Hi,
A few months ago I decided that I was (for the most part) done with fiddling with vintage turntables. After a good amount of research, I decided to buy a brand new Rega Planar 3, based on both reviews of the sound quality and the fact that I liked its aesthetics. I went with a reputable local dealer who gave me a very reasonable price on it, and I put a VM540ML on it. It sounds very nice to me and I don’t have any complaints regarding the sound quality. However, that is where the good part ends. Ever since I first set it up, I noticed far more motor noise (mechanically audible from within a few feet of the turntable, not while listening to music) than I would expect from a turntable of this caliber (and price). I let the dealer know, and the Rega distributor sent him their oiling kit as apparently this is a fairly frequent problem due to the turntables being stored on their side at the warehouse and oil pooling up at one side of the motor. Needless to say, the oiling made minimal, if any, difference. I applied it and ran the motor for 24 hours twice at home as well, as per the instructions. Still no difference.
Another thing that I noticed is that using the RPM app to measure wow & flutter on my iPhone gives somewhat high readings between 0.25% and 0.70%(!). The w&f readings aren’t consistent, and change constantly while the platter is spinning. Now, I don’t know how adept I am at hearing this, but it always has me wondering whenever I hear something on a record that *might* be speed fluctuation. I examined the belt and noticed that it was slightly misshapen, as it must have been sitting at one place on the pulley for a long while. At this point, I talked to the dealer again and he said for me to drop it off and he would send it to the Rega distributor. He sent it off, and it came back with the distributor saying that they found no issues. The dealer then charged me for the shipping to Rega, as they didn’t find anything wrong with it (which he never mentioned before I sent it out). Is this industry standard practice or an oversight?
I brought it home and set it up, and from the very short time I have listened, the motor noise seems to have decreased a fair amount to a point which I would say it is practically inaudible. So either the distributor did something and didn’t admit it (which I find unlikely), or their running the motor every day for a week fixed the noise. However, I measured the W&F and it is just as bad as it was before. I’m wondering if it needs a belt replacement. I also noticed some marks on the front of the dust cover that were not there when I dropped it off, which I am annoyed about.
What should I do? This experience has left me with a bad taste in my mouth as I really expected a turntable that was the least problematic as possible. I’m apprehensive about bringing this up to the dealer again. He has been very helpful in general, but I don’t know how much more he would be willing to do as the Rega distributor gave it a clean bill of health. Any advice would be welcome!
Thank you!
Ben
A few months ago I decided that I was (for the most part) done with fiddling with vintage turntables. After a good amount of research, I decided to buy a brand new Rega Planar 3, based on both reviews of the sound quality and the fact that I liked its aesthetics. I went with a reputable local dealer who gave me a very reasonable price on it, and I put a VM540ML on it. It sounds very nice to me and I don’t have any complaints regarding the sound quality. However, that is where the good part ends. Ever since I first set it up, I noticed far more motor noise (mechanically audible from within a few feet of the turntable, not while listening to music) than I would expect from a turntable of this caliber (and price). I let the dealer know, and the Rega distributor sent him their oiling kit as apparently this is a fairly frequent problem due to the turntables being stored on their side at the warehouse and oil pooling up at one side of the motor. Needless to say, the oiling made minimal, if any, difference. I applied it and ran the motor for 24 hours twice at home as well, as per the instructions. Still no difference.
Another thing that I noticed is that using the RPM app to measure wow & flutter on my iPhone gives somewhat high readings between 0.25% and 0.70%(!). The w&f readings aren’t consistent, and change constantly while the platter is spinning. Now, I don’t know how adept I am at hearing this, but it always has me wondering whenever I hear something on a record that *might* be speed fluctuation. I examined the belt and noticed that it was slightly misshapen, as it must have been sitting at one place on the pulley for a long while. At this point, I talked to the dealer again and he said for me to drop it off and he would send it to the Rega distributor. He sent it off, and it came back with the distributor saying that they found no issues. The dealer then charged me for the shipping to Rega, as they didn’t find anything wrong with it (which he never mentioned before I sent it out). Is this industry standard practice or an oversight?
I brought it home and set it up, and from the very short time I have listened, the motor noise seems to have decreased a fair amount to a point which I would say it is practically inaudible. So either the distributor did something and didn’t admit it (which I find unlikely), or their running the motor every day for a week fixed the noise. However, I measured the W&F and it is just as bad as it was before. I’m wondering if it needs a belt replacement. I also noticed some marks on the front of the dust cover that were not there when I dropped it off, which I am annoyed about.
What should I do? This experience has left me with a bad taste in my mouth as I really expected a turntable that was the least problematic as possible. I’m apprehensive about bringing this up to the dealer again. He has been very helpful in general, but I don’t know how much more he would be willing to do as the Rega distributor gave it a clean bill of health. Any advice would be welcome!
Thank you!
Ben