I have been touching on upgrades on Rega P1, P2, Rega Planar 2 and Planar 3 TT's so far. And though I have mentioned that these upgrades are designed to offer similar benefits to higher models like P3, P5 TT's ....., many turntable enthusiasts are curious to find out from me whether any Rega P5 user has upgraded his P5 turntable and observed marked improvements?
Recently, I visited a Rega P5 TT user who had upgraded his turntable. I am glad to learn that he is happy with the improved sound of the upgraded Rega P5 TT. The following photographs (taken at the courtesy of the P5 TT owner) show the various upgrades:
4 comments:
Hello Mike,
How is the sonic quality of P5 after undergoing the upgrades shown above? Does the 'upgraded' P5 sound anything like the P7?
I am also curious on how the acrylic isolation platform/base would influence sound of Rega turntables.
Your comments are greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Chan,
I'm the happy P5 owner that Michael wrote about.
My very 1st turntable (many, many years ago) was a Planar 3. I was happy as clam until a demo (at Trikay) where it was placed on an isolation table. It was a "must have", so I did.
The P5 benefits greatly from the isolation platform. The sound "opens" up with greater separation and imaging in the wider soundstage. It, too, is a "must buy".
I then bought from Michael the underslung counterweight and the sound further improved with an extended range. The bass improved drastically.
Next came the subplatter which resulted in a "quieter", "darker" overall sound. The depth of the soundstage also improved.
I haven't auditioned a P7 but my setup (currently with a Dynavector 20XH cartridge) is close to "high end" sound without spending ridiculous sums of hard-earned money. (A pinch of salt here as I'm obviously affected by my own bias...)
Yul,
Many thanks for sharing with me the improvements brought about by each upgrade items. I'll explore more on different types of platform/base before getting myself an acrylic unit.
Cheers.
P/S: I'm still curious as to whether the sonic quality of a fully upgraded P5 surpasses that of a P7 or otherwise.
Chan,
The basic differences between stock P5 and P7 are sub-platter and platter :
P5 - glass platter and plastic sub-platter
P7 - ceramic platter and aluminium sub-platter
As you can see the upgraded P5 has a better counter-weight, "no vibration" motor and isolation platform whereas P7 has a ceramic platter.
I think only a side-by-side comparison will be able to reveal the differences. I wish to have a upgraded P7 owner to tell us the sonic quality.
Thanks.
Michael
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