Rega Planet Problems

[No Disc]

Kelly,

The Cary 308 I got was purchased used for about $1000. It had about 40 hours on it tops. The 308-T model is the $2500 unit. Mine is the tubeless version.

I didn't feel I needed the "T" model as I feel that the "T" is for Solid State users to smooth out their sytem.

- tb

[mobile homeless]

Yep. I saw one of the Cary 308 sans tube output for 900 or so on Audiogon too.

Chris, did Leo ever write anything about this player? I havent been here in so long I guess I missed it. Know you are happy with the Tjoeb player. My Chapel Hill compatriot still loves his Tjoeb 99 with Wright 2A3 monos and his Cornwalls too. But the freak is constantly trying to talk himself into SACD, bringing home anything he can get his hands on. So far, nothing has taken hold. I actually preferred my Rega to his Tjoeb in side by side comparison but someone could easily go the other way from a slightly different vantage point.

kh

[jtice]

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On 8/18/2003 7:26:17 AM NOSValves wrote:

What is this behind you 299B

'ek-s(&-)l&nt

?? Put what belongs there !!

http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/images/smilies/9.gif">

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OK Craig... first you swear me to total secrecy, then you goad me for not adding the 299B to my sig, then you tease me asking how does it sound, how does it sound. So I acknowledge that this thing chose me as it's owner and that it sounds alright for a 40 year old antiqueand now you want me to tell the long version of how it came to me and why I'm sitting on two old tube amps, three pair of Klipsch, some 400 CDs and still can't listen to music because my CDP went belly up and I can't afford to replace it? Are you really ready for me to tell that story?

[Chris Robinson]

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On 8/18/2003 1:21:58 PM mobile homeless wrote:

Chris, did Leo ever write anything about this player? I havent been here in so long I guess I missed it. Know you are happy with the Tjoeb player.

kh

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Kelly, I don't think he ever did a "formal" write-up on it, but I found a few posts that he made ... (Leo forgive me for re-posting your comments).

IMHO, his Philips sounds very much the equal of the Njoe Tjoeb, especially on marginal recordings. The SACD is, of course, top shelf with the right material.

Chris

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I have the DVD963.

The servos are noisier than some (that's the "ticking" noise). Mine is in a cabinet, behind glass. However, I don't always close the glass door and have never found that the servo noise is a problem. I don't listen at loud levels and often listen at very soft levels.

I find the player's cd performance to be excellent (I've never heard better, but may have heard equal in a player with tube output. The DVD963 uses class A output amps, which I think is a big deal.

The SACD performance in great, but it's the only SACD player I've heard. My impression if SACD through the DVD963 is I can't hear the 963 or SACD format at all .. I just hear what was recorded. I think that's about as good an endorsement for a format as there can be.

leok

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I heard Klipsch horns like I've never heard them before. Very smooth and powerful. Also, that cd player of yours is very impressive. I don't think the Philips is any better. As the Horus Amps break in the sound will just get smoother and smoother.

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[NOSValves]

John,

I don't care what story you tell !! It just bugs me having 'ek-s(&-)l&nt behind that beautiful 299B LOL !! By the way you didn't take much goading

Craig

[dodger]

Greetings:

Just a note from the legal side. I am not a Lawyer and this is not legal advice.

There is the possibility that the unit's chip failed to a hogher degree when you took it in for repair. Jarring, taking it apart, etc. COULD help to cause this.

What you would have is a Small Claims Court issue for the value of the repair done or the value of the unit at the time taken in.

You would need another Certified Technician to appear with you (an affidavit is usually not fully acceptable) and testify to what the problem was when you took it in, whether you bought the unit new or used, what the technician did to cause the additional failure.

You would also have the cost of filing fees, possible service of notice fees, taking time off to appear, paying the technician testifying on your behalf, parking and mileage. Plus parking and mileage for your Technician.

Now total ALL of that up and you'll see that you're ahead by trying to get $20.00 more for trade in.

I would not go to the bother and I would have no trouble representing myself in a Small Claims Court, 30 years of experience in the area of Serving Legal Papers does help you to get a good feel for the Civil Law.

Win dodger

[dbflash]

I know this won't help, but I had the same problem.

Rega 2000 worked great for 1 year and 4 days. Then it started doing what you are describing. My dealer sent it back to the Rega Rep (some one in Knoxville). They kept it for 2 months. Sent it back saying they cleaned the laser. Unit worked for 2 days and did the same thing. back to the dealer,back to Knoxville. 3 months later Knoxville was sorry, they found a bad solder joint. Two days later back to the dealer. Knoxville said they'd give me a refurbished unit, my dealer said no it's new and in warrinty. Either a new one or fix this one. Knoxville worked on it. The dealer said they were going to play it 24x7 for a week and make sure there were no problems. Took it home on Friday and it died Saturday afternoon. I took it back to the dealer he saw it was dead.

He sent it back to Knoxville. That was in September of last year. I still don't have my Rega back. The last I heard was that Knoxville is no longer the distributor for Rega. About 2 months ago a guy called me from L.A. telling me he has my CD player. He has been over to England and worked at Rega trouble shooting. He said looking over the case notes that he doesn't understand why Knoxville did what they did to my machine. They have replaced the laser and mother board so far. Who knows if I will ever see it again.

The reason I'm not that upset anymore is that I bought a Heart 6000 and I do not miss my Rega at all.

If I ever get it back and it works for more than 24 hours I will use it in my bedroom system. I can't depend on it. It was a good machine for a year, but I wouldn't buy another one new. I had a rega TT for years and never had a bit of problem with it. If you do a search on AA for Rega you can see the same problem that you and I are both having. There is a design problem in the 2000.

Now I may go home tonight and my Heart has died. I have had it for a year this month.

Oh yea my dealer is willing to give me a deal on a Jolinda (?) CD player, but it's more fun to call him and make him nervous.

I have lucked up that it is not costing me anything to have everyone work on it. I think the Warrinty is 1 year for laser 3 years for everything else.

I paid $1k to get to listen to it for 53 weeks. It's been in the shop longer than I had it at the house.

Good luck on your choice, but I wouldn't spend alot of money to get it fixed, because I don't think they can fix it.

Danny

[jtice]

dodger,

I never considered turning it into a legal thing--that would be way over the top, imho. I was just curious as to what the consensus would be on whether the guy had any ethical responsibility. A negotiation point maybe.

Now with regard to the 299B... Craigster the streetcorner amp guy had this thing, you see. He gets innocent young folks such as myself started by answering questions, giving some helpful advice, tweaking something for them, making it sound real sweet and next thing you know, mint quality stuff ready to shooI mean plug-in and play. Seems to have timing figured out tooknows when the wife is out of the country

Seriously though, it's mint, prime, sweet and makes the Chorus IIs sound so fine. I was indeed fortunate that it chose me.

John

PS: So how's the sig now Craig you know the 'ek-s(&-)l&nt won't let me delete it.

[mobile homeless]

Well Danny, that is a sad as hell story. I would be peeved a bit. On the other hand, I cant tell you how totally opposite my experience has been with my original Rega Planet. I have had the unit for almost six years with it never having been turned off in that time (except to move or change IC), all without a single hiccup or missed beat. If I had just read this post of yours, I would be skeptical to touch a Planet even while wearing a surgeon's mask and rubber gloves! It's a scary post. Still, my old girlfriend is still using hers (ours at one time) Rega since 97 without a hitch. And you know about mine. Sorry to hear of that experience, though. I had thought it had been worked out.

kh

[dbflash]

Kelly,

I really think the problem is with the 2000 and not the original.

If this authorized repair shop corrects the problem then I will be happy.

If I needed a new CD player in the future I would buy an original, I just think I would pass on a 2000.

When the 2000 was working it was better sounding than any other player that I have heard. It has alittle more detail and "excitement" than the Heart, but I still like the Heart.

I talked to my dealer yesterday and they have a new mother board on back order. Who knows after it is repaired it may last another 10 years with no problems. I just won't be able to sell it because I would worry that it would die a week after I sold it.

If this would have happened a couple years ago I would be raising all kinds of hell, but the older I get (49) the more I really belive life is too short. It will not get it fixed any faster and all that happens is I end up feeling bad and mad at everyone else.

I really could use the $1k for something else, but the year I had it brought alot of pleasure so it's a trade off.

Danny

[jtice]

Danny,

I hate to hear about you or anyone having that much trouble and keeping that much money tied up for so long. Seems like Rega would have just sent you a new unitwouldn't cost them that much to keep a customer smiling. I was actually considering trading for a 2000 before I became aware of your experience, since he was offering trade-in value for the older one. I agree that the 2000 sounds great, but as prone as these gadgets (in general) seem to be to problems, as hard as they are to fix, and as fast as they grow obsolete, it seems prudent to try and keep the investment low.

I spent some time browsing various forums to see what folks are saying about the Philips 963sa. From what I can gather it's looking like a lot of value for $379 (best price I found). That's just a bit more than what I would spend repairing the Rega and quite a bit less risky I think. Would love to hear one...doubt if there are any aound here.

J.

[mobile homeless]

I would still recommend the original Rega Planet for sound alone as it just is hard to get any more musical than that, with a nice full range sound, no tipped up treble included. I have heard players with detail more up front, but none more natural sounding, including the Tjoeb option. Although I really liked the Tjoeb unit with good valves. It's a GREAT player too.

I would say go ahead and opt for the Philips 963SA if you can find it cheap. The lowest I saw it was at J&R Music World for more near $300 but now it's back up to $399 there. The only negatives about the 963 is the clicking you read about and a few reliability problems as well. Some units seem to do GREAT, while others have qualms. Seems this is par for the course for CD players in genereal, truth be told.

kh

[No Disc]

The Rega Planet is a great player for the money no doubt. As Kelly said, it does a lot of things very right and is a pleasure to listen to.

Kelly, I don't know if you caught this thread, but I urge you to read it and consider trying it. It helps the Rega IMHO. It does not help the Cary unit near as much.

http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=35806&forumID=68&catID=19&search=1&searchstring=&sessionID=%7B737A5D4A-8DF8-4585-8449-80485F3782D0%7D

Note: I have the Phillips on order through Elusive Disc. They have a 30 day return privilege which was the deciding factor for me.

Now I need some suggestions on good SACD titles....

- tb

[jtice]

I didn't see much fuss about reliabilitymost complaints were the clicking which I doubt would bother me unless it was really loud. One guy said a firmware update cured his. Of the people who didn't like the sound, most were comparing it to very expensive players or trying to fit it into their "five digit systems." I'm just not that critical and my system is, well a 299B and Klipsch. If it's full-bodied and dynamic without being bright I'll probably be happy.

I'd even buy another Rega if I could find a deal on one that I knew had been babied or was virtually new. But that probably won't happen and I can't stand having all these tubes and horns and not listening to any music!

I looked at Barnes & Noble for SACD music today and they didn't have any. Is this format not in the mainstream retail market yet? Are big music stores stocking it or is it all internet sales?

J.

[No Disc]

Best buy has SACD titles I've heard.

- tb

[mobile homeless]

Best Buy?????

I would rather put a bullet through my skull than hit this place for music. Where do you guys live? Are there no good record stores in your areas?

At the least, check out the sites online. I just think the materail on SACD has been nothing I want to do back flips over.

I dont know if either of you have hoped on the "Hi-Rez Aylum" and done a search on the Philips player. You'll find some varied comments.

At the least, I dont think it will sound like the Planet but hopefully the detail will be natural sounding. Chris and Leo like it so that's not too bad I would say. Let us know how it sounds. I have read both good and ok comments about it.

kh

ps- Tim, remember that thread I did last year about making the CD mat out of an old 5.25 Floppy disk? I used to use this in my Planet but ultimately found it too much a pain. There was some gain with some disks although some others actually sounded less focused. I found it really dependent on the disk, strangely enough. Sure was an easy tweak to make, however

[mike stehr]

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On 8/19/2003 6:19:20 PM jtice wrote:

But that probably won't happen and I can't stand having all these tubes and horns and not listening to any music!

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Go hit a pawn shop for cheap used portable CDP.(Bass Boost is kinda nice.)

Then get a patch cord, RCA to 1/4" jack.

The sound quality won't be nothing special, but you could listen to music until you ponder out the purchase of another unit.

It's a thought.

[Parrot]

There appears to be a myth in the making here that the Planet has neutral treble and that other CD players have tipped up treble.

On the face of it, it would seem that if one had 10,000 different models of CD players, and the Planet sounded obviously tonally different than the other 9,999, chances are the wacky sound would be coming from the odd man out. Seems more likely, doesn't it, than that some genius at Rega stumbled on a way to get neutral treble that had eluded all other engineers.

I have no problem whatsoever in any way if a thousand people prefer the Planet to any other CD player and get endless hours of enjoyment out of it. But it is simply not the case that the treble (or bass, for that matter) is more accurate. It may make you happy and that is fine, but the sound that is coming out is being altered by Rega's chip to please a certain listener, and accuracy has nothing to do with it.

[jtice]

Mike,

I have a $85 Toshiba DVD that I can use just to make noise to come out of the speakers. Actually, for what it is it doesn't sound but so horrible. Just ends up not being worth the effort to get up and change the CD. Really make me appreciate the old Planet.

J.

[mobile homeless]

No, I just find many top ends on sub 1k CD players to be subpar and actually a bit hot, with a hyped upper region (due to various reasons, from filtering to implementation). 10,000 horriblw players? No. On the other hand, the quality players do much better in this regard. Some people mistake this for detail but I find it brings fatigue rather early. The sub 1k is one of the hardest spots for the average CD player. They sure have gotten a lot better in the last few years. But I find the Rega to be one of the few relatively low cost players to come close to the natural quality of vinyl. And it has nothing to do with being rolled off or romantic. Like a good tube amp, the presentation sounds more natural to my ears. That is not to say other players dont get this right, but I find the low cost bracket to be more offensive than not, especially in the digital category.

kh