Historically we’ve had vinyl available as a listening option which we use when in the mood - mostly for dance vinyls. Rest of our LP collection has been mostly rendered redundant by CD purchases, digital downloads and Tidal.
Deck started as a Rega RP1 but over time got upgraded CNC steel sub platter and bearing, Delrin platter, upgraded Rega motor and Rega Elys 2 cartridge. Original tone arm. Phono stage is a Rega mini. Into our old 272 via RCA this sounded ok but definitely not wow.
We like the idea of using Aux2 on 252 to power a naim phono stage taking advantage of SuperCap feed. A transition step might be to change Rega phono stage for a Stageline N. However it looks like N has wildly different input capacitance to our Rega phono, so concerned cartridge won’t work in this setup? Will we need a different cartridge?
Yeah it seems Stageline N might be a total minefield having just done that. Really were hoping for something low cost/plug and play which would just work with what we have in the short/medium term
Going to source a better tonearm if we decide to keep vinyl around. If economy and energy prices settle perhaps a cymbiosis custom LP12 for a treat with a proper phono.
Wondering if naim isn’t the way ahead here then. Plenty used phonos for 4-600 quid which have standard input capacitance of 100pF and also some offer adjustable settings. There’s also the Moon LP110 for same price as Stageline (new) which is fully adjustable.
Perhaps rushing into a Stageline would be stupid and we should instead live with current Rega solution until end game phono is in budget. There are some very well reviewed phono stages by major players (Vertere, Rega etc,) for about a grand. Patience might be a virtue.
I have a Stageline N for my Rega Elys 2. The stageline will be a vast improvement over the Rega offering, the soundstage will open up immensely. That was my experience.
The rest of my vinyl blackback includes a Pink Triangle PT1, and a Rega RB300 arm, upgraded by Audio Origami, assembled by the majikal hands of Peter Swain of #Cymbiosis.
My digital side is a self built Roon NUC and a March DAC using DSD256 decoding. There is so little between the PT and Roon these days. I was an early adopter of Roon, best value for money that I have spent, regular upgrades without any extra expense