Removing the Rega P5 Pulley ......

Sharing with you here a picture of the dual pulley installed by bacobits on his Rega P5 TT.

Pictures - courtesy of bacobits, North Carolina

I am really glad to hear from him that there is significant sonic improvement after changing to the stainless steel dual pulley and it's worth his effort.

However, to remove the stubborn glued-down aluminium pulley from the motor shaft took him quite some time and effort. If only the puller he purchased (just for this purpose) didn't fail to work ....., job could be much easier, I think .....

Let's hear what he says in vinylengine forum:

"The small gear puller I purchased was not usable because the original Rega Pulley will not fit into it. See pict. Per Michael's direction I carefully used 2 same sized screw drivers, and it worked, go slowly. I used some Acetone on a cotton swab, not soaked, dabbed the top of the old pulley, let it set a few minutes. I also had paper towels around the shaft of the motor to not get any down the shaft......"

Yes, go slowly. Patience is what we need here.

And the next concern when removing the pulley is : will the motor be okay?

Actually as long as we do it carefully, increasing force slowly and evenly using the two screw drivers (taking care not to apply lateral force), the pulley would definitely "surrender" to you! The motor would be fine too. In fact you don't have to worry too much; I find that Rega motors are hardy!

For those of you who are using Rega Planar 2/3 , P3 & P25 with the plastic pulleys, you are lucky because over time, the glue has deteriorated and it is easy to pull out (even by hand).

So it's worth the effort as he says in vinylengine forum:

I was going to wait but these are first impressions I heard immediately.  First noticed pace of songs picked up PRAT and a lot of it. Some of Rega's PRAT might have been lost in the other upgrades, maybe the platter?? It's all back now. Worth the price of that alone.  Piano will show this immediately, I listen to a fair amount of piano. Bob James, Joe Sample,Dave Grusin, Dan Siegel, etc.  One Particular album that is really hard to sound right on a TT Is Bob James, Hands Down. The song is Janus. If the table speed is not correct, wow, flutter, and speed will show on this song. CD sounds fine as does the Turntable now especially with this dual Pulley. Very natural sounding piano. A single white belt did this too but not as much as this. Who knows the double pulley might be machined more accurately, but it is there.  You can hear the PRAT and slam on Herb Alpert's Fandango album. Just excellent!  Things do sound more "human" as someone else stated. Just toe tapping good. Instrument and musician separation is nice. Voice breathy, real sounding. Sade, Diamond Life Album.  So I think the mod is worth the trouble.

Thanks, bacobits!

Shorter version of 60Hz double pulley is available .... read more >>

Read more >> on various pulley pullers for removing pulley ......