, it is much more versatile: using the spring, one can either reduce the effective mass (reduce the downforce to minimum and so bring the counterweight closer to the pivot point) or greatly increase the effective mass (by increasing the dynamic downforce, compensating by moving the counterweight further back), and indeed experiment with everything in-between to extract the best performance from any given cartridge in this tonearm. Add to that the higher-precision bearings and stainless steel construction, and you have a tonearm which, when re-wired, can go a very long way with high end MCs (especially when mounted to a large idler ;-)). It is, furthermore, solid and easy to use, and with its canted and decently-proportioned headshell, accommodates every cartridge I have ever tried with it, which I can't say for many tonearms. My rediscovery of this tonearm is due mainly to the ultra-fine solid core I recently found, which consequently has no spring effect to interfere with the bearings' freedom of movement, and which, being solid core, simply performs better than most, if not all, stranded alternatives. I'm not saying there aren't better tonearms out there, just that the Rega must be taken seriously, and when it is (paired with serious cartridges), it takes some beating.
Anyway, exposure to Michael's system means I'll be reconnecting my Leak Stereo 20 (EL-84 amp like the Shindo), and see how it fares with the Mighty Lenco/Rega/Thalia combo!! The Thalia is slower than the Ruby, and could use the Leak's/EL-84's super-speed to compensate (I'm currently using the Pierre amp, which is a rich and tubey-sounding SS amp). In the meantime, it sounds like I've added a subwoofer to the system!
And in a further paean to the Rega RB-300, since it has a dynamic downforce which the RB-250 lacks, it is much more versatile: using the spring, one can either reduce the effective mass (reduce the downforce to minimum and so bring the counterweight closer to the pivot point) or greatly increase the effective mass (by increasing the dynamic downforce, compensating by moving the counterweight further back), and indeed experiment with everything in-between to extract the best performance from any given cartridge in this tonearm. Add to that the higher-precision bearings and stainless steel construction, and you have a tonearm which, when re-wired, can go a very long way with high end MCs (especially when mounted to a large idler ;-)). It is, furthermore, solid and easy to use, and with its canted and decently-proportioned headshell, accommodates every cartridge I have ever tried with it, which I can't say for many tonearms. My rediscovery of this tonearm is due mainly to the ultra-fine solid core I recently found, which consequently has no spring effect to interfere with the bearings' freedom of movement, and which, being solid core, simply performs better than most, if not all, stranded alternatives. I'm not saying there aren't better tonearms out there, just that the Rega must be taken seriously, and when it is (paired with serious cartridges), it takes some beating.
Anyway, exposure to Michael's system means I'll be reconnecting my Leak Stereo 20 (EL-84 amp like the Shindo), and see how it fares with the Mighty Lenco/Rega/Thalia combo!! The Thalia is slower than the Ruby, and could use the Leak's/EL-84's super-speed to compensate (I'm currently using the Pierre amp, which is a rich and tubey-sounding SS amp). In the meantime, it sounds like I've added a subwoofer to the system!