Should have bought the Rega Fono 1st.

[manyhobbies]

If your like me, you usually have a max that you feel comfortable spending on an audio component. When I decided to set up a "modern" vinyl rig I figured about $400 would be my limit on a phono stage. Well, to make a long story short I should have spent that in the first place. Now I have a Cambridge 551, Cambridge 651, Project phono box s, and an NAD pp2 that are all sitting in a storage drawer. $725 worth of "almost" satisfied. But,,, the good news is, now I can stop buying, and start selling. Just got a Rega fono mm and it tramples all over the others IMHO. I feel I'm just now hearing what the rest of my system is capable of. Soooooooo,,,, Sweeeeet. Hopefully this post will save someone some money.

 

[sqlsavior]

I'm picky about phono stages too. Your point, that you would have been better off spending more up-front, is well taken. If you feel comfortable characterizing the sonic good points and bad points of each, that might be helpful to others trying to choose. What sounds better about the Rega? How do the others come up short?

Thanks for posting.

 

[Vintage Bert]

I too am listening for an update... still waiting and trying to decide where to drop my hard earned dubloons... and frankly the information here is better than the trade rags imho.

 

[vinyl1]

Most guys still work their way up the chain. You seem to have done this too to some extent, buying better and better stages at higher prices.

But what makes you think you've stopped? Maybe you'd like the Graham Slee, or the Musical Fidelity, or the Musical Surroundings Nova 2, even better. Then we come to the Rega Aria....

 

[Mister Pig]

Well I hope you bought the other pieces off the used market, and can recover all if not most of your cost. Hooves crossed for you.

It is a hard decision to make, because sometimes if you go right to the top, you find you spend more money than you really needed to, its the flip side of this discussion. All of us look for that convergence where value meets dollar spent, and its a sliding point for us and our systems.

Glad to hear you are doing well with the Rega! Budget priced phono stages are always in demand, and you should have no trouble finding them a new home.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[manyhobbies]

Having Wi-Fi issues. If I don't get to tonight I will be back soon with comparisons.

 

[manyhobbies]

Ok, First let me say that after I got the 551, I thought it just didn't sound nearly as "Vinyl" as any of my vintage rigs. It had more detail and "presence", that I liked, but just too CD sounding. Well, during all of the preamp changes, I upgraded my phono cart, and this went a long way toward a warmer vinyl sound. But as verified by hooking up any of my vintage receiver preamps by using the pre out leads it wasn't nearly as warm and lacked low end. I realize some of this may have been coming from other parts of the vintage gear coming through the pre outs. But I still wasn't where I wanted to be. So I went to the 651, it was just a little warmer, and a little more detailed than the 551. Let me say that all of these preamps sounded very very good, I just didn't think they were letting the full performance of the rest of the rig show. Then came the Pro-Ject, I tried hard to like this one because I liked the different settings, but none of them got me where I wanted to be. The Pro-Ject was much warmer and had more bottom end than either Cambridge, but lacked that high end detail the Cambridge 651 had. Then I thought, "One more try". Kinda of a swing to the wind, I got the NAD pp2. I found the pp2 to have the warmth of the project, and the detail of the Cambridge 651. And I thought about staying with it. Actually I just happened to have a little extra money from some OT I've been working, so I said to myself. I just want to see why the Rega won preamp of the year 2 years strait according to What Hi-Fi. I too take their recommendations with a grain of salt, but I thought I would go ahead and try it, and send it back if I don't hear a definite improvement. Well, I just got the Rega today and was immediately able to tell the difference. It has more low end than any of the others, is warmer, and just as detailed as the 651, if not more so. But the real difference is in the sound stage. The rega is deeper, wider, and has a much more detailed sense of space. Like a live performance. I wholeheartedly recommend it if it's within your budget. I rank the rest like this, from worst to best. Cambridge 551, Pro-Ject phono box, Cambridge 651 and finally the NAD pp2. Actually the NAD is the one I would recommend if you don't want to go the $395 for the fono. But really none of them are bad, there all actually very good, the Rega just seems to be in another league IMHO.