Rega Tonearm Upgrades RB250 – Owner Comments
“The modification and Litz rewire is excellent. The sound-stage is 50 per cent bigger. The clarity of the sound is much improved. Well worth the cost involved. My friend who reassembled the arm on to my Systemdeck turntable assures me that the combination is now equal to his Linn Sondek.”
P. James, Birmingham
“I would like to congratulate Mark Baker and the rest of the staff at Origin Live for their excellent sounding structural modification and rewiring of my Rega RB300 arm. The sound wrought by these changes is quite amazing. The soundstage is much wider and deeper with a greater delineation of space around voices and instruments and with the heavyweight RB250 counterweight that you sent me, bass depth and definition greatly increased. The sound is also more vivid and involving and where confusion once reigned there is now a coherence and listenability that has me pulling out record after record hearing things that I somehow missed before. Again, congratulations and thank you.”
Edward Ramos, Washington D.C.
“I received my fully modified RB 300 back from you on Friday. I have not slept since !!! Well almost. This is the FINEST sounding tonearm going ( from not just me but my buddy with a Graham 2.0 !) Even my wife noticed the difference !! The bass is phenomenal. My records sound glorious !! I can’t thank you guys enough for figuring out how to make these arms sound so good. And the turnaround time including shipping both ways was about 10 days ! Who could ask for more. Thanks again.”
Scott Johrde, Virginia USA
“Hi Mark, I got the modified Arm 2-days before Christmas…it was AWESOME !!!! The BASS depth, weight, definition and extension is totally unbelievable…there is a certain abandon with which the information is rendered. Mid range is perfect smooth, holographic well defined and like all the other areas very very natural (you will notice that there is a certain brightish sheen that RB300 arm adds to sounds that is not natural) The Highs are also very extended , very clean and natural One thing that strikes me also is the amount of detail retrieved, the air that is normally perceived around instruments is a clearness, but with the MODIFIED RB250 you hear more in the air …example a piano note that is struck the air around the sound contains decaying sounds of the piano creating a stimulating correct natural richness of sound… Surface noise seems to be reduced also. String tones on classical music is just so right. This Mod is magic.”
A. Audu, Texas USA
“Received the arm today along with the dimensions for the plinth, thanks very much. Well being the impatient sort of person I am I couldn’t wait for the rest of the deck to arrive to try out the arm so I fitted it to my old Linn Basik. I know the arm hole is actually too big so I wasn’t expecting much compared to my old Linn Basik LVX tonearm, but I was intrigued just to try it anyway. How wrong could I have been? I grabbed the nearest record to try it out which happened to be Tricky’s first album and I listened to a fair bit more of that than I planned to. It was when I put the second record on (Gomez – Liquid Skin) that my jaw hit the floor, there really should have been a camera on hand to capture the expression, but there’s been a huge smile on my face with every record I’ve played since then. By the end of the night you can guarantee you won’t be able to see my floor for records. I expect you’ve heard all the superlatives hundreds of times so I won’t go into how the bass seems to have extended by 2 octaves and how everything is just so tight and controlled at the bottom end and how sweet and open the treble is, I’ll just say that I’ll be enjoying more music tonight than I have done in a VERY VERY long time! It’s quite scary to think that it’s only the arm that has been changed. Words cannot express how excited I am about getting the rest of the deck built. I await my second delivery with as much excitement than a kid waiting for Santa Claus! I’m off to listen to some more records now. Thank you very very much once again.”
Richard Matthews, Somerset UK
“Just a note to say I am very pleased with the work you have done on my RB300! Everything sounds much more open and detailed.”
S. Vaughan, Leicestershire
“I’ll be brief: I am VERY pleased. Nice job!! This arm is so much better than the RB600 it replaces that it’s not even funny. Thanks again for making such a great product at a price that us mere mortals can afford. Below are a few comments I posted in the Soundstage vinyl forum here”
SoundStage! Audio (Vinyl) Board
“As the old thread has drifted down a bit, I thought I’d start a new thread with the verdict on the OL RB250, per Floyd’s earlier query. I finally got my arm in, with the structural modification, the internal rewire, and a male DIN connector mounted in the arm pillar. The modded arm replaces the RB600 on a Planar 25. Was it worth the time and cost?
“Absolutely. Yes. Definitely. Without doubt. I can only give a comparison between the modded 250 as described and the stock RB600, and please note that a rather pricey Cardas arm cable completed the connection between arm and phono stage. That said, the OL arm seems to double the depth of the soundstage, and add some width beyond the speakers. Instrumental textures are portrayed with much more realism, and harmonic information is more clearly resolved. The rather ill-defined bass that existed before is now tighter and more tuneful. In fact, every performance parameter that you can put a name to is either better, or in some cases, in a completely different league. I’m not going to proclaim that this arm wipes the butt of the super arms (Wheaton, VPI JMW, Graham, etc.), as I’ve never had any significant experience with any of them in my system. I will say that this arm can compete heads-on with the mid-priced arms (i.e.: $1k range), which I HAVE had experience with, and make no apologies whatsoever. Cost was $393 US delivered, plus the cost of the wire transfer of the funds. That price INCLUDES the cost of a new RB250. If the OL arm cable is added instead of the DIN connector, add about $75 US to that. If you consider that a new RB300 goes for about $400 when bought in the States, it makes this arm a no brainer. Now I just need to figure out what all the hype is about on the P25….
“Finally, no, I’m not in cahoots with OL. I’m just very pleased with how this turned out, and have no bones about sharing a positive experience – especially when it’s a true bargain in the context of high-end audio.”
Bill Cowen , 1999
“I have spent much of the weekend listening to the wonders of the modified Rega RB300. Everything that is reported about it is true, i.e. it’s absolutely marvellous! Good service too. Thank you.”
S. Greenwood, Folkestone
“My Rega arm with your modifications is another world!! The sound quality now is terrific and it seems to have a new cartridge, much more expansive. Kind regards.”
Luigi Fava, Italy
“Please include my comment on something that actually does what is promised. Received my upgraded arm today just finished installing and fine tuning, wow where did all that bass and definition come from? The arm and cable sound fantastic I would not hesitate to recommend your upgrade to anyone! Many thanks for the good work, my turntable sounds more than three times the price I paid!!!”
Paul Prowse, Hertfordshire UK
Thank you very much for kindly re-wiring my arm yesterday. Service was second to none and it’s totally transformed the sound. I can highly recommend them to anyone wanting to upgrade any part of their system!
Tony Liggett