Upgrading Rega P9 + RB1000

Soldering direct to the stage is only for the most "adventureous". This past weekend I opened up the base plug and did the ground mod- this took care of the distortion in the highs. I am not looking foward to doing more surgery. Attaching a din to the internal wire at the bass is like a 3hr nerve wrenching tourture session. If I go back in it must be the best proven option. Was thinking of drilling the arm tube near the back to let the wire come out like the VPI and Basis arms. But I decided that having these wires exposed to airborne vibration is a no-no.

Thanks to all.

Doug, my CAT SL1 Ultimate preamp has an MC phono board. Its phono gain is 46db. So mid to high output cartridges (0.35~0.8 mV) can be used. The CAT also supplies the impedence load plugs (probably 50, 100, 150, 300). But as the Ruby's recommended load is 1000~47k, I do not use the plugs. So the impedence is currently matched to 47k.

For the head amp or the stepup transformer, I agree with your opinion. They may improve the base weight and the presence of music. Thanks for your information about the Mu stepup transformer. Could you give me more comments about Mu's sound characteristics?

For the phono cable, is there anyone having experiences of rewiring of Rega's stock ones? Any significant improvement? Any risk in the modifications? My P9 + RB1000 combo has a so-called 'golden midrange glow', but the bass is lumpy and 'folded' under as Reb described.

Yhun, I didn't know you had the MC board. Sorry for the slight diversion, although 47dB gain still sounds like MM territory to me. How much gain in the line stage?

I have the Mu feeding the MM phono stage in my c-j PVll preamp, which has 47dB gain + 19 in the line stage. My cart puts out a "solid sounding" .5mv but 66dB of total gain is not nearly enough. Without the stepups I have to crank the c-j's gain control to nearly 2 o'clock, compared to 9 o'clock for line sources. This pushes the line stage tubes too hard, raises the noise floor and, well, the sound just sucks! :)

If you have to push your gain significantly more for phono than for line then I'd investigate a SU device. I haven't heard anything but the Mu so I can't offer comparisons. People who have A/B'd trannies (Arthur Salvatore) say the Mu is the best in today's market.

I know it has admirably flat frequency response, down only .5db at 20Hz, dead flat to well above 20kHz. That's probably as good as any transformer anywhere. It's dead quiet of course. I haven't heard any phasing problems, but my speakers are probably worse in that regard so it's hard to say. The Mu's integrated leadout wire and easy load resistor changing did it for me. If you're having a slow day you can read my cartridge load test results on a thread called "Shelter + BentAudio Load Test" or something like that. Have the coffee ready. :)

It sounds like your arm wire issues are bigger, but why not try the different load plugins on the CAT? Can't hurt to experiment a little.

There is an interesting Phono FAQ on the Van den Hul website.Specifically no.147 on direct wiring to your phono stage.There are about 4(or more) rewire kits for Rega arms available.Without getting too complicated, regarded opinion seems to favour copper over silver wire.A review of the benefits of modding your basic RB 250/300 by Paul Szadaby in Stereo Times is good reading as is the Origin Live site.stefanl

Yhun- I have found away to reduce the lumpy bass to almost imperceptable levels with most LP's-- with the stock wire. I advise that you do not use the expressimo heavyweight. My listening has revealed the the low slung weight will increase the bass level but not the definition. I will not get into why the "low-slung" design is wrong. What you need to do with your Ruby is get the concentric counterweight within 1/4" of the rear of the arm. You need to get the Rega "extra-heavy-tungsten" counterweight- available from the importer. This will still however-leave you too far away though- although you will hear an improvement. Go to the hardware store and purchase (2) non-magnetic 1-1/4" flat washers and two sided carpet tape. What you want to do is adhere (1) washer on each side of the heavy Rega weight- centered around the central hole. This will make the weight heavy enough with the Ruby to bring you about 1/4" from arm rear. I gaurantee you will hear a startling improvement in bass. You should also be aware that the very newest versions of the ruby have a much more controlled bass response. I don't know how old yours is. (I have a brand new ruby2- if your wondering where my knowledge comes from)- at this time with the counterweight mod and ground wire mod- the arm is sounding very transparent and musical. So, perhaps the lumpy bass is really not caused by the coax leadout but rather cartridge-arm synergy.
good luck