Rega Apollo-R CD player

I still have an older Apollo. It has a loud transformer hum but works most of the time. My wife uses it because the hum doesn't bother her. If it didn't hum it would be in my little home office.

 

I've got the older Apollo and have similar issues (signal break up, skipping, endless reinitializing). The problems go away (for a while) if you unplug the power cord, as Art mentioned in his original post. The issue was pretty well documented across forums for the old Apollo and it's sad to see it still exists with the R. I've tried my Apollo in four different homes, with and without power conditioning and had the same issues each time.

 

So: we have a bad design (or bad implementation of a design). Makes me sad, as a Rega supporter.

 

Hey, nobody enjoys their sound more than I do. I have a Brio-R and have bought one for a friend. Also have an old Apollo and a wonderful RP6 which is my 5th Rega deck. I owned a Mira 3, Saturn, R5's and so on. Even with as many Rega products as I have owned (and still own) the loyalty has been mostly one sided. As a customer I don't feel respected relative to the CD player debacle and CD is my main source. Such is life.

 

So turning the CD player off doesn't reset it, but unplugging the power cord does?

 

Depends on how pure the digital output is? I've had bad luck from some DVD players when trying to use as a transport.

I don't much care for the Rega DAC anyway -- boosted bass is bad. It may measure flat with test tones, but something about it on some material is just wrong.

 

Did you reach out to Paul Darwin at Rega UK?

 

Yes. I communicated with Steve Daniels at the Sound Org and Paul Darwin. They and the dealer were the ones to imply that it was my home (or even more ridiculously my hometowns grid) and not the player. They were the folks who helped spend my hard earned money in a wasteful way rather than admit that the player had issues. It wasn't until I changed dealers for the fourth player and it failed that a dealer admitted that it was the player and also that it was a complete fail with them as well. BTW, I had the last one repaired and it failed again within 3 hrs of it's return, again confirmed by the dealer. During this period I bought a Naim CD5si and it falied. Paul Stephenson of Naim quickly admitted that they had a problem with some of them and mine was one of the ones affected. Integrity...what a concept. By the time I finished paying off the electrician I no longer had the dough (or a local dealer) to buy another Naim.

 

Wow, that sucks, sorry to hear - although glad you finally found a dealer who didn't tell you it was your fault.

So what is the fault in these, then? Bad transformer? Under-specced power supply? Bad solder joints in the power circuitry? I can't imagine what else it could be.

 

Incredible that such a well regarded company has a product with these problems and doesn't seem to be owning them and correcting them. It would be one thing if this is just the standard "Art K has been forsaken by the audio gods" situation, but seems its a common problem.

 

I don't really know. One tech I worked with thought that something in the design does not deal well with voltage fluctuations that are considered normal and within spec but that may be slightly greater than average. Either way he considered it a flaw in the design as too many of them failed. While trying to explain away my failures as home or even city power related the dealer I bought three of them from admitted that another resident of Albany had gone through three of them and then gave up. It remains a mystery to me.

 

Yeah there are times when you get a screamer online with an axe to grind and that lessens the credibility of the alleged problem considerably. However I am actually a big supporter and fan of most Rega products. I really, really want them to do better with the next generation of Apollo (or Planet) so that I can be foolish enough to buy another.

 

In the case of my Apollo, yes. If you shut the power button off it does nothing to fix the problems, but unplugging the power cord from either the Apollo or the outlet and leaving it unplugged for at least 3-4 hours seems to calm it down for a while. When I was using the player regularly I had to do this once a week at least.

 

that's unfortunate. while i haven't seen one in person, from the photos, it's probably my favorite CD player form factor. If it had a digital input, I'd probably own one.

 

Well if mine goes bonkers I'll be here to commiserate! Until then I guess my power is stable enough for this flaky piece of great-sounding junk.

 

Anyone consider using ac regeneration from battery un-intrupted power supply?

 

No.

 

It's a extreme solution to a problem that shouldn't exist. But it may just protect the Apollo's power supply or software or whatever...

 

Or they could design the POS right in the first place.

 

I have rega Apollo (not R) that has died twice in two years. the first time "repaired" by rega's guy in ca thru vendor. I won't do it again. and I will never buy rega again either.

hundreds of stories exactly like mine.

 

I've tried my audio gear connected to a cheap UPS and the sound was noticeably degraded when running on the battery power. You need to spend a decent amount of $$$ to get a really good UPS, and it's more than I'm willing to spend to possibly remedy a problem that shouldn't be in the first place . It'd be a cool test for someone with an Apollo and a nice UPS to try though!

Seriously though, my Sony discman which I've had for 21 years, dropped on the floor multiple times, dragged on trips/to school, taken NO care of still plays every disc I put into it all the time. The only CD player I've ever had any problems with in fact is the Apollo. I like the Rega sound a lot, but I'm pretty reluctant to purchase any more Rega gear.

 

I have a UPS but my Apollo is working correctly. If it starts to malfunction I will try it.

I have owned many CD players and had my share of good and bad. When they fail I generally just get a new one. The Rega is without a doubt the nicest I have owned but if it fails I won't replace it. I use computer based playback at least fifty percent of the time.

 

I had an early Saturn (one of two) that was repaired by the guy in CA. It came back with the channels switched. I couldn't believe it.

That said, I hope Rega hears us and gets the next one right. I still love my other Rega products.

 

I've been very lucky with my purchases over the years, barring a NAD 3020A amp back in 1986 that came with one channel not working. That apart, I think I've done alright, both new and with used gear. Even off Gumtree, and other private sales. Of course, now the Cambridge'll pack up....

 

Knock on wood, right!