goldring gr2

cjm

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Just bought a goldring gr2 which arrived today. I'm running it in as we speak and first reactions are very good. I'll inevitably slot it in and out of different setups I've got to see what I make of it.

Now, given the above, I know this will sound daft at this stage, but was wondering if there are any obvious mods to be made to this turntable to eek out even better performance. Are there any good websites worth checking out for modding advice? I'm particularly interested in people with direct experience of this deck (or, I guess, the Rega P3 which it's based on).

Chris

 

JANDL100

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cjm wrote:

Just bought a goldring gr2 which arrived today.
Got a nice pic yet ?
smile.png


 

cjm

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Currently mounted on a heavy piece of furniture on floor (laminated floor over floorboards) so I'll look into a wall shelf for betterisolation.

 

cjm

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Didn't think anyone would be interested in a pic of my humble GR2 but will pop one onhere when camera has charged.

First impressions of the turntable are very favourable. Easy enough to setup, musical, full bodied, excellent bass and plenty of finesse and detail.

It's currently set up with:

Pioneer A400 (modded by Tom Evans)

Cambridge Audio 640P phono stage

Acoustic Energy Evo 3s

It's replacing aTECHNICS SLBD22which surprised me with just how musical it could sound for the money, but the GR2 clearly trumps it. I'm glad/relievedas last year I demo'da second hand Project RPM4at home. Despite my best efforts, and posts on this forum, the Project failed to perform as I'd expected and my technics was clearly better.

 

thrunobulax

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cjm wrote:

Just bought a goldring gr2 which arrived today. I'm running it in as we speak and first reactions are very good. I'll inevitably slot it in and out of different setups I've got to see what I make of it.Now, given the above, I know this will sound daft at this stage, but was wondering if there are any obvious mods to be made to this turntable to eek out even better performance. Are there any good websites worth checking out for modding advice? I'm particularly interested in people with direct experience of this deck (or, I guess, the Rega P3 which it's based on).

Chris
Check out the SRM/TECH mods on eBay, some of them are worthwhile tho not all, he can be found if you do a rega search, he has various kits for that deck.

 

JANDL100

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I had a GR1 for a day or so, but returned it.

Very musical - sounded great vfm in fact, but couldn't quite hold a steady note on piano and similar. GR2 is supposed to be much better in this regard though.

What cartridge does it come with? Might be worth an upgrade - they often cheap-out on these.

 

JANDL100

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thrunobulax wrote:

Check out the SRM/TECH mods on eBay, some of them are worthwhile tho not all, he can be found if you do a rega search, he has various kits for that deck.
:^Yup, excellent seller. Lots of good stuff, delivered next day!

 

cjm

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Will check the eBay suggestion. The deck comes with a Goldring 1012GX cartridge - already, so I've read, an excellent cartridge that normally costs around £100 in itself. Hifi World reviewed it with price comparable MM cartridges and gave it 5 globes and it came top oftheir review samples - Jan 07.

I've checked to see that the stylus can be separately upgraded to 1042 spec, but this will still cost around £90 just for the stylus, so not sure if it's worth the cost.

FWIW - I got the GR2 in white from Superfi for £165 which seemed like a real bargain given that the cost of the cartridge alone comes to £95 and the tonearm is based on arega one.

Chris

 

thrunobulax

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I dont know what platter the GR2 has but if its not acrylic then a good start would be one of thier (srm) acrylic platters, he also does a bearing support pad, a small teflon disc that sits between the ball bearing and spindle end, i got one as i have a ruby bearing and can be a bit clumsy at times with kiloweight clamps and felt it would protect the ruby, i found that in conjunction with j7`s oil i have almost perpetual motion, it spins away forever with the belt off and a spin by hand, and very smooth.

 

thrunobulax

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JANDL100 wrote:

thrunobulax wrote:
Check out the SRM/TECH mods on eBay, some of them are worthwhile tho not all, he can be found if you do a rega search, he has various kits for that deck.
:^Yup, excellent seller. Lots of good stuff, delivered next day!
Jerry, its only just clicked with me, were you the Jandl that had a record clamp off me a couple of years back on eBay ? i knew i had seen that username somewhere else.

 

JANDL100

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thrunobulax wrote:

I dont know what platter the GR2 has but if its not acrylic then a good start would be one of thier (srm) acrylic platters,
.... errrr ... yes, but ... get one of their platter damping rings too (a mere £12.49 delivered and stonking vfm sound-wise) - IME acrylic platters are a bit coloured until you damp them a bit.

SRM says the damping rings work well with many types of platter- I'm inclined to believe them.
smile.png


(Yup, nice cart!) Sounds like a great value deck.

 

JANDL100

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thrunobulax wrote:

Jerry, its only just clicked with me, were you the Jandl that had a record clamp off me a couple of years back on eBay ? i knew i had seen that username somewhere else.
Quite likely - big brass coloured metal thing. Worked a treat!

(Don't think there are any other jandls out there!)

Hey, yeah, cjm - get one of those too! Makes the sound really much more solid and impressive. Well worth while.
thumbs_up.gif.3c8ee62eda0e86146178ab30b9facd86.gif


 

thrunobulax

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Oct 3, 2006
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JANDL100 wrote:

thrunobulax wrote:
I dont know what platter the GR2 has but if its not acrylic then a good start would be one of thier (srm) acrylic platters,
.... errrr ... yes, but ... get one of their platter damping rings too (a mere £12.49 delivered and stonking vfm sound-wise) - IME acrylic platters are a bit coloured until you damp them a bit.

SRM says the damping rings work well with many types of platter- I'm inclined to believe them.
smile.png


(Yup, nice cart!) Sounds like a great value deck.
I believe the PDR comes with the platter now, the new black one i put on top of the clear one arrived with one attached.
 

cjm

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Apr 27, 2006
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Belatedly, I'm posting a pic of the GR2.

The more I listen, the more I'm impressed. Popped on Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds'' and J-M Jarres Concert in China and there was a wonderful sense of scale and ambience.

I've been weighing up possible mods and the twotop of my list will be to add a different counterweight - either Origin Live or Mitchell Technoweight from the look of things. That, together with a wall shelf perhaps