Personal Revew Of My New Rega Planet 2000 (Need Some Advice)

[Dflip]

Each change that you make to your system changes the sound you hear. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

If you go the tube route, a Scott 299C would be a better choice. Replacement power tubes are available, but they are larger and you could not use a standard case. They are a little higher and wider. The C has more output (watts) than the B version and your speakers are rated at 95 db (not bad, but lower than the Heritage and Classic Klipsches). It depends if you want to rock the house or not. A pair of Fortes, Chorus, or preferably Cornwalls down the line would be a great fit.

The newer Planet has not been considered as good a fit with Heritage speakers. Heritage speakers love certain amps and preamps in order to sound wonderful. The wrong mixture can give you great detail that sounds wonderful for about 30-45 minutes, then the migranes start. The original Planet is a better mix, maybe because many of the lovers of the Klipsch Heritage line remember and still own vinyl and it brings out the best of CD's with a vinyl sound.

The better the quality of equipment, but more flaws in the recording process and equipment you will hear. One change usually brings about one or two others. The weakest link will cause you a great loss of enjoyment in your shortened listening sessions.

Good luck

[arena]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will be looking for a new Creek or vintage Scott when my budget permits.

In the meantime, something strange is happening with the Planet. I've been running it for almost 4 days straight now, and last night I put on Bob Dylan's 'Time Out Of Mind' again and did another A/B comparison, and this time I was surprised to realize I preferred the sound of the Rega.

I invited a friend over as an objective observer, and played him all the discs which I felt sounded better on the Rega, then all those that I felt sounded better on the Sony. He was able to tell me why exactly I prefer the Sony. He says that on his road trips back from Chicago (he just finished driving from Chicago IL to Santa Barbara CA in 2 days! He definately doesn't recommend it) sometimes he finds himself turning up the treble in order to simulate a kind of live or detailed feel, but once he has adjusted to the sound of emphasized treble, it is very hard for him to go back, and when he lowers the treble back to where it should be, everything sounds more distant, restrained, and less live. he says it sometimes takes him a few hours to "wean" himself off the treble. Now I've always felt that Sony components were a little biased towards the treble, perhaps Sony emphasizes the treble region so that cds sound more detailed or live when played on their players. However on certain recordings this ends up sounding distractingly harsh, but basically I've been listening to a Sony cd Player for the past 2 years, and the Sony dvd for the past 3 months. My friend suggested I have merely grown accustomed to the sound of emphasized treble, which sounds more live, but is actually subject to greater distortion, and recommends I try to wean myself off the Sony and onto the Rega before I try and make any real A/B comparisons.

In all the comparisons he listened to, he greatly favored the sound of the Rega. For each recording he said that the Rega sounds more like the "actual album".

So since I did get the Rega of audiogon.com, I lose nothing in keeping it for a few more weeks. As I continue to listen to it, I think there's a lot of truth in my friend's assessment of the situation.

Anyway, thanks again for the advice.

[Parrot]

arena,

It isn't a valid way for testing tonal accuracy to compare a CD to someone's memory of a vinyl record on a whole different system. Besides, there are very few cartridges that are neutral.

Probably a good way to check the frequency responses of the two machines to see which is the neutral one is to have a nice high quality source recording, say an open reel tape or a DAT tape, and burn it onto a couple of CDRs. Then switch back and forth from source to Sony to Rega and listen for which one of the two CD players is truest.

It is unlikely that Sony has goosed the treble. Far more likely that Rega has put a hump in the bass response.

[Randy Bey]

Paulparrot,

I would disagree with your assessment of the Sony v. the Rega.

I had Sony midfi digital gear for years and I can definitely say that the Sony was downright brittle and harsh sounding, with boosted treble, compared to almost everything else I used.

The Rega is a well-received player that deserves more than a quick brush off because it doesn't sound the same as a Sony.

The question one must always ask when faced with a difference in reproduction is "Which is correct?" This is not the same as "Which sounds the most alike?" and actually can be argued that the better performing components make different musical sources sound the most different.

I struggle sometimes for months deciding which of two variations in reproduction are truest to reality. This is not an easy task, accomplished in just a day or so. Any opinion gathered from such a short impression must be suspect.

I suggest arena spend some time with his new player, listen to a variety of music (I won't go into musical tastes here) and as well listen to live sounds, even just birdsong in the morning, to facilitate the comparison.