I have been meaning at some point (when circumstances allow) to visit the Spritland bar in Kings Cross London. There sound system was designed by Definitive Audio and includes the Kuzma Stabi XL DC and Living Voice Vox Olympian speakers so should be interesting!
This is my Rega P8 the best TT I have ever owned. I have never considered myself to be an audiophile even though I enjoyed listening to music.
About 20 years ago, I decided to upgrade my music system. Not knowing any better, I bought a few hifi magazines, bought a 5 star amplifier and 5 star speakers put them together and thinking they would be ideally matched and capable of working together. I now know this isn’t necessarily so. I then bought a CD player from the same manufacturer as the amplifier. This equipment I bought from 3 different dealers.
Last year circumstances dictated that I find myself a new hobby, I’d already bought myself a Naim muso, so I gravitated to this forum. Since buying the above equipment, I had moved to another house and the system sound absolutely awful, it was bright and screechy, I couldn’t listen to it for more than a few minutes. Ii was pointless upgrading anything until I got things sorted. So, I read the forum, learnt about speaker placement, room treatment, isolation etc.
I spent weeks moving the speakers around, trying different positions, isolation pads between the speakers and stand and a couple of GIK panels either side of speakers, to fill in a double arch into the kitchen and double patio doors into the garden. Eventually, I could listen to my test discs all the way through, without winching, it sounded good.
Now was the time to contact a dealer for a TT. Eventually, I put put my head up above the parapet and here I am.
With most cartridges the Aro is better without the trough but there’s a Decca on it at the moment.
I suspect you were actually referring to the later Rock 7 in your comparison to a skeletal Rega, I only have the Elite but it does have the bellows feet replacing the sorbothane ones, you just cant see them.