New RP6

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by russk, Dec 20, 2014.

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  1. russk

    russk Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Hi I've been a long time reader of these forums, this is my first post.

    After reading through just about every post on turntables I could find here and on other vinyl forums I decided to replace my old, trusty SL 1200 with a new RP6. Unfortunately it was a "Christmas present" and the person that purchased it for me got it from Soundstage Direct instead of my local dealer as they didn't have one in stock at the moment. It came fitted with a 2m Blue. Set up was fairly easy and straight forward but I've noticed a few problems most of which I fixed with information from this forum. Problems like hum from the TTPSU which I discover that I can fix easily by grounding to to my fisher 500c. So thanks! The other concerns however are keeping me up at night.

    My two main concerns are that the bias or antiskate is malfunctioning and that the wobble is a little to extreme and the platter is out of round.

    I believe the antiskate to be bad because I was unable to hover the cartridge over the record when trying to set the tracking force, the minute I let go it returned to its resting position rather quickly. As for the plater, I expected a little wobble and a few bubbles. Well I got the bubbles and a wobble. When playing a record and looking down on the table the arm appears to be gyrating. Its going back and forth as well as up and down.

    I've been able to somewhat dial in the sound with a stylus scale but the bias slider really doesn't seem to do much if anything.

    Any information or advice would be appreciated.

    Thanks
    Russ
     
  2. Art K

    Art K Retired but not tired!

    Location:
    Corvallis, Oregon
    Wow, sorry to read of these troubles. As you have not completed your profile we don't have much information to work with. I would say to contact the dealer it came from or the distributor (Sound Organisation, here in the U.S.). I have an RP6 and it is fabulous. No wobble at all. Flawless rotation.
     
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  3. KT88

    KT88 Senior Member

    The bias is always going to pull the arm towards the arm rest, even when set to its minimum position. There is no friction in the bias mechanism as it is just a magnet, so setting it to its lowest setting, it gets farthest away from the piece inside the arm that is attracted to it but it'll always have some residual pull. Since there is no cartridge that plays with zero tracking force, it isn't a practical issue, just a curiosity of the design. They all will behave that way, it's normal and perfectly fine. As you notice, when you do increase the bias force, you don't hear a huge amount of difference, so it is a subtle thing and getting it close is all that most listeners can ever tell. In fact, most listeners couldn't tell if it were full up or off. Just set it to where the tracking force is and forget about it.

    The arm wandering doesn't have anything to do with the platter, rather the record. Many records have their holes punched out of center and will cause that behavior on any table. A lighter arm might respond more to it, making it a bit more obvious, but it is a function of the stylus following the Lp groove, which is not concentric with the spindle location. It is basically the same thing as a warp (where the arm will ride up and down in the groove) but in another plane. So you have an X and a Y axis there that the arm can follow and any record variations will cause the arm to follow sympathetically. It's a physical medium and there will be some irregularities like that. The beauty of the tonearm as simple as it is, is its ability to adapt and to playback the groove despite this. The platter shape itself will not effect the side to side movement of the arm as the arm is tracing the Lp, not the platter. The platter could be square, with the Lp hanging over four edges and the platters corners extending beyond the records edge, and it would not effect the record being centered or not.

    Relax and enjoy your new table!
    :cheers:
    -Bill
     
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  4. oregonalex

    oregonalex Forum Resident

    Residual outward bias force from magnetic antiskate even with the slider all out is normal with Rega. See mine:

    http://www.khain.org/priv/arm.mp4

    Platter wobble isn't normal, though. Make sure you check it without mat and record. Just watch the glass for wobble. Put a ruler next to it for reference. The record introduces its own imperfections.

    Good luck.

    EDIT: Bill beat me to it. He's right, of course. The horizontal circular imperfection of the platter would not affect playback. Still, it should not wobble. Check the bearing nut on the bottom. (with your hand only), to make sure it did not get loose during transport (mine did).
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2014
  5. vinylbuff

    vinylbuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Port Florida
    I noticed the same thing about the antiskate with my RP6 and I just set it and left it. I did notice though that I couldn't set stylus force using the markings on the tonearm. I bought a digital stylus force gauge to set mine and at 1.7g on the gauge, the tonearm shows right around 2.4g ......... I'm glad I picked up the gauge.
     
  6. dianos

    dianos Forum Resident

    Location:
    The North
    Back and forth should be about the record I believe. Not the platter. Remove the record and the mat and have a new look.

    My first RP6 had a leaning platter. The whole bearing was leaning.. Got a new one and now it's perfect.

    The antiscate is no issue. All Regas are the same. Set it to 0.5 and enjoy.
     
  7. Seth

    Seth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Hi Russ,

    Please call out tech Jay and he can help with set up 1-877-929-8729 or email [email protected]

    Thanks,
    Seth
     
  8. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    Congrats on your six, I know I really enjoy mine.
     
  9. russk

    russk Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Wow. Thank you for all the responses. I was wondering if the movement of the arm was just more noticeable due to it being straight and so light. I will say that the table sure looks beautiful and throws a soundstage and does vocals amazingly.

