My new Rega Ania sounds grainy/etchy--anything I can do?

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and reassurances. I’ll look into a scale, be patient and wait for the cartridge to break in. Pretty sure the Rega FOno mc will also do a better job than the NAD with the ania.

 

I was told 100 hours

 

Buggiest...or biggest?

 

I strongly reccomend people try Baerwald if they want to get the most out of their Ania. I had some subtle but noticable low level distortion and fuzziness using Rega 3-point alignment (especially on inner grooves), but the sound cleared up considerably when I changed to Baerwald. It's too bad that this is the case as I bought the Ania for its ease of set up, only to fuss with it for a couple weeks to get it dialed in. The effort was worth it though.

This is a seriously great sounding cart when it's set up properly. If you think it sounds good using Rega alignment, you'll be floored after switching to Baerwald.

 

Rega 3 point works just fine with the Exact.

 

Yep--Exact always sounded fantastic with Rega alignment. I was hoping to replicate the same easy magic with the Ania but it's a different beast. Makes me want to try my old Exact with Baerwald and see if it makes an improvement over what I already thought was great sound.

 

I think the MC Ania surpasses the Exact by a wide margin probably depending on the phono stage.

 

I can vouch for this first hand. My Rogue Triton phono-pre is highly adjustable, and I've tried all the reasonable settings for the Ania. It sounds best to me when set to Rega's specs. The only exception is the gain, which I prefer at 60 rather than 65.

 

Yup my Aria is set to Rega specs as well.

 

Dear fellow forum members

I have recently acquired a Rega Planar 6/Ania/Fono MC package. It is my first turntable and even though it has only run around 10 hours, so far from being broken in, I can already tell that there is huge potential. However, I am pretty sure that something with the setup is not right as I am sometimes getting low-lewel distortion, foremost IGD, and surface noise that I know shouldn't be there. The turntable sits perfectly level on top of a SolidSteel S5-3 rack, I have used a digital scale to ensure that I am applying the right VTF (2g as of now, planning to go with 1,8 g later), anti-skate is set accordingly. I understand that it takes 80-100 hours until the cart is broken-in, but surely this is not normal. The Ania came factory fitted, so it is using the 3-point Rega fixing. Should I give the Baerwald alignement a go? I saw in this thread that rischa has been able to achieve great results using it. But why am I having issues with a factory fitted cartridge? Does it need some more time? Is it the records?

I am looking forward to hearing your responses.

Cheers
Charles

 

A quick update: I have just set the anti-skate to 1.25 and the disturbing distortions during vocals are greatly reduced..VTF is still set to 2g...
What do those with experience make of this? Do I have a faulty tonearm? I'll keep experimenting..

 

You are probably correct about it being an alignment issue. Look at what options you have for making slight alignment adjustments. If possible, listen with headphones to isolate distortion to mainly left, right, or even both. Can you rotate the cartridge slightly either way with respect to the tonearm axis? If so, that could be the issue. Also, as a test, zero out anti-skate to see if that fixes it.

 

Even with the 3 point configuration the cartridge can still be adjusted.

Check the alignment using the Rega protractor that came with your new P6.

 

I sympathize. Unfortunately I was never able to rid my Ania of high-end grain and IGD. Realigning to Baerwald and increasing the tracking force helped, but never completely solved the problem. In my opinion, the eliptical stylus was the culprit, at least regarding the IGD. I ended up replacing the Ania with a Hana SL, which has no IGD and is smooth accross all frequencies. Good luck, friend.

 

Welcome to the forum Charles and congrats on your first TT. The P6/Ania/Fono MC package is very well matched and at a good price. I picked up mine just after it hit the market here in the states and love the way it sounds with my system. I haven't had any trouble with IGD so like Echoes Myron posted check it with the Rega protractor. If you still have trouble with it and bought it local bring it down to them and have it checked out. I hope you can find the cause of your IGD and start enjoying this fantastic deck.
I'm pass the 100 hour mark and I'm enjoying rediscovering many of my favorite artist. Today is going to be a Steely Dan day.

+1 on both of these.

 

Thanks for your reply!

The problem is mainly in the left channel and is most accentuated during high-energy vocal passages.
I have checked the alignement with the supplied Rega protractor and although it is not that easy to eyeball it, I sort of have the feeling that the cartridge it rotated ever so slightly towards the spindle, so the inner edge of the grooves...could this be the issue? Unfortunately I don't have an M3 allen bit at the moment...bummer..

 

@bluesaddict

Thanks for your reply!

I am glad to hear that your setup is running well. Aja was the first album that I put on two days ago and the IGD was scary, although I have since found reviews of this vinyl and everybody seems to have issues with it, but in my setup it might have been more severe.
Anway, I am going to try and adjust the alignement as soon as I can get hold of an M3 allen key. If that doesn't solve it then the options will be limited..

