Inspire Upgrade

[admin_exported]

While I’m fitting the Inspire HiFi Quest upgrade to my P3-24

(did I say its coming tomorrow!!! :bounce: ), would

any of the below mods be worth doing at the same time:

1. Rega white Belt £21

2. IsoKinetik ISOvert Rega Tonearm VTA Adjustment Kit

by ISOkinetik

£24.99

3. Origin Live - Rega RB 250/300/600 VTA Adjuster

by Origin Live

£24.98

4. IsoKinetik ISOweight Upgrade Rega 130g Counterweight

by IsoKinetic

£49.99

Or any others you might recommend.

At this moment I will keep cartridge(Elys 2) as its only 8mths old (used approx. 20-50hrs a wk)

Looking at GOLDRING 1042 as replacement in future.

Cheers in advance

 

[Al ears]

Basically the answer is No.

Unless you suddenly want a cartridge change to something like an Ortofon Cadenza then you should not need any VTA adjustment gizmos.

The drive-belt you have should be perfectly fine assuming you have not had the deck for ages. If original belt has become overstretched then maybe just replace it with another belt. I never could see any benefit from the white belt on the Planar 3 I used to have.

With your current cartridge the original balance weight is fine. (If you do plan to run heavier cartridges in the future then i would recommend the Michell 'underslung' counterweight.

 

[DandyCobalt]

My suggestion would be to do the Inspire, and see how that all sounds.

Then you can tweak at leisure later, and be able to see if any improvement with any tweak.

Ps. The 1042 is an excellent cartridge - had one before going moving coil route.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Alears and Dandy those were my initial thoughts but thought I'ld ask.

 

[CJSF]

Mmm . . . :? Had a look at the 'Inspire' web site, they dont mention the sub platter. If you are keeping the original SP, there is a problem, the originals were deliberatly over size, making for a more livley sound. I have heard verious 'not any more' stories? As my Rega is fairly modern a late P5, I measured its SP and it is oversize compared with the metal version I now use. A replacement metal sub platter is an improvement IMHO, if you are on the upgrade trail, I use the ISOtech GT offereing + Ruby bearing. I upgraded to the 'white belt', tried it against the PSU, had similar affect on sound presentation, so opted for the cheaper option, found the PSU induced a slight hum as well

There is a damping kit for the standard plastic SP, that works OK'sh, if you remove 2 or 4 sections, cant for the life of me remeber the name of the supplier, its was £15 from the 'Bay' a good investment at the price, but the full metal SP is the best way but much more expensive.

I found under slung arm counter ballances worked well too.

CJSF

 

[Anonymous]

Mmm . . . :? Had a look at the 'Inspire' web site, they dont mention the sub platter. If you are keeping the original SP, there is a problem, the originals were deliberatly over size, making for a more livley sound. I have heard verious 'not any more' stories? As my Rega is fairly modern a late P5, I measured its SP and it is oversize compared with the metal version I now use. A replacement metal sub platter is an improvement IMHO, if you are on the upgrade trail, I use the ISOtech GT offereing + Ruby bearing. I upgraded to the 'white belt', tried it against the PSU, had similar affect on sound presentation, so opted for the cheaper option, found the PSU induced a slight hum as well

There is a damping kit for the standard plastic SP, that works OK'sh, if you remove 2 or 4 sections, cant for the life of me remeber the name of the supplier, its was £15 from the 'Bay' a good investment at the price, but the full metal SP is the best way but much more expensive.

I found under slung arm counter ballances worked well too.

CJSF

Cheers CJSF will look into thanks

 

[CJSF]

Something else Andy, I have messed about with heavy 'record clamp pucks' as well. I found them to be inferior sound wise, compared to a light Mitchell type screw clamp, thats on my system. I dont use an acrylic patter, prefering the standard glass with a 3mm acrylic mat. Here, I feel we are getting into the relms of likes and disslikes rather than better or worse?? Try clamp, no clamp, the problem is, no clamp means the record can slip especialy with a warped disc, reduces the contact area.

personal choice . . . CJSF

 

[DandyCobalt]

Problem with the screw clamp (I have a michell version for rega) is that you have to turn off the t/t to flip the vinyl.

I've got the Inspire puck and it works fine. A heavy bit of gear and care when on the Pinot.

 

[Al ears]

Agree a puck type weigth is more convenient than screw type clamp.

Careful on the Pinot DandyCobalt... too much and you'll need to be considering an auto-changer.

 

[DandyCobalt]

Careful on the Pinot DandyCobalt... too much and you'll need to be considering an auto-changer.

Ah yes... Mrs C. ;-)

Don't have to get up to change records.

 

[CJSF]

Question: . . . have you actualy done an A,B comparison between puck and screw type, if you have and you cant hear the differance, all well and good? On my system it was obvious the lighter screw clamp retaind an openess in the music, the puck tended to sit on the music. I'm not prepared to compromise that little extra SQ . . . off with the cover, back on after the session, it take 5 seconds. Also tried the same at a music dem a while back, the person in the know was a little suprised at the results. At that time I said the Rega cover has an effect on the sound, laughs all round . . . we removed the lid from its slide hinge . . . the laghing stoped.

My sugestions are not going to make big changes on their own, but as a whole, represent a significant move forward in sound quality . . . thought and attention to detail is what it is all about, attention to detail!

CJSF

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for all the advice.

Well it arrived to day, had a look in the box and all looks good.

On nights so will do the mod either Sunday or Monday.

