Hi guys,
I’ve recently purchased a Rega p9 turntable. I’m after a cart that will suit the NAC 52 MC boards and the turntable. I believe Rega carts need a low impedance match with the phono preamp. 100 or less. The nac52 boards are around 500
Also other carts may be of different sizes so I’ll need to adjust height either through mats or spacers.
Suggestions please.
Info on Hana carts here which I’m currently using and am pleased with on a P3 and will soon be on a P8.
I’ve used Dynavector XX-2’s for the last 10 years and like this cart a lot. I’m also fond of the Audio Technica’s having used an AT-OC9 for many years. Their ART-9 is a good performer.
Also heard good things about the Hana ML, though not heard one.
Very hard to dem carts nowadays, good luck in your search.
Regards,
SteveO.
I also used an XX-2 MkII on a P9. It sounded really good and was much better with no shims. Much better, even though the VTA would not have been perfect. I am not sure how Naim phono inputs are configured, their R values seem to be eccentric…unless there are othe configuration factors in play?
With my XX-2 I use a 453ohm loading plug on my Superline if that helps.
Which phono pre were you using?
Did you have to adjust the height?
I used a DV P75 Mk4. I did not like PE mode…more noise and somehow unnatural
No height adjustment needed. There’s a photog on here somewhere.
I quite like the Dynavector 10x5 Neo MK2 with shibata needle.
Works fine with 500 ohms.
It might be possible though that this is not available in every market (living in Germany it´s available here).
I highly concur with the XX2 and ART9 recommendations for MC. A Lyra Delos is a beauty, too. Like everything, it’s difficult to know what your preferences are, and each of these carts offer up stunning vinyl reproduction if done quite differently from one another. Great suggestions here, though.
A Rega cartridge should work fine with the NAC52 if you have the 323 boards. The 323 boards had a sensitivity of 100 µV, and an impedance of 470 ohms (S) or 560 ohms (K). Most people can’t hear the difference between the two. The only cartridges I wouldn’t use with these boards are the Denon DL103 series.
Considering the p9 is a fast sounding table I would imagine I would want a luscious sounding cart. I don’t want to sacrifice excitement though. My digital front end is likely to remain the superior source. But I have begun purchasing records again and I wanted a dec for playback.
My last record plyr was the linn majik
So would you say the apheta would be fine?
The Apheta will be an excellent match, mechanically, for the P9. It should also be a good match (sonically) for the NAC52/135s, if they’ve been serviced recently. I’ve not heard the new Harbeths, but if they are bright, you might want to look at something a little smoother (a Hana SL/ML, perhaps). The early Aphetas were a little on the bright side (see the Stereophile review).
The 30.2XDs are anything but bright. They exhibit an extended yet smooth treble response and are also very tight in the low end.
With regards to the Apheta. I’m not sure it will match (100r) the phono boards in the NAC52 (450r). It also will be out of my price range as I believe only the Apheta2 is available for sale now.
I’m interested in the Hana carts you’ve mentioned. Will I need spacers to fit these carts or are they the same size as Rega ones?
The Hana SL looks interesting to me. But I can’t find any comparisons to other carts. Anybody compared these carts to Audio Technica, Rega or any other MC?
Anybody using Benz Micro with Rega turntable/arms. Is there a VTA adjustment required?
I would advise some caution with the Benz Micro carts. I used to have an L0.4 and while it was in many ways a very nice, very detailed and even-handed sounding cartridge, it was never that exciting and never really engaged in the way that some others did. I hoped it would improve with run-in, but in many ways it just seemed to get less exciting so in the end I moved it on.
