Rega Planar 1 Counterweight

priam

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Hi all,

Something weird is happening to my counterweight. It's not stable, I don't understand the physics of it, but basically it keeps reducing the tracking pressure. I had the turntable serviced once, where they increased the weight of the counterweight. When checked against a digital stylus gauge it was at 1.75g after service, no problem there. However, right now it is 1.41g.

Anyone know why?
 
priam said:
Hi all,

Something weird is happening to my counterweight. It's not stable, I don't understand the physics of it, but basically it keeps reducing the tracking pressure. I had the turntable serviced once, where they increased the weight of the counterweight. When checked against a digital stylus gauge it was at 1.75g after service, no problem there. However, right now it is 1.41g.

Anyone know why?

If I recall correctly the counterweight is a simple push-fit and it is obviously loose and working it's way backwards. Perhaps you could replace it with one that physically clamps to the stub.

This was always going to be a possible problem with these plug and play type decks.
 
chebby said:
Back to the dealer before you ‘bork’ a cartridge or an LP.

Agreed. I would question whether this ' just slap the counterweight fully up the stub' method of passing off a turntable as fit for purpose is valid. There are people prepared to buy these unfortunately so such issues aren't going to go away.
 

paul darwin

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Al ears,

By the way, your ignorantly incorrect interpretation of our instuctions to "just slap the counterweight up to the stub" and "fit for purpose" shows a complete and total misunderstanding of the design of the turntable and more specifically the arm.

By following our instructions you then apply exactly the correct downforce for the fitted Rega Carbon cartridge.

To further compound the ignorance by suggesting that people are prepared to buy them and again suggest that there are errors that will not go away is both malicious and ill advised.

Over the last few years we have sold in excess of 70,000 of our turntables that use such an arrangement with virtually no problems.

I am obviously not seeking to be confrontational in any way but would welcome your considered response,

Paul Darwin

Rega Research
 

priam

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paul darwin said:
Al ears,

By the way, your ignorantly incorrect interpretation of our instuctions to  "just slap the counterweight up to the stub"  and "fit for purpose" shows a complete and  total misunderstanding of the design of the turntable and more specifically the arm.

By following our instructions you then apply exactly the correct downforce for the fitted Rega Carbon cartridge.

To further compound the ignorance by suggesting that people are prepared to buy them and again suggest that there are errors that will not go away is both malicious and ill advised.

Over the last few years we have sold in excess of 70,000 of our turntables that use such an arrangement with virtually no problems.

I am obviously not seeking to be confrontational in any way but would welcome your considered response,

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

 

I do agree with Doug, Paul while you take this opportunity to boost your sales, what is wrong with my counterweight, I have had it serviced once where they increased the weight of it, but now it has begin its gradual descent in weight.
 

paul darwin

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Priam,

Your couterweight has not chnged in weight, and therefore I am not sure as to how, when serviced, it increased in weight. Are you saying that when serviced the dealer increased the downforce to 1.75g from something less ? This is impossible if the counterweight was correctly installed initially by being screwed up to the collar on the arm hub then the correct downforce of 1.75g would be applied, it is impossible to increase the downforce by getting the counterweight further up the arm stub which is what you would have to do to apply more downforce. We have tested several electronic stylus gauges and have found that the readings vary widely which is why we developed our own Atlas stylus tracking force gauge, it could be here where the problem lies.

Please advise further so I can ensure that you are completely happy.

PD
 

chebby

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paul darwin said:
We have tested several electronic stylus gauges and have found that the readings vary widely which is why we developed our own Atlas stylus tracking force gauge, it could be here where the problem lies.

So, get a Rega Atlas ?

I think a £7.50 Ortofon stylus balance would be more ‘price appropriate’ to the average Planar 1 owner and have more than enough accuracy to tell 1.75g from 1.4g.

Anyway, regardless of that, take it back to the dealer to sort it out to your satisfaction.
 

paul darwin

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Chebby,

That is not what I was saying at all, merely that electronic stylus gauges can and do show different results and this may be the cause of the problem.

The OP stated that he had used an electronic stylus gauge and not an Ortofon one, which I agree is a good basic balance.

Furthermore, Priam, I "am not trying to increase sales" far from it I am merely trying to establish the issue, find a solution and whilst doing so defend the design and engineering from unwarranted and unfair criticism.

PD
 
paul darwin said:
Al ears,

By the way, your ignorantly incorrect interpretation of our instuctions to "just slap the counterweight up to the stub" and "fit for purpose" shows a complete and total misunderstanding of the design of the turntable and more specifically the arm.

By following our instructions you then apply exactly the correct downforce for the fitted Rega Carbon cartridge.

To further compound the ignorance by suggesting that people are prepared to buy them and again suggest that there are errors that will not go away is both malicious and ill advised.

Over the last few years we have sold in excess of 70,000 of our turntables that use such an arrangement with virtually no problems.

I am obviously not seeking to be confrontational in any way but would welcome your considered response,

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

Perhaps you could answer the OPs question being in the position that you are then.
 
paul darwin said:
Chebby,

That is not what I was saying at all, merely that electronic stylus gauges can and do show different results and this may be the cause of the problem.