Thanks for all the responses in such little time.

 

I've experiment with different alignments and never really heard much difference, IGD is all down to the stylus IMO.

 

I’ll probably be switching to the new Hana soon from the Ania for my RP8. The new Ania had some build issue and I lost one channel. So I’ll upgrade to the new Hana which is $500 more. I’m listening to it on Monday. I hear it is warmer.

I love the Aria stage though.

 

Alignment matters, as in, don't mount the cart any old way. That said, a basic stylus is never going to be 100% free of IGD on all records. You can align 'till you're blue in the face...not going to happen. Finer profiles track inner grooves better, end of story.

 

Due to the asymmetry between the channels, I am more than inclined to believe that my issue is - at least to a certain degree - setup-related. I have now ordered a torque wrench (not the Rega, the price on that one, yikes..) and a bit set, so I should be able to experiment with alignement around Thursday, we'll see then. That being said...I'd really like to have a trouble-free playback on this setup, as should be expected at this price, so...should I still have issues after Thursday..what's next? I'll probably check in with the dealer I bought the package from to see if I could maybe upgrade the cartridge if it doesn't work out. Any options I should be looking at?

Could anyone please point me to the Baerwald protractor that I should try? Thanks!

 

Is the Ania a new cart ? If so then contact your dealer to discuss with the Rega distributor. Could be a bad one.

 

Hi, and welcome to the forums. Since this is your first turntable experience, congratulations on getting such a nice one; we all should be so lucky. I am thinking that you probably have some unrealistic expectations from analog and vinyl in particular. It is easy to read and get sucked into the hype surrounding it and how it is supposedly superior to digital (depending upon whom you ask of course). The reality is a bit different. First, it is normal to have some IGD on records and in fact, it will always be present, even on those where people say they don't have any (they just can't hear it). It is possible to reduce it quite a bit in many instances but it never goes away. The same goes for overall noise floor; it's not digital and it's not artificially enhanced. It is literally a rock being dragged across a piece of vinyl. That's going to make some noise in itself, no? The thing to understand is that it is all relative. The record and the stylus are a two part system, each having 50% of the work load. If the vinyl surface is as perfect as can be made, then noise will be quite low. The cutting of the master disc and the pressing of the vinyl record are also physical processes and not without flaws. In short, some records are just going to sound better than others when new. Now, take into account used records and the varying state of defects will be much greater. If a record is played on a nice table with a nice stylus from new, then it will last well without much degradation. If however, you inherit records from friends or relatives, or second hand shops, then you may come across quite a few that have damaged grooves due to being played on inferior equipment. So record condition new or used will vary and so will the results. It is true that some stylus shapes and some alignment geometries, and even some set-up parameters such as anti-skating and VTA can effect IGD, but it will always be there to some degree. Reducing it to the lowest level that you can is all that can be done there. Expecting it to be as easy as dropping in a CD into a player drawer or pressing a button on your playlist software and having music just effortlessly flow from the amp and speakers isn't how it works.

As someone who has been collecting records for 40 years, I can remember even back when I first heard CD in its infancy and reflecting on how I still found listening to records more enjoyable than listening to CDs. It was never because the Lp would be more quiet or perfectly formed like a digital waveform, it was because after having heard analog for years, I was able to listen through the occasional click and pop (I always kept my records in good condition, but still...) and concentrate on the music at its core. I could appreciate the smooth flow of the sound and the tonal qualities more because I could also ignore the deficiencies as they were not part of the waveform of the music, they were superimposed over it. In digital, the distortions are actually distortions of the waveform itself. So getting used to how analog sounds and how different records behave on the same deck will bring some enlightenment. That will take a little time for discovery.
-Bill

 

Many thanks for the great inputs. Really appreciated.

I've been listening to my - as of now - not so huge, initial vinyl collection and noticed that the above mentioned disturbances appear to varying degrees on the different records. There are records and tracks where they are not audible at all, even in the inner grooves. And it's not even that the distortion is that severe, it's just that there is a lot of associated noise on the problematic records. So I am going to get a RCM (probably an Okki Nokki) and thoroughly clean my records and give them a listen before I play with the cartridge alignment. I've got a feeling it should help a great deal. After that it's the alignment, after that it's a different cartridge. The Hana SL is certainly nominated. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, because the sound itself would be - even after only 15-20 hours - quite promising.

 

The Ania needs to break in. The sound changes quite a bit when it does. It also does not happen gradually as you would think, its almost overnight you have a different cartridge. Besides this site, I am on two different Rega based Facebook groups and everyone I have talked to has experienced the same phenomenon. Usually happens somewhere between 50-100 hours. Get the RCM, that is a good move, but dont give up yet on the Ania. When it does loosen up, you wont have to ask if it happened. It is not subtle.

• Information