rega planar 2 v michell hydraulic

Ok, ive got a planar 2 with an ortofon 501 mk2.
Its not too bad i suppose but have not heard much to compare it too.

Ive always loved the michell hydraulic reference but being 29 ive never heard one.
I realise there not exactly the best anymore, but how would it compare to my rega?
Assuming its got either the michell arm or a SME 3009.

Im interested in it more as a colecters piece, but i'd use it too, so if its worse than the rega, i might not get one. It would make it a tough desicion!

Thanx

[James D]

Buy the Hydraulic reference and put it in pride of place in your room and look at it.

The buy a lenco GL75 fit a new arm and cartridge and listen to it

Don't but a work of art to listen too, thats daft

Don't bother with thePlanar 2 - sell and buy the Lenco for the same money...

James

thats about what i figured.
Ive been advised before about getting a lenco or garrard, the style suits me too, unlike the rega, not that that really matters.

What arm would you suggest?
Also, you suggest a gl75. I know there's others too L78 for example, but i know nothing about lenco or garrard.
Are lenco and goldring lenco the same?
Difference between L75 and gl75?
What about the various garrards?

Thing is, i wouldnt buy the michell just to look at, if its not up to the job of playing records reasonably well, i wont buy one.
Thanx

[James D]

Nice arm that suits the idlers well is the Hadcock 228 as it is the right length for the lenco. Other suggestions I would choose a unipivot - not everyone agrees with me.

The Lenco to choose are the heavy platter ones described This site also describes how to service them.

Goldring had the British agency for retail sales of Lenco decks and marketed them as GoldringLencos. They added a G to the Lenco model number so L75 became GL75. The decks are exactly the same apart from model number.

The Garrard 301 and 401have lots of followers but are much more expensive to but than the Lencos and (to my ear) not any better. They do sound different. The Garrard has tremendous bass power and great musicality but can be a little crude and reticent at the top end. The Lenco is neutral has good extension but a little less sheer verve than the Garrard.

What RIAA preamp do you have? MM or MC?

ciao

James

At the moment im using a quad 44 and 405-2 pre, so im using the standard quad44 mm phono stage.
I dont think its great, but as i say, ive very little experience.
Im quite happy with the power amp at the moment though, ive modded it a bit with better op amps, capacitors, output transistors and a dual mono power supply.
its certainly better than the cyrus straightline i used to have (with a nad pp1 phono)

The 44 will probably either be moddified or replaced at some point, may make my own, not sure, i think my speakers will be replaced first (see my thread in the WD speakers section, no-one has replied yet)

Ill look out for any of the recomended TT's and probably get whatever one turns up at a good price first.
Any others i should consider, thorens, luxman etc?

[Allen]

I've compared a Planar 3 and a Hydraulic Reference fitted with a rega arm.

The Hydraulic has stronger deeper bass than a Planar, even though the motor was knackered on mine, the Hydraulic also had better pitch stability.

Between a Rega planar 2 and a Hydraulic Reference I reckon the Hydraulic is a better 'table.

Between a heavy plinth Lenco and a Hydraulic the Lenco is a much better bet, shame it doesn't have the gorgeous looks.

[Paul Barker]

Lenco will save you a fortune, Garrard 301 regularly over £400 401 usually costs a little less. I supose the 401 should perform as well as the 301 but some people say it doesn't.

The GL75 is probably the cheapest.

I use a unipivot with my Lenco 99, so would agree with James' assessment there. I have had some good arms but none I would care to go back to compared to the Mayware Uinipivot.

I've had it with belt drives.

There was something about Gerry's dd which was better than the idlers, I think it was a less forced perfect timing against a bullied perfect timing if that makes sense to anyone. The sustain of low level detail base notes decayed more naturally. Or did I imagine it? Who cares the deck sounded great and so does a well plinthed idler, it's a close match, then lenco is so much cheaper.

You realise you have to make a suitable plinth, do a search on that.

[James D]

If you want to spend Garrard money then you owe it to yourself to check out the Technics SP10, Kenwood KD990 & 770, Sony 2250, etc.

Others can tell you about good MM cartridges. If you want to try MC then the Denon 103 is hard to beat at the price but needs careful setup (like extra headshell mass). DO a search here for lots of info.

A good valve RIAA and pre stage will help the 405-2 until you are ready to change it

I'll have a look at the WD speakers thread.

ciao

James

Thanx, looking at prices i think ill go with a lenco, everyones advice is much apreciated.

[Allen]

It looks like GL75 prices have calmed down a bit, but if you are looking on e-bay it may be worth searching for "dynatron" also, sometimes these had GL75s in them.

They have a tendancy to slip under the radar and go very cheaply if the seller doesn't put the word 'lenco' in the listing.