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Happy New Year!
Have a happy, fun and safe New Year’s Eve! May 2012 be productive, successful and healthy for you and yours!
Rega RP6 to be released mid December 2011
Rega RP6
The RP6 is the very latest Rega turntable due for launch in mid December. Like the cheaper RP3, it uses a double sided chassis brace between arm and bearing but in this instance it is made from magnesium alloy rather than plastic. The bearing hub is made from aluminum and and supports a heavier, double thickness (16mm) glass platter with a thin layer of constrained layer dampening on the bottom in a circular ring that covers approximately half of the platter surface.
The sub platter is made of phenolic resin and aluminum and may also have some form of constrained layer dampening, although the details are not available at this time. It uses a single belt riding on the phenolic resin bottom half of the sub platter.
The hub has been improved and is a hybrid of materials featuring both metallic and phenolic components.
According to Rega, the plinth is different then the RP3 (although it looks the same) and is available in a variety of high gloss paint finishes, including Black (pictured here), White, Red, Silver, Blue, Pink, Orange, Yellow and Green. According to Rega, the RP6 is a replacement for the P3-24 color “full kit” (with TT-PSU) and the P5, but not the P7. According to preliminary listening tests, the RP6 outperformed the P3 and P5.
RB303 Arm
The RP6 will feature the new RB303 arm. The RB303 is the first arm to use the new, improved arm tube casting just developed by Rega.
The RP6 is due to be launched around the middle of December 2011 and is anticipated to cost $1500 excluding cartridge. The RP6 will also come with a redesigned TT-PSU.
The final details have not been officially released. I will post information here as it becomes available.
Click here to join the discussion on the Rega RP6 in the forum!
Replacing a failed tube in my Audio Research PH5
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For the last year or so, my Audio Research PH5 tube phono preamp had a hiss and high noise floor in the left channel that really bugged me. I brushed it off at first, since the channel imbalance was very slight. Over the last eight months the hiss became louder and louder. So much so, that I stopped making Youtube videos because it would be noticeable and quite annoying. Tonight, I decided to open it up and investigate the cause of the problem.
Audio Research ships the PH5 with the tubes removed which must be installed by the customer or audio shop before using. The tubes are matched at the factory and labeled V1 through V4, which match the socket labels on the main board of the preamp.
To open the PH5, there’s 14 screws that need to be removed from the top and sides. I lifted the cover and started out testing the four Electro-Harmonix 6922 tubes. I have a Bravo Audio headphone that is based on a single 6922 tube, which can easily be removed and swapped out for testing other tubes. I started with the V1 tube, pulling it out of the PH5 and installing it into the Bravo Audio headphone amp. As soon as the tube warmed up, I knew something was wrong – the left channel was faint and very distorted.
I set the V1 tube aside and proceeded to test the remaining tubes V2 through V4. All of them tested fine, both channels sounding strong, clean and balanced.
Since the Bravo Audio headphone amp came standard with an Electro Harmonix 6922EH tube, the exact brand that is used in the PH5, I installed it into the V1 socket and powered up the preamp. After a 45 second warm up, the phono pre amp came to life and the hiss was gone! All this time, I was listening to my preamp with a bad tube!
I couldn’t believe the difference. The sound stage was wide and deep with pinpoint accuracy. The separation between instruments was very pronounced and low level details popped out of a deep black background.
Audio Research keeps a record of the tube specifications that were used in each preamp; referenced by the serial #. You can order a new set of matched and tested replacement tubes by calling them and giving them your serial #. I’m going to call them tomorrow to find out pricing and availability. For now, I can make due using my spare 6922 tube from my headphone amp. 
Click here to hear audio samples of the repaired preamp, posted in the forum.
Zyx Omega G
The mailman delivered a new cartridge for my turntable today. Too bad I can’t try it out until hurricane Irene has passed. I was originally going to upgrade to a Rega P7 or P9, but as you may or may not know, I love Zyx cartridges. When I seen this one pop up on another website for about the same price as a used P9, I decided to take a chance and see how much performance can be gained going farther up in the Zyx lineup.
Here’s some of the specs:
| Specifications(H = High output version, SB2 = silver base, adds 3.9gm extra weight) |
DIAMOND-X -XH, DIAMOND-S -SH, DIAMOND-G -GH OMEGA-X -XH, OMEGA-S -SH, OMEGA-G -GH 4D-X 4D-XH, 4D-S 4D-SH, 4D-G 4D-GH |
| Type | Moving Coil (Dynamic)/Real Stereo Generator System |
| Cryogenic Treatment | Temperature: -196C (-320F) |
| Output Voltage | 0.24mV (H = 0.48mV) (3.54cm/sec., 1kHz) |
| Frequency Response/( +/- 1dB) | 10Hz ~ 100kHz (20Hz ~ 20kHz) |
| Channel Separation | >30dB (1kHz) |
| Channel Balance | <0.5dB (1kHz) |
| Recommended Tracking Force | 2.0gm [20 ~ 25 degrees Celsius] |
| Tracking Force Range | 1.7gm ~ 2.5gm |
| Compliance horizontal (vertical) | 15 x 10-6cm/dyne (12 x 10-6cm/dyne) |
| Trackability | > 80micro m/2.0gm |
| Internal Impedance | 4.0 ohm (H = 8.0 ohm) |
| Recommended Load Impedance | >100 ohm |
| Â Coil Wire | S type: 5N silver 0.035mm dia./CRYO X type: 6N crystal copper 0.035mm dia./CRYO G type: 24K Gold 0.035mm dia./CRYO |
| Cantilever Material | Natural solid square Diamind 0.30mm dia (DIAMOND) Boron solid 0.30mm dia (OMEGA, 4D) |
| Stylus | Micro-Ridge Solid Diamond 0.07 sq.mm |
| Contact Radius | 3micro m x 60micro m, 2000 Hour/2.0gm |
| Output Terminals | 1.25mm dia. Gold plated (EIA) |
| Net Weight: | 7.8gm (DIAMOND, OMEGA) 4.0gm (4D) |
The cartridge is brand new and still sealed. It is the gold edition with: solid gold coil wires, gold output pins, pure silver base and low output – .24mv. My current Zyx R100H is .48mv output.
I will make an un-boxing video when I get a chance. Look for a full review coming soon after I get it installed and broken in.
You can follow the discussion and hear samples when you join the forum here. 
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