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Rega Planar 3/Lin Basik LV-X - about the hum issue

Hi all,

I have a Denon Dp-30l with a freshly installed Grado Gold cartdrige and I found the sound fairly good. The bass are good, mid ok and high mid... lack detailled mainly cause of the arm. The Denon arm is a S-shaped arm with no vta adjustement. BUT the sound is way way better than with my Shure M97xE. With this cart the sound is neutral, lacking of life and somewhat boring.

Now, I have my hands on a Rega Planar 3 with a Linn Basik LX-V in pretty good condition. The cartdrige that come with on this table is a Grado F3+ with bad styli. I tryed the table with the styli of my Gold on the F3+ considering the cart is in good shape. First, the output is good and the sound more detailled than with my Denon. Also, the sound is more clean but with less bass.

Secondly, I found that the sound is more articulated and dynamic on the Planar. Thirdly the sound of the Rega is more uniform than my Denon (ex: from the first track to the last of one side of lp's). On my Denon, the sound become loud toward center. I think is because of induction influence of the magnet's of the ac motor. in overall, the Rega with F3+ and Gold styli combo lack the living of the Gold on my Denon but have more details.

Another good gain is that Rega proved to me that my setup can drive good clean mids and highs!!!

My question is: If I install properly the Gold cart on the Rega Planar 3 / Linn Basik LV-V, is that combo will be winner???

I know about the induction effect with Rega/Grado match, but i think it will less audible than with my Denon. Do you think the Grado F-3+ is less affected than the Gold by this effect?

Regards,

Eric

Setup:

Rectangular room of 7x10', the setup is perpendicular of the speakers, not in between. Table is at 5' from the left speaker. I don't remark any wow and flutter because I don't listen my music with master volume past 22 O'clock.

Cambridge Audio A1mk3se 1998 (Made in British)
Denon Dp-30L / Grado Gold
Energy Reference 22 (very nice sound)
Rega FONO MM
Digital source from my Imac 20" or Nad C520
Very good cables and power filtering.
el_enrique
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
The only way to see if the Gold will be a winner on your Rega 3 is to try it, which should be pretty easy. No one can tell you if you will like the sound. It's kind of like asking, "Will I prefer vanilla, or chocolate?" There is no easy answer.

I don't imagine that the F3 will be more, or less, immune to the hum induced by the unsheilded Rega motor. But again, take an hour to set-up the cartridge and find out.

The Linn cartridges were made by Audio Technica, so you may want to try an AT120E, which should match nicely with the Basik arm. The Denon DL160 moving coil is also nice, for a bit more money. Likewise, the Ortonfon Blue should be on your short list.
el_enrique OP
3 posts
 
My question is perhaps "simple" and not easyto answer but I postit because I don't have the alignement tools to properly install my car. Don't have balance, nor the protractor!
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Well, if you like the sound of the F3 you will probably like the sound of the Gold even more, it should not be any worse in the hum department. And it should have a similar sound. Does that help?

BTW, your arm is calibrated and you can get a pretty accurate tracking force by zero balancing the arm and then adding the appropriate tracking force. 1.5 grams or so for the Gold. You can also pull some decent protractors off of the web for free, try the Vinyl Engine site for starters and best of luck!
el_enrique OP
3 posts
 
I've found the Gold sound very good on my Dp-30l. However the Grado F-3+ on the Planar 3 with Gold styli lack life and of bass a little. But the Planar retrieve many more details than the Denon even with the Gold!!! Will give it a try.
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