Hi,
I was wondering if anyone might be able to advise me between the Michell Gyro SE and the REGA Planar 8 to go with my 112X/150X and B&W PM1 speakers.
I realise that personal preference is key but auditioning anything at the moment isn’t an option - hence my request for assistance.
Best wishes
J
1 Like
I’ve listened to a P8 with Apheta and it’s superb.
I’ve not listened to a Gyro SE but would have one over the P8 for looks alone. Totally personal but the look of the P8 just doesn’t do it for me.
Some dealers are doing home demos. Mine is and has both. Where are you located?
2 Likes
It may be a question of setting it up ( and requisite skills) as well as home demoing , personally I would go for the Michell but there are restrictions .
I am not sure 
if the Rega comes plug and play .
If you get the P8 with a fitted cartridge from Rega it can be up and running in only a few minutes. I have an Ortofon 2M Black on mine - the dealer fitted it and put a 2mm spacer under the arm and then put it back in the box. I picked it up and all I had to do was unpack it, put the belts and platter on, balance the arm, set tracking weight and bias, plug it in and off it went.
As to the Rega or Michell, they are both good decks, just get whichever one you’ll feel happy living with. It’s you who has got to look at it.
The GyroSE has quite a few upgrade options.
My dealer has both actually. I haven’t listened to the The Gyro SE though.
The Gyro SE spinning platter is very in-your-face. I don’t like that at all. When I play music I don’t want any distractions.
I choose the Planar P8 with Apheta 3 and it’s sounds really nice.
I picked the SE. it was ex dem, I bought the Graham Slee Reflex X MC phono stage with the money I saved. It is beautiful and sounds excellent. None of my visitors have mentioned it, I haven’t had a single visitor since I bought it last September. I do have dust cover and the record clamp, but pictures look better without it.
18 Likes
Hi everyone
Thanks for the brilliant advice and suggestions. I hadn’t thought of upgrade options as a factor so I am glad to have read this as a consideration. I also love that red mat!
I am in London at the moment so fingers crossed I can find a dealer that can do a home demo.
Will let you know of course.
Best wishes
Looks much better with a red mat.
It’s a real shame that the look of the Gyro suits my tastes more as it’s a fantastic sounding TT and a bit of a bargain. An Apheta bumps the price right up but still thought it was worth every penny.
I would be another vote for the Gyro, I have the Orbe rather than the Gyro but I just loved how well it fits in with my amps, I can’t imagine why Michell decks aren’t more popular with Naim owners. Besides sounding great is there a better looking deck out there than the Gyro SE?
1 Like
It depends on one’s preference for bling or understatement.
5 Likes
I always loved the looks of the Mitchell’s but when it came down to it I went for a Linn, it’s just a better fit with Naim imo. Rega have a great rep here as Nigel says. Nice choice to have though.
1 Like
Look better with black weights…
Putting the aesthetics to one side this has to come down to sonic preference. A friend of mine had a Gyro/Techno/Dynavector and found it a little dry in its presentation but great soundstage. The Planar 8 I haven’t heard but from what I’ve read it seems to me that Rega really have developed the art of the turntable.
I’d personally wait until I could a side by side demo.
Regards,
Lindssay
Rega plug and play and going forward very easy to live with
The gyro, needs setting up and you have the upgrade bug, if you wish.
Sound wise, I found the rega had more detail and faster sound, the gyro, was certainly more laid back and smoother, but that could be down to cartridge and phono amp.
Rega had a aphete 2 and not sure what the gyro had, probably the standard one that comes with it, if such a thing, as for phono amp, they both used the same one, a very expensive reference level one from a make I can’t remember lol.
Anyway I went P8/superline and then onto the P10 / aura
There’s not too much to do regarding upgrades to the gyro se.
Better speed control.
Better clamp.
Perhaps the Orbe platter.
Plus the usual arm, cartridge games that you can do on any deck.
A great dynamic sounding deck. Add an RB330 and go from there.
Not difficult to set up.
And of course, no-one ever notices them when playing. A very discrete non eye catching deck that always fails to get great comments!
1 Like
Both very nice turntables but I personally, if going for gyro, would get a black one. Owned an Orbe for a while and thought it was very good. I have a P8 with Apheta 2 and it works for me. Easy to set up and sound very good. Would like to listen to a P10 sometime.
I have a gyro se and added the Orbe platter. Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge. Wonderful. Wont change it except perhaps a move to the 2M Black.
You are aware that all it takes is a needle change as the Bronze and Black bodies are the same