The OP stated that he had used an electronic stylus gauge and not an Ortofon one, which I agree is a good basic balance.

Furthermore, Priam, I "am not trying to increase sales" far from it I am merely trying to establish the issue, find a solution and whilst doing so defend the design and engineering from unwarranted and unfair criticism.

PD

I was assuming that the OP, however badly he worded his question, was using the same set of scales. Whilst some may be more accurate than others I haven't found many that drift by that amount.

If I read the question correctly he says he had a heavier counterweight fitted. Surely this, if screwed to the same position as the original , would give the lighter downforce assuming same cartridge is fitted.

Note he said increased the weight of the counterweight, not downforce. I assume this is what he meant anyway although why a dealer would do that unless he had a much heavier cartridge fitted I do not know.
 

paul darwin

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Al ears,

I agree and am awaiting clarification from priam with regards to his meaning of increasing weight with regards to the counterweight. I too would doubt very much that any dealer would have replaced the counetrweight with a heavier one.

One other thing that has just occured to me is to clarify that priam is still using the fitted Rega Carbon cartridge and not replaced it with something else which of course would introduce a whole new set of problems and solutions.

Best,

PD
 
paul darwin said:
Al ears,

I agree and am awaiting clarification from priam with regards to his meaning of increasing weight with regards to the counterweight. I too would doubt very much that any dealer would have replaced the counetrweight with a heavier one.

One other thing that has just occured to me is to clarify that priam is still using the fitted Rega Carbon cartridge and not replaced it with something else which of course would introduce a whole new set of problems and solutions.

Best,

PD

Excellent. It certainly needs some clarification to exactly what he had done at dealers. Hopefully you will get this.

I know in the past many, myself included, swapped the original counterweight on their Rega decks with the denser and more compact 'tungsten' counterweight. This would normally be done by people that knew what they were doing when it came to tonearm / cartridge setup.
 

chebby

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Al ears said:
I know in the past many, myself included, swapped the original counterweight on their Rega decks with the denser and more compact 'tungsten' counterweight.

My first Planar 3 (1983 1st generation with the - then new - RB300) had a tungsten C/W as standard. My second Planar 3 (sky blue special request finish that I had between 1996 - 2007) no longer had the tungsten counterweight as standard, so I ordered it as an optional extra. (£58 back then.)

Something to do with the reduced moment of inertia of the arm IIRC. (Basically it made sense back then - when I remembered more physics from college - than I do now!)

I have also owned two Rega P2s in the last few decades (my last one was a brief affair between lasting between 2008 and 2010) and they both had RB250s. The 2008 model was probably one of the last few with an RB250 before they went all 'three screws' mount instead of 'big nut' :)

I also owned the 'clamshell' Brio and matching Rega 'Radio' tuner for over a decade and two pairs of Rega R3 speakers (maple) and a Rega Ear at one time. Add in a Bias 2 for a few months and you can see I was quite the Rega fanboy!
 

CnoEvil

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chebby said:
My first Planar 3 (1983 1st generation with the - then new - RB300) had a tungsten C/W as standard.

I had one of them. Nice TT. I traded-in a RP2 (which didn't have the glass Platter IIRC) against it.

I passed it to my parents (when I upgraded to a LP12). They kept it, up to their deaths, where I inherited it again. I traded it in against some other stuff a couple of years ago, where it was still going strong.
 
CnoEvil said:
chebby said:
My first Planar 3 (1983 1st generation with the - then new - RB300) had a tungsten C/W as standard.

I had one of them. Nice TT. I traded-in a RP2 (which didn't have the glass Platter IIRC) against it.

I passed it to my parents (when I upgraded to a LP12). They kept it, up to their deaths, where I inherited it again. I traded it in against some other stuff a couple of years ago, where it was still going strong.

The original Planar 3 was a class act and was the third turntable I owned. Killer kit for the money. Would take on a few that were a darned sight dearer with the right cartridge fitted. A lot better than the so-called package that have appeared from other manufacturers lately.

However, this doesn't address the OPs question which I hope he gets back to us with additional required information.

Was a heavier counterweight fitted by the dealer and if so why? Assuming he hadn't fitted a much heavier cartridge this should not have been necessary and defeats the easy set-up criteria for this turntable.

Does the OP lack the ability now to adjust the counterweight on the stub arm to set correct downforce?

Who was said dealer and did he have a clue what he was doing?

I notice the OP is reticent to come back to this thread.
 

priam

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I have no idea what they did to the turntable, but the end result was heavier downforce, which has disappeared. Sorry for the late reply, the webboard marked me as spam. Trying to find out asap what they did.

Just to be clear, my dealership is Komfortsound of Thailand, which I believed is authorised.
 

paul darwin

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Sorry, but it is physically impossible to increase the downforce unless they changed the counterweight. It is impossible to get the counterweight further up the stub as there is a collar that precludes this. Could you please ask them what they did or prefereably take the deck in for them to sort, thanks, PD.
 

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