Inspire Quest Rega Upgrade

[DandyCobalt]

Hi cjsf, perhaps the lower cost (almost two-thirds less) "non-silver" cardas rewire from incognito would have been sufficient....but this is a one-off progression of upgrades to get the complete turntable that will last me many years.

As you might remember, I was considering P7/P9....but I'm hoping my endpoint will be at least as good, and has been a great learning curve for me - and Mrs C who was my second pair of hands for the soldering So we consider it a joint project now. Bonus!

Nat King Cole never sounded so good!

 

[CJSF]

Hi cjsf, perhaps the lower cost (almost two-thirds less) "non-silver" cardas rewire from incognito would have been sufficient....but this is a one-off progression of upgrades to get the complete turntable that will last me many years.

As you might remember, I was considering P7/P9....but I'm hoping my endpoint will be at least as good, and has been a great learning curve for me - and Mrs C who was my second pair of hands for the soldering So we consider it a joint project now. Bonus!

Nat King Cole never sounded so good!

Get the Mrs involved, works every time . . .

. . . endpoint . . . does it matter? . . . if you are happy, and the learning curve has been benificial. 'Mrs C' involved, you never know, you might start having Horlicks hours :rofl: We are just about to start ours for tonight . . . lined up tonight; Art Garfunkel 'Watermark' and a couple of Carrol Kid LP's.

CJSF

 

[alchemist 1]

On another thread...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/rega-p9-at-what-cost

...I was trying to decide (with forum help) on what path to follow, after a Rega P3-24.

One suggestion, from CJSF, was to keep the P3-24, but subject it to an upgrade from Inspire HiFi in Chesterfield. They take your Rega, reuse the arm (in this case a Rega RB301), sub-platter and thing below it, but then replace the plinth, the platter and other options.

After talking with Robert from Inspire, I decided to go the whole hog, plumping for a plinth with Mocassar ebony veneer, on top of the standard 50mm birch ply.

Here is what my Rega P3-24 looked before...



and here's what it looks like now...





The result is absolutley stunning! The build quality is excellent - it is now a substantially heavier beast - it really feels like a much more expensive machine, and is exactly what I was after when I started the search.

The complete turntable that I now have has:

50mm birch ply plinth with lacquered mocassar ebony veneer

23mm acrylic platter

Acrylic Acri Mat

Inspire HiFi puck

Acrylic cone feet

Origin Live counterweight

From my P3-24: sub-platter, RB301 arm

Goldring 1042 cartridge

TT-PSU power supply. (played via Trichord Dino/+ and rest as per profile)

Robert also refitted the lid hinges, so my existing lid fitted back perfectly.

(a note if you already have a Rega wall bracket: ask Robert to put the feet in the original Rega positions, as Inspire prefer wider positioning for the feet)

After refitting the counterweight and sorting the downforce (I've gone for 1.75g to start, using a cheap ortofon balance), I was ready to play.

With all settings (volume etc) the same as with the P3-24 before the makeover, I played the records that I was most familiar with from previous playing:

Beck - Sea Change (mofi version)

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas

Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit

and then a new one Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Street Survivors", new remastering on Mobile Fidelity.

The most obvious change to sound was that the soundstage has grown sideways and forwards. Quite considerably.

On vocals, the singer seems to be about two feet closer to me, and the instruments seem about a foot wider each side of the l/r speakers.

Also, there seems to be a lot more separation to the instruments, and the bass seems much more defined.

As a bonus, there was none of the static that I have been plagued with before the change. Not a crackle, even when lifting off the vinyl after playing.

I'm really pleased with the results. (for info, total cost of the upgrades was approx. £480)

Thanks to all, and especially cjsf, for the heads-up on Inspire Hifi, and thanks to Robert for creating a unique turntable for me.

Ooooh! Very nice, VERY tempting.

 

[DandyCobalt]

For anyone following and got this far, the thread since I got my Benz Glider moving coil cartridge (and my hifi education/evolution) has passed to this newer thread...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/glider

 

[Anonymous]

Hi - had Inspire do the same job for me including the offboard PSU - even more brilliant sounding now with my own additional mods: Isokinetic metal sub-platter with synthetic ruby bearing; Rega white belt; Michell Technoweight; Michell VTA adjuster; Cardas silver arm wiring and cable. I am calling it 'The Finyl Quest'...cartridge is a Sumiko Blackbird - awesome!

Can't seem to upload/attach a picture any ideas? (Mac user)

 

[toyota man]

Hi Dandy Cobalt I must say you upgrade looks realy fantastic and If I wasn't so lazy I would be tempted by your post to go back to vinyl after 30 od years happy listening good post:cheers:

 

[DandyCobalt]

Thanks - really enjoying my vinyl, the sound from the inspire, the Benz mc glider plus the valve phono amp all combine to produce a superb sound. I'm going to try and get the whole system on video soon.

 

[DIB]

I thought I'd bump this thread up as I was chatting to Inspire HiFi today about doing something similar to my P3, and well the pictures of your upgraded P3-24 look so good!

Still enjoying it Dandy?

.

 

[DandyCobalt]

Definitely!! I haven't had a single thought about changing - because it's a unique turntable.

there's nothing more that I can do to it , and I'm really happy with the Benz Glider MC cartridge.

It's a beautiful piece of kit that I admire every time I put on vinyl.

 

[leaky74]

Bump

First post & account created just to give further plaudits to the Quest upgrades. I picked up a mint Planar 3 up off ebay with a new Audio Technica AT95e fitted. I thought it sounded ace & even that set up eclipsed the lossless digital files (using a Dragonfly DAC), I played when making side by side comparisons. Straightaway I was curious though about possible upgrades which led me to this thread. Two weeks later & a modest investment.......

Sold a couple of bits & bobs and Mrs L chipped in a little Christmas money to get the Quest plinth, acrylic platter & pukka weight (opted to upgrade the cartridge; Ortofon Blue).

The finished product in just the basic beech ply veneer looks beautiful. Soundwise it's diffiucult to say (having all the upgrades done at the same time), which has had the single biggest impact on SQ. The net effect of the upgrades is supberb though. Sound is warmer but more detailed & on the right side of punchy, soundstage is wider and a little more forward. In short, I love it. Just to try and describe the improvement to detail, in layman's terms - hi-hats and cymbals sound like they physically do i.e. a piece of metal being hit by a stick. Sounds daft, but you can hear its "metalicness" far more than digital equivalents.

Very very happy & I'd not hesitate to recommend the upgrades. It's actually a pretty thrifty route to getting (by my frame of reference), a pretty high end TT.

 

[ifor]

That's good to hear. Enjoy!

 

[ifor]

That's good to hear. Enjoy!

 

[DandyCobalt]

Great to hear.

The only "upgrade" I've done for months has been to change the ruby bearing for a ceramic one (due that man cjsf).

To be honest, I haven't played with it enough yet to know if it has made any noticeable difference to my personal setup.

The lid has been very useful with new cats in the house

 

[leaky74]

Robert now offers a sub-platter which is on next years shopping list!!

 

[leaky74]

Couldn't wait until next year; as an early Chistmas present to myself, I got the sub-plater (machined from aceytel) that Inspire now do as part of their quest upgrades; very pleased.

 

[DIB]

I too have treated myself to some tweaks for my P3, though not from Inspire.

I spotted an advert on Vinyl Engine for a bundle of Rega upgrades/tweaks going for a really good price so took the plunge.

Got myself an as new Edwards Audio aluminium sub-platter, an as new Acrylteller (Delta 24) 24 mm Acrylic platter, two ceramic bearings (little & large!), a new white belt, and some bearing oil thrown in too.

If nothing else, the new platter looks much nicer than the old Rega glass/felt mat, but more importantly I have noticed a subtle, but definite improvement in the bass department.

All in all very pleased, got myself all virtually new upgrades for half price.

I'll post some pics if I get a chance.

.

 

[CJSF]

Great to hear.

The only "upgrade" I've done for months has been to change the ruby bearing for a ceramic one (due that man cjsf).

To be honest, I haven't played with it enough yet to know if it has made any noticeable difference to my personal setup.

The lid has been very useful with new cats in the house

So how does it go with the ceramic bearing DC?
CJSF