At this moment I'm just going to do this upgrade and hear the difference.

I will compare glass and acrylic platter and weight plus no weight(never used a clamp before)

The metal sub plater intrigues but have had a vinyl spending spree so will have to wait.

Thanks again all can't wait to get stuck in swapping everything over.

 

[DandyCobalt]

Pics please - when you have time. 🙂

Would be useful for others to take a few during the makeover process?

Vinyl equivalent of Gok Wan

 

[Sospri]

Cheers for all the advice.

Well it arrived to day, had a look in the box and all looks good.

On nights so will do the mod either Sunday or Monday.

At this moment I'm just going to do this upgrade and hear the difference.

I will compare glass and acrylic platter and weight plus no weight(never used a clamp before)

The metal sub plater intrigues but have had a vinyl spending spree so will have to wait.

Thanks again all can't wait to get stuck in swapping everything over.

I have done this replacment Inspire plinth on my Rega p7, and am very pleased with the result.

Its easy to do if you are handy with a few tools, and if you have a problem Robert is always at the end of the phone...........

 

[Anonymous]

Pics please - when you have time. 🙂

Would be useful for others to take a few during the makeover process?

Vinyl equivalent of Gok Wan

No problem with taking photos, just chilling now tho as finished nights but don't like to sleep

during day on Friday, but don't want to concentrate on fiddly upgrades.

Work tomorrow so Sunday looks promising for makeover

 

[Anonymous]

I have done this replacment Inspire plinth on my Rega p7, and am very pleased with the result.

Its easy to do if you are handy with a few tools, and if you have a problem Robert is always at the end of the phone...........

Cheers not bad with tools, time served apprentice. Although spend my time programming robots

for a living now, so less tools, but triumph herald in garage to keep tools busy.

 

[Sospri]

I have done this replacment Inspire plinth on my Rega p7, and am very pleased with the result.

Its easy to do if you are handy with a few tools, and if you have a problem Robert is always at the end of the phone...........

Cheers not bad with tools, time served apprentice. Although spend my time programming robots

for a living now, so less tools, but triumph herald in garage to keep tools busy.

Yep

you will have no problem at all, its all pretty straightforward,

Same here mechanical engineer orignally, now in the opthalmic industry, but you never forget................

 

[CJSF]

New sub-platter is expensive Andy, so as a very good stop gap I can recomend the 'SRM Sub-Platter damping kit'. I have used it to good effect, its consits of 12 orange like sections to fit in the plastic segmented SP. Easy to fit, cheap and very effective, I found a little fine tuning helped, I removed two oposing sections, tuned up the base nicley, also tried removing 4 sections, preferd 2.

Tracked it down on the Bay: 'SRM Sub-Patter damping kit' . . . item number: 330943096695

At £15 it is worth it.

CJSF

 

[Anonymous]

New sub-platter is expensive Andy, so as a very good stop gap I can recomend the 'SRM Sub-Platter damping kit'. I have used it to good effect, its consits of 12 orange like sections to fit in the plastic segmented SP. Easy to fit, cheap and very effective, I found a little fine tuning helped, I removed two oposing sections, tuned up the base nicley, also tried removing 4 sections, preferd 2.

Tracked it down on the Bay: 'SRM Sub-Patter damping kit' . . . item number: 330943096695

At £15 it is worth it.

CJSF

Cheers just bought one, god its too easy to spend money these days

 

[Anonymous]

I have done this replacment Inspire plinth on my Rega p7, and am very pleased with the result.

Its easy to do if you are handy with a few tools, and if you have a problem Robert is always at the end of the phone...........

Cheers not bad with tools, time served apprentice. Although spend my time programming robots

for a living now, so less tools, but triumph herald in garage to keep tools busy.

Yep

you will have no problem at all, its all pretty straightforward,

Same here mechanical engineer orignally, now in the opthalmic industry, but you never forget................

Well sometimes you do 😳

 

[DIB]

There is a damping kit for the standard plastic SP, that works OK'sh, if you remove 2 or 4 sections, cant for the life of me remeber the name of the supplier, its was £15 from the 'Bay' a good investment at the price, but the full metal SP is the best way but much more expensive.

I found under slung arm counter ballances worked well too.

CJSF

This I presume? http://srm-tech.co.uk/shop/article_RSDK1/Sub-Platter-Damping-Kit-for-Rega.html?pse=apq

.

 

[CJSF]

There is a damping kit for the standard plastic SP, that works OK'sh, if you remove 2 or 4 sections, cant for the life of me remeber the name of the supplier, its was £15 from the 'Bay' a good investment at the price, but the full metal SP is the best way but much more expensive.

I found under slung arm counter ballances worked well too.

CJSF

This I presume? http://srm-tech.co.uk/shop/article_RSDK1/Sub-Platter-Damping-Kit-for-Rega.html?pse=apq

Thats the one DIB . . . works suprisingly well if you 'tune' it.

CJSF

 

[Anonymous]

Well that was a nice simple job to do, hardest part was finding my soldering

iron.

Before Pics

During Pic

Finished pic

Well was it worth it……

Big yes, everything sounds better all round.

Soundstage vastly improved, clarity much better. Everything’s clearer

Very happy

 

[Troy62]

Might be just me mate but all I'm getting is blue question marks where the images should be

 

[Anonymous]

Might be just me mate but all I'm getting is blue question marks where the images should be

Try right clicking them and open image in new tab works for me

don't know whars happened edited it 5 times now and still

the same not doing anything different from usual!!!!