1. Home
  2. analog
  3. 136669-78291

Tonearm comparison, Rega vs Zeta, anyone?

Rega RB300 (giant killer) $250 - $400, - - - Zeta tonearm (Giant) $1350 NOS. sold for $800 on US audiomart.

I’m stepping up a level in the cartridge dept, and wonder if the benefits of doing so might be further augmented by stepping up a level in the tonearm dept, and if doing both would make a sonic improvement greater than the sum of it’s parts?

A gain of that level in sonics would make such an expediture intriguing, Eg: 1+1= 3.5. (ajusted to compensate for the law of diminishing returns).

Has anyone out there used "both" an RB300 and a Zeta? And would you feel that moving to a Zeta is closer to a lateral move, or more reflective to an exponential improvement?
My Rega has been rewired with Discovery interconnects, and uses the heavier counterweight.

(Cartridge move is from a Grado Reference Sonata 1, to a Dynavector 20x2 High Output).

thehorn
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Of course, asking the question without mentioning what turntable you are using is tantamount to asking if Pirellis will improve your autos handling without naming the model of your car.

I have experience with both, though not on the same turntable. I also have experience with the Mission arm which was also made by KB Tools, the company that made the Zeta.
Post removed 
thehorn OP
34 posts
 

No worries viridian,

I purposely left out the name of the table in an attept to get an unbias, broad sample lot based on personal experience, as opposed to a possible infiltration of conjecture based on speculation.

But since you asked, I’m using an Oracle Delphi MkII.

BTW, the Pirelli anology was a good one.


boxer12
1,703 posts
 
In my experience, the Rega is a poor sounding arm. I own that arm, a Polestar arm, & a Victor 7045. Both the Polestar & the Victor blow the Rega away top to bottom. That stated, I suspect you would get a major improvement switching to the Zeta. 
bimasta's avatar
bimasta
158 posts
 
I also had the RB300, and very high hopes. I was very disappointed. No cartridge, from high-compliance MM to LOMC, sounded nearly as good on the Rega as they did on other arms. Everyone conceded the wiring in the Rega was lousy, so I rewired with VDH pure silver — there was little improvement if any. I was doing a tonearm survey at the time — starting with low with the original Rega (made by Acos; I blank on the name, RB-200 maybe?), the SME 3009 II Imp, then Technics RB500/501, Grado Reference, Linn Ittok, Syrinx PU3, SME 309. Oddly, the only arm as lifeless and dull as the Rega was the Grado.

The 300 is praised by so many, and so widely hyped, that mine is a lonely opinion — but at least Boxer12 agrees. I simply can't imagine a  Zeta in decent condition won't blow it away. 
More to discover