Speed corrected Rega 2 vs Technics SL-1200 mk2 comparison

Ok folks, here's two new songs from The Carpenters and Chris Whitley. Vote your two favorites or if you can't tell the difference there's an option for each song as well. I fixed the speed discrepancy evident in our last couple polls so this one should be a better test for everyone. Enjoy!

A Song For You File - 9 - http://www.mediafire.com/listen/1recx73bo1vm3e5

A Song For You File - 10 - http://www.mediafire.com/listen/5zeg0ggbyfpo75c

B Sky C - 11 - http://www.mediafire.com/listen/5sik279mgz88gkn

B Sky C - 12 - http://www.mediafire.com/listen/2oscdtg23g0thiv

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Very close now, but I went with 9 and 12. Not sure though.

 

Heh. 10 & 11 here.

 

My first impression is 10 and 11 listening on my old laptop and headphones but I really don't hear much difference on these clips. If I hook up my external sound card and use speakers I may hear more of a difference.

 

I was thinking 9 and 12 as well, but while I definitely hear differences, I'm not sure which in like better. I didn't find either Carpenters clip terribly pleasing, I found these much harder than the Dr. John, I guess because i was very familiar with that one.

 

I agree. 9 & 12 are probably the Rega. Now I know my Technics weakness: constricted, narrow soundstage and a flattened midrange. I'm buying a Rega.

This.

 

I voted 9 and 12. The sound was a little more open, and it seemed like the presentation felt more dynamic.


P.S. How did you correct the speed issues? Did you physically modify the Rega so it would spin at 33 1/3 rpm?

 

I like 9 and 12 just slightly more than 10 and 11, but I could live with any of them. The differences are pretty small.

 

Fixed using the Audacity software, both now at 331/3. Not sure how to alter the speed physically with the Rega, perhaps there's a trim pot on the power supply board.

 

Thanks!

I have heard of people putting tape on the sub platter. I believe this is to change the diameter and it will cause the platter to spin slower.

Luckily, my P2 doesn't seem to spin too fast, so I have not tried any modifications.

 

Yes. You would need to increase the diameter of the sub platter with wraps of tape or a wide rubber band, or reduce the diameter of the motor pulley diameter.

My Well Tempered turntable was fast by about 0.3% and I used a variable frequency regenerating power supply to correct it.

Correcting the speed in software will not correct the frequency error in the RIAA EQ. This would be minor error in this case but could affect the poll a small amount.

 

All the cuts sound fantastic, so my comments only subjective of course,

My vote is for #9 and #11.
Karen's deep contralto comes through in cut 9, I feel the midrange and upper bass more free and natural. Cut 10 sounds constrained to me, but smoother. Karen's voice and the string section do sound cleaner and silkier, however I do not know if that's an effect imposed by the turntable and arm? The noise floor is also lower, which again the same cartridge should be resolving that. Any reduction in noise I feel indicates less resolve of the music. (about this I could be wrong) The silkier, cleaner presentation may be a false sense, maybe more pleasurable, but not as true. I hear a tad more grain in cut 9, (not grainy sounding at all, very subtle difference I hear) but I think maybe inherent in the recording. (an assumption) Overall, I favor #9.

The second set was easier, my vote was #11. I liked everything, more open and relaxed, the harmonies larger and more harmonic, drums quicker and punchier.

I listened through Sennheiser HD420SL headphones and my cheap HP laptop with no special sound card.

As an afterthought, has anyone noticed a vocal shift to the right on the last refrain in "A song for you? (or is it just me?) Maybe this is a vocal edit point?

 

The Carpenters clip didn't seem totally smooth on either setup to me, made me wonder if it's reaching the limits of the cartridge.

 

On B Sky C I preferred track 12
On A Song For You I preferred track 9

I thought both were a little cleaner and more solid than the comparison track. Close though, which is a little surprising.

 

Here are small clips from #9 and #10. One channel is inverted and then they are summed to mono. You can hear the tracking problems clearly, which I suppose is the harshness one can hear generally from this cartridge.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39225261/A Song For You - 9.wav
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39225261/A Song For You - 10.wav

 

I can not get drop box to work on IE, something about the security cert not recognized. (all other links connect just fine.. cut and paste does not help) I'll try to change the settings to allow. Just curious, which clip has more of a tracking problem, or are they nearly the same?

 

Have You tried Firefox? I haven´t really been listening that closely, they sound about the same I think in this regard.

 

I suppose you can't please everyone. I'm not hearing any great fault with any of the recordings.

I can assure you that care was put into installing the cartridge on each turntable as far as geometry, VTA, VTF and fitting to the tonearm. As I said before, the cartridge has low hours and has been recently checked out by an expert.

Hope folks enjoy listening to the files and comparing them, this is suppose to be fun.

 

Thanks, John. I'm enjoying this.

 

Listening from my computer speakers #9 is smoother, #10 a little brighter with some sibilance on the vocals but also more detail. Same thing with #11 (more open sound) and #12 (warmer, less details).
My guess is that samples 10, 11 is the Rega and samples 9, 12 is the Technics.

I prefer the sound of Rega (which is I believe 10, 11).

Thank you John76 for posting these

 

It's only meant as positive critique, John. We know how difficult this is and very few cartridges are super trackers. I'd much rather see what you're doing than read about a hundred other guys saying their cartridge tracks great. I for one wouldn't have kept trying to get cleaner vinyl playback, if it wasn't for the critical ears here that showed me what is possible.

OK, any more votes? I thought the difference between 9 and 10 was more pronounced than between 11 and 12, but they're at a tie now...

 

I'm not sure about the inner workings of Mediafire but I found this quote interesting:

Incidentally I wouldn't trust Mediafire's "listen" option, it's quite possible that it's transcoding the WAV audio into a compressed format (MP3 or Ogg etc), plus it'll be relying on a browser media-playback plugin that may not faithfully reproduce the sound. Download the WAV files and use a proper media player if you're interested in hearing the audio untainted.

 

John, I just dl the WAV files and do hear a difference. "A Song for You" clip #9 sounds gorgeous! The "grain" in the upper harmonics of Karen's voice I referred to before, isn't there, a very clean transcription. "Big Sky" sounds warmer in WAV, apparently the spectrum is altered by a small degree via the listen option. I also hear some brighter trail off in the reverberant field (to the sides) in the vocals that was not as present via the listen option. So much so, plus greater resolve (and warmth and size of the harmony that I like) I think my vote goes to #12, not #11. I still favor #9.

 

also folks just a caution, I got a windows driver dl pop up.. don't dl that.. it's not safe! (Norton blocked it)

 

Thanks to all who took the time to listen, vote and comment.

9&12 = Rega
10&11 = Technics

I didn't vote but did listen and preferred the Rega.


Which 2 songs sound better?
Poll closed Today at 11:08 AM.

1. 
   A Song For You - 9 - Rega
   6 vote(s)
   42.9%
2. 
   A Song For You -10 - Technics
   6 vote(s)
   42.9%
3. 
   B Sky C - 11 - Technics
   3 vote(s)
   21.4%
4. 
   B Sky C - 12 - Rega
   7 vote(s)
   50.0%
5. 
   A Song For You - No difference
   2 vote(s)
   14.3%
6. 
   B Sky C - No difference