Rega RP3 Turntable Tweaks

[Audio Refugee]

The Primare R32 arrived today. It came double boxed. It's essentially a brand new unit. It was a demo with about 30-45 minutes on it. I found it in Phoenix, AZ. Swapped the old preamp with it this afternoon; and let it and the Jolida warm up for a bit. Then I dropped the needle on some Talking Heads and a lot more.

OMG! Night and day. I can't believe how hollow my old preamp sounded compared to this one. Best upgrade I've made since moving from the Thorens to the Rega. I thought I'd miss the tubes, but all I miss right now is their light. It's just a deeper richer more involving sound. Bells and echos sound beautiful, detailed, and seem to linger forever. Drums sound alive instead of like a bunch of dead thumps. I don't think I've ever heard this amount of depth on any TT I've ever owned. It also seems to hold up dammed well at low volume. Higher volume... it's so much fun to listen to. My wife will soon hate me and I'll be exiled to the garage yet again.

A few of my local audiophile buddies tried to talk me out of it. Mostly because they'd never heard of Primare, much less ever heard this specific preamp. I almost listened and passed on it. I read every review I could find. Then I thought... I trust you guys. So, I bought it anyway. I've been listening as I've tapped this out. Horns are awesome now! I wish you could have just heard that! It's weird... I thought that allot of my records must be worn out. They sound awesome now.

I can't imagine this getting better as it warms up or burns in. Thank you so much for pointing me in this direction. I think I'll be happy with this set up for some time.

 

[prime minister]

Awesome! That is such great news. I usually don't recommend stuff or audio directions quite so unequivocally, but I really believe that the phono preamp is the single most important audio component in a system. And there are no giant killers. You just have to pay the money and kinda bite the bullet.

I must say I am relieved by your reaction. I was a bit worried there!

 

[MikeyFresh]

A few of my local audiophile buddies tried to talk me out of it. Mostly because they'd never heard of Primare, much less ever heard this specific preamp. I almost listened and passed on it. I read every review I could find. Then I thought... I trust you guys. So, I bought it anyway.

Primare did for some years have pretty decent U.S. representation when Sumiko was the importer. Back then you'd have heard of it if subscribing to TAS or Stereophile, as Sumiko took out full page ads, and submitted various pieces for review.

Pretty much every Primare piece I've ever heard was really nice sounding, not a bad example in the lot among various pre, power, and integrated amps, and their digital stuff was also quite good. I'm not surprised then that they also make a nice phono amp too.

If memory serves, back when I had interest in their DVD30 Universal Disc Player about 15 years ago, Primare was said to be designed in Denmark by the same people behind Copland, but manufactured in Sweden.

Anyway, Primare is fine sounding gear, congrats on the new phono stage, now you can school your local audiophile buddies. There are plenty of not too well known brands turning out fine sounding gear, another thats similar in some ways to Primare including gross under-appreciation in N. America is Densen.