Rega rb 900 manual

Acos Rega manual. Fitted to the original Planar 2 and 3 turntables, the Rega R tonearm was again manufactured by Acos in Japan, but this time to Rega's specifications. The S-shaped arm tube and arm base where nickel plated steel, tracking force VTF applied by rotating the counterweight and bias adjusted by a toothed belt from a rotary control on an outrigger.

The arm requires a mounting distance of mm and a 25mm mounting hole. The later RB was a drop in replacement, early models of which where supplied with a stepped spacer to locate the arm centrally in the mounting hole later Planar's came cut out for the slimmer RB stem. The R is popular on the used market, but while the bearings have proved durable, perished bias adjustment belts are common and no replacement parts are available from Rega.

Luckily tonearm wizard J7 at Audio Origami has a solution for this which involves removing the belt and setting the anti-skate at a pre-determined setting. The RB is Rega's entry level arm, fitted as standard to the P1 turntable. Distinguishing features include the simple machined aluminium arm tube with bonded headshell, Goldring GR1 style three-point arm base fixing, plastic rear stub and black counterweight. As on the RB, VTF adjustment is a simple arrangement where the weight is turned degrees for 1gm of tracking force.

Anti-skating bias is magnetically applied via a plastic, sliding knob behind the arm holder and VTA is non adjustable. An interesting feature is that with the standard Ortofon OMB 5E cartridge fitted, the correct tracking force of 1. Stereophile review of the P1 turntable. The RB uses the same arm tube as the RB but substitutes the stainless end stub for a threaded plastic version and the counterweight is black painted steel rather than tungsten or stainless steel. Early models came with a lacquered steel counterweight rather than black and recent photographs suggest that Rega has now returned to this silver counterweight on its Rega branded RB's.

VTF is applied by turning the counterweight on the shaft; each half turn is equivalent to 1gm of tracking force. The bias control knob was identical to that on the RB but later models use plastic instead of metal to cut costs further.

The RB is the replacement for the venerable RB tonearm and will be standard fitment on new P2 turntables. The arm still uses the plastic rear stub, steel weight and bias slider of the RB, but now features a variant of Rega's 3-point fixing on the base. The RB was introduced in , the long awaited replacement for the Acos derived R and the first tonearm to be manufactured at the Rega factory.

The arm features a beautifully cast one piece arm tube and headshell, closely toleranced bearings, rigid bearing housings and magnetic frictionless bias compensation. VTF is applied by a dial on the side of the vertical pivot housing.

A spring within the mechanism applies maximum negative VTF at the zero setting and above three grams the spring is effectively disconnected. Wiring is slightly unusual in that the arm tube is grounded via the left channel ground wire so there is no earth wire to connect back at the preamp. External cabling is bonded to a plastic plug in the arm base and is not user replaceable unless the user has a soldering iron! Early models where fitted with a dense but expensive tungsten counterweight which was later replaced by a cheaper and larger stainless steel counterweight.

The tungsten weight is still available as an upgrade from Rega. The arm stub and lateral bearing housing are both made from stainless steel. Unlike the RB, the RB's vertical bearings are supported on just one side of the bearing housing to make room for the VTF adjuster on the opposite side. External wiring is slightly higher quality than that on the RB Internal wiring is identical.

However though personally I'd give the DRT-1 a lead over the Einstein it'd be small, the latter much cheaper managing to be just a bit lighter and more open as a tradeoff for it's relative lack of the "soul" of a piece. A different system might push the result the other way though I suspect that when my new Polaris horns arrive next week I continued playing swaps, the cheaper XX-2 being beaten by a nose by the Einstein, but the brutal truth was that everything sounded good on the Recovery and which cartridge one might prefer would be down to personal preference and of course the depth of the buyers pocket.

So good is the combo that I'd strongly advise Clearlight to offer it as an alternative to the much more expensive Einstein, especially as it doesn't need a step-up for valve pre-amps. The bass bloom and overhang, though in isolation seeingly minor, can be seen to be a real achilles heel that muddies bass performance, soundstaging and even midrange performance.

That said the slightly dodgy speed stability of the Orbe does it no favours and I begin to wonder whether the fine, bouncy drive belt causes an oscillation that could be the root of this problem. And so the frantic mayhem of Stage 2 was replaced with a fortnight of music :- In the end I stuck with the supplied cartridge and in this case plugged the thing into the Dynavector step-up and thence to the Audion's own valve phono stage which has a worryingly small edge over the GramAmp2's.

I had fun :- An upgrade like this, especially in the front end, is one of those things that unlike a simple change in balance just gets more and more satisfying. I found myself leaving the "Killers" list to trawl through record after record in the traditional orgy of vinyl that makes this job worth while. The Recovery just gave me more soundstage, more detail and more openness wherever I looked.

The impeccable timing gave boogie factor in spades - Classical music needs this but rock and jazz lives or dies on it. Take that mistress of timing Chrissy Hynde. I found myself playing all my old Pretenders discs over and ever again, not for some esoteric, "hi-fi-reviewer-digs-deep" reason, but just because I think she's the best thing since Billy Holiday and boy could she time and the Recovery really loved her. When the full orchestra opened up it was just so stable and controlled - and until I hear better - beyond reasonable criticism Again the Orbe has the edge the RB not in the same league.

That gorgeous platter almost makes up for a plain and simple plinth. A really powerful turntable that retains low level information. A high standard - beyond the speakers. Very clear and open helped by lack of bloom.

Nearest to an 'open window' that I've heard so far. I'd buy it if I didn't have to keep a fixed reference. I was wrong. This would be the end of the story but for one thing - the "Music Maker". After reading this I hope it is evident that without the following companies this series of reviews would have been impossible - thanks from me to them The Cartridge Man - www. Clearlight - www. AudioNote UK - www.

Dynavector Japan - www. Systems used. Thank You Rick Cincinnati, Ohio. Will become very helpfull in future for parts and service. Customers who bought this product also purchased.

E-Mail Address:. Write a review on this product! What's New? Contact us. Instead set the arm tracking weight using a stylus balance and moving the counterweight. The reason for this is that the tracking dial uses a spring to dynamically load the arm — however this also feeds vibration into the arm and has been found to be disadvantageous to performance although it is more convenient from an adjustment point of view.

The simple test to see if this is correct is to try it! If you find however that your counterweight is not heavy enough then set the dial at 2 grams and try again — Alternatively you can superglue on steel washers. Roughly check this by swinging the stylus over the record spindle.