    I guess its just a much simpler design then the technics. Not having much of an antiskate control just throws me. There's also a touch more surface noise but I here a lot of that will go when I switch out the mat.

    Does anyone have any experience with the 2m Blue. There seems to be a touch more sibilance than with the AT95 on a few albums that I never really noticed it on. I've got the tracking force set at 1.8 with my digital scale.

    Seth, wow and thanks, I never expected to get in contact with anyone there till Monday. I sent an email to Jay last night.

    Thanks, everyone, for the help.

    Russ
     
  10. dianos

    dianos Forum Resident

    Location:
    The North
    I've had the Blue on my RP6 and had no problems with sibilance. The 2M range normally sound a bit harsh the first ~30h of playtime and loosens up a lot after this.
     
  11. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    Make sure you get the platter wobble sorted out. An out of round / out of balance condition will wear the bearing prematurely.
     
  12. utahusker

    utahusker Senior Member

    Not to mention, it would where out my patience seeing it wobble.
     
  13. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    See if you can isolate whether it is really the platter itself thats out of round / not flat. The platter rides on the sub-platter. On the RP6 and lower models the stock subplatters are a 3-piece fitted assembly; a metal shaft, the spindle, and the cast plastic or phenolic subplatter. Sometimes these are not all made & fitted concentric and precisely perpendicular to each other...even just a thousandth or two of an inch difference can affect the geometry. You may want to try removing the platter & subplatter, the little ball bearing at the bottom of the bearing well, clean the bearing well & bearing shaft very carefully (a q-tip works great, be sure not to leave any cotton residue), lightly oil them, and put back together. Also, for the future, take a look at the groovetracer subplatter on the groovetracer site. Many of us Rega owners have them and believe me, they make a significant improvement. (Rega uses the near exact same type of precision machined metal sub-platters in their upper tier models). Your platter should run visibly flat and centered.

    The mat: I found the stock Rega felt mat to be the best sounding mat of the several aftermarket mats I've tried. You were noting some sibilance using the Ortofon blue....but is the cartridge 'broke in'? Is your rega situated level? ...may want to invest in a decent bubble level to make sure the table / platter is situated as perfectly level as you can get it. Also, isolating the TT can affect things like the odd stray sibilances. A wall mount for example. I can't wall mount so I set my Rega's on 2" thick hardwood maple cutting boards then place four sorbothane 'pucks' under them (between the stereo rack & cutting board). Leveling and isolating made a detectable difference in cleaning up the odd little peaks etc. throughout the sonic range. That is, set ups alone bumped my Regas up another notch towards a silkier, effortless, more natural sound.
     
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  14. russk

    russk Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Thanks for the responses. I used a good level to make sure its nice and level.

    The cartridge is definitely not broke in yet. Also it was installed without a spacer. I've read that the 2m cartridges are a good match for Rega tables but have never heard of someone not using one. How important is a spacer for this cartridge?

    I will take the plater off later this week when I'm off work and make sure it is flat and wobble free and take a look at the sub platter.

    Thanks
    Russ
     
  15. TVC15

    TVC15 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    In the end is it an upgrade from your technics?

    The back n forth is the record. The anti-skate is "how it is". You might want to look into a new replacement platter.

     
  16. russk

    russk Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Well I will say I never had any issues with the technics. Mounted my cartridges with the overhang adapter and then used a protractor and set vta and tracking force with my digital scale and done. The Rega is definitely more work. Sliding the weight on and adjusting it back and forth till the cartridge floats is borderline ridiculous with how fast the arm returns to its rest and the lack of real antiskate is annoying to me but if I can confidently get it dialed in I can live with it. It does sound more open and detailed and the soundstage it throws is out of this world. Its just frustrating that a turntable that's billed as "plug and play" has so many issues out of the box. Have to say I never expected it.
     
  17. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    I use Rega's Exact cartridge as do many RP6 owners.
     
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  18. russk

    russk Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Another quick question, does the antiskate knob rotate on your guy's tables? I know it is suppose to slide in and out to set it but it freely rotates both ways on mine
     
  19. Art K

    Art K Retired but not tired!

    Location:
    Corvallis, Oregon
    Yes, now put on an LP and enjoy!
     
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  20. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Im about to set up a RP6/2m bronze. The arm returning to its rest makes me wonder,how can you que a track and have the arm stay in position to lower the stylus? Even with anti skate, it always seems to want to return to the arm rest!
     
  21. dianos

    dianos Forum Resident

    Location:
    The North
    The arm rest in rubber will make sure it goes down where you want it to.
     
  22. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    It doesn't do that once you dial in the VTF. If it does, I would guess your TT is not level.
     
  23. eyeCalypso

    eyeCalypso Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    Why were you looking to replace your Technics TT?
     
  24. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    Although I´m thinking the same thing, they do look different. As I see it this is the main thing when buying a new TT. Above all people are buying for the look, SQ comes very low in importance, if at all.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2014
  25. russk

    russk Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Once I set the tracking force it stopped returning to its rest. I'd love to here your impression of the Bronze.
     
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