Upgrade LP12 or go RP10/aphelion

It’s on a no-reserve auction starting at NZ$12.5K with a buy-now of $15K.

The other one is $8.2K no-reserve and has been on the market a few months now.

RP10 is long discontinued
Now its P10.
Go direct to Naia or “just” the P8

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I will not try to advise what I personally own.
Just some ideas to take into thinking :

  • the Rega needs no upgrades. No careful set up and no check of the suspension every few years.
  • With the Lp12 you will always be tempted to upgrade. I know myself, I would never take an lp12 for that. But we are all different. Perhaps with a good spec lp12, you won’t be tempted to go further. However look at all your upgrades since the last 3 years …
  • don’t forget the importance of a good phono stage. At some point, with a good MC, your Heed may be a limiting factor. With an Aphelion or Lyra Titan i, you need the level of a Superline.

I will follow your thread with great interest, sweetie.

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The Rp10 can last 30 years, just the belt to change. Lifetime guarantee.
It even sounds smoother vs the P10. If i could go back now, i would not have bought the P10 and sell the Rp10. But put the best cartridge possible on the Rp10.
Both however are very enjoyable. The P10 is more tight, with a bit better defined bass. But more neutral. The Rp10 is more forgiving and more records sound good.

I would not take personally the Aphelion with the Rp10. But it’s me.

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I must also say i didn’t get on with the aphelion2 cartridge.
It was very good on certain recorded vinyl and then not so good on normal. I found i stopped playing certain albums because off this.
I ended up trading it back in and going for the dynavector drt-xv1t, much better results.

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Was a duna a good match for the rega arm? I was thinking it is to heavy

I have 2 LP12s. I have heard technically better turntables from Vertere and Brinkmann, but a gradual approach with an LP12 delivers more music per £ imho.

I have not shipped the lesser LP12 to Tasmania precisely because of the bother I will have getting its suspension adjusted every 5+ years down there. I can’t see myself doing the job well, but perhaps fitting the mushroom alternatives when the suspension eventually needs doing is the right answer.

Adding a Lingo 4 and a Kore would be my suggestion in your situation - both were big upgrades in detail and neutrality without losing any music. That should be clearly better than the RP10 in most respects.

To go further, you would probably want at least some of (with the order here as my suggestion only) Ekos, Keel, better phono stage (Dynavector P75 mk 4?), better cartridge, Karousel. However, that is a lot more money, and the bits are probably v rare on the NZ s/ h market. Just getting L4 and Kore will give 80%+ of the uplift for a lot less cash.

When spending that sort of money, I’d also encourage spending a bit on a decent wall shelf ( big upgrade in sound and usability for little money) if you don’t have one.

The Rega is a good, detailed and easy to use/ live with choice. However, after all my time with LP12s, I concluded that I just wouldn’t stop hankering for more involvement and boogie if I got a different turntable, so it’s a full fat LP12 or sticking with streaming for me. I think that I am not rare in this view.

Before committing, can you hear the Rega with your own kit? If it sounds uninteresting, that’ll give you a more robust answer than we can. And if it sounds cleaner and less coloured and lacking nothing except the potential for ongoing bother, that too would be a good answer.

Good luck!

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That is the single most cost-effective upgrade you can make to an LP12. The improvement in sound quality is easily discernible. You will hear the pitch stability and drive in the music often associated with the best direct drive turntables.

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Sell it Mike. Get the 500 instead :fire: Vinyl and all included is a mental war that never ends.

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Yes, this is a good point, and something I have had in the back of my mind. I don’t want to be upgrading the phono either, so that does set a limit with how far to go. Especially as the ND555 is my primary source.

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This is an interesting proposition. I hadn’t realised it, by as my LP12 has a Cirkus bearing and I’ve now read on the pink fish that it would have had the Majic sub-chassis as part of this. Is that correct? So maybe the Kore isn’t a necessity, and it would need to hole cut for the arm rest for the Ittok II (this isn’t going to be changed).

I take it that you don’t rank the Karousel as a priority? My dealer is very keen to do it with a Lingo 4.

I also have my LP12 on an isolation platform, so I’m not sure about the need of a Trampolin base.

Which really gets me back to just adding a Lingo 4 and being done with it? Well, other stuff can be done later, but that may well be enough.

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Ha, no and no. I have too much nice old vinyl. The 500 is non-DR and very old. I’m not mixing DR and non DR, and there is no Naim servicing support in NZ at the moment, so I’m not buying older Naim gear.

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The benefit of an LP12 to my mind is that you can take it to whatever level you want within the range, the downside is that sometimes you end up spending a lot more than you intended. The Rega besides changing the cartridge and belt replacement is what it is.

When I upgraded my ancient LP12 I did the Kore, Lingo and Karosel all in one and it lifted the sound up a level. Initially, I had a 10X fitted to the Ittok going straight into the 222 phono stage and planned to stick with this for a while. However, I soon got a XX2mk2, initially, the plan was to use a Rega Aria but I made a mistake and listened to the NVC and NPX TT combo. All this in the end meant that I spent a lot more than I intended, but I am very happy with the result and could afford the overspend and am now buying a lot more vinyl again.

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Hi Mike
Not a million miles from you in NZ (Murrays Bay) and happy to share experience of RP10 if that helps :grinning:

Feel free to PM me
Cheers
Mark

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Personally I would do the lingo 4, kore and karousel in one hit and be done with it Mike

Go no further otherwise you’ll end up bankrupt like me ha :crazy_face::crazy_face:

Not sure what is in kiwi dollars though ?

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If in stages I’d do Lingo 4 first, then karousel and Kore 3rd

My kiwi mate from your hometown has just done the first 2 and it’s sounding rather good :+1:

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Lingo 4 is $3,625. Kore and Karousel $3,574. So $7,200 all up. I’ve spent $1,500 on the LP12 and Collar mat. That would be $8,700 all up, and close to the Seleck spec - which is $20,675 new (Arko and Kendo), or Accurate at $15,500 new (Akito and Krystal). I think you said a while back that it takes an Arko to beat the Ittok II?

Yep - Ittok 2 is very good provide bearings etc in good order which I think you said it was

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The best for the money and performance would be the Rp10, without the Aphelion, maybe the Lyra Delos or Rega Apheta 3. It would be at the level of Lp12, Ekos, Lingo. I could have compare both some years ago.

But i feel you have more desire to upgrade your lp12. So best wishes for that.

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Lingo, kore, karoussel: 7,2 k
And you wrote earlier, there is a used lp12 : LP12/Lingo 4/Karosel/Kore/Trampoline/Krane/Adikt for 8,2 k. Why not that then ?

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