Have been spending more time listening to vinyl recently and am increasingly frustrated that the sound is constrained, especially in older rock albums. I’m sure there are many of you out there able to offer advice, but don’t particularly want to get rid of everything and start again. Some thoughts:
Change cartridge?
Change phono stage?
As I’m thinking of buying S/hand NC 222/250 combo, would that solve things?
Thanks in advance
I’m sure more experienced ears will be along soon but bear in mind many of the older rock LPs didn’t have SQ as a priority during mix n master.
As they say…you can’t polish a Richard.
@Johnzappa The consensus seems to be that the phono stage in the 222 is quite good. I have not heard it. It is MM. I used an Exact for years on my P9. It was not the last word in detail. Slightly boxy, but not overly so. What phono stage are you using, if any? If you are thinking of a 222/250, you might want a better TT.
I got the P3 with Elys2, not very good… I replaced the Elys2 with an ND5 and NEO psu, much better but not yet… so I replaced the P3 with the P6, that’s what needed to be done! The P6 is much better than the P3 and by far… P6 and ND5 were very good! I still replaced the ND5 by the ND7, better everywhere it was excellent and I could have stayed with for a long time, only a very good opportunity it is presented on a P8 and now it’s nirvana with the ND7…
@registlse i am awaiting a P10 to replace my aging P9. Tonearm wiring failed. I could have had the tonearm rewired, but decided on a new P10 with a factory installed Apheta. As part of my whole system upgrade, I moved to a Naim NVCTT and wanted a MC. Glad you like your P8.
Just imagine a RB3000 instead of the RB880. Honestly, that could be the icing on your cake.
No call to get rid of everything.
Take option 1.
Rega’s latest MMs [the Nd range] are said to be good into Naim phonostages, and it’s neat how the Stageline runs off Aux2.
And, if you were to go for option 3, then an Nd5 say, should be a good match there too.
Chris
At 2000 euros it will wait a little bit… the P8 is fabulous as it is!
I’ve never felt that the Exact and Elys matched particularly well with the Stageline, sounding a bit dull and lifeless. I reckon a different cart would be the best bet.
Thanks for the comments. I’ll certainly investigate changing to N5 before spending 7k on s/h NC. I can always take option 3 if the change doesn’t work for me
I agree, change the cartridge first and see how you get on with it.
I had a late P3 and Exact. Whilst I can’t remember exactly how it sounded I was happy with it at the time. Upgraded a few things too ie. metal sub-platter, feet and MIchell counter weight. I did however sell it eventually and bought a new Technics DD. Less faff and it sounds glorious but I do not have your amplifier, speakers, ears or room (and the Technics doesn’t look as nice as confirmed by my partner nor is the arm as nice to operate).
€2000 ? OK, think mine was fitted 4 years ago for £1000.
That’s a polite way of describing 2 Rega MMs I had on my P25.
That is quite a wide range of options, upgrade a P3 and Exact source into a Supernait or upgrade to a 222/250 combo! Perhaps useful to know what Supernait (1 or 2).
More importantly, what P3 do you have? There is the latest model which benefits a lot from a TT-PSU but is then still comfortably overtaken by a P6. And there is the older model P3 from long ago, and that really is sub par for this purpose.
In any scenario your deck is now not really up to the minimum level, which is what you experience. IMO source first always pays off. When you want to move forward with this, note that the Stageline N should be fine with the Rega ND cartridges. That said the Rega Fono MM is not expensive and is generally a good match. But you’d want a lavender RCA>DIN interconnect to hook it up. All in all extra money that you can spend on deck and cartridge first, unless you sell off the Stageline well of course.
If you are at SN1 level and want to stay there, with vinyl not the most important source, you’ll be off a lot better with a P6 and ND5. If you are at the SN2 level a P8 and ND7 would be what to aim for. If vinyl turns out to be an important source, you can move on up further. Do keep us posted on where you’re heading!
That would be nice thing.
Doubt it would solve issue, but make setup extremely unbalanced.
For the money you could buy a brand new P8/Nd7 plus an excellent amplifier.
Pay attention to setup.
No idea what loudspeakers in the game ?
Thanks for the helpful comments. I’ve picked up an ND5 this morning, and the SQ is indeed much improved. Will keep it there for the time being and work on improving the digital input - looking at s/h Qutest to replace DAC-V1.
Replace the Exact with Rega ND5. The P3 and Stageline are good enough!
Yes, the Rega ND3/5/7 all play very well with a Stageline, which is a good phono stage for the SN3.
For me, in this circumstance, changing the amp because of the stated symptoms is rather like changing a car’s engine because it needs new sparkplugs.
If one really wanted to keep the exact, then a new Phono is as far as one should go. In that circumstance, a Phono stage you can tune the cartridges requirements and what it sounds like would be a good option. The Graham Slee Accession unit would be an excellent choice for that.
But an ND5 will most likely fix the issue. I have never really been a fan of the Exact cartridge.
I had a Stageline for a while (with a Grado or Dynavector 10x - can’t remember which), I found it less convincing than the phono section of my NAC22. This may just be me.
My stageline improved considerably when i added a second hand olive XPS on it. I would say « night and day « but this sentence is banished today in our forum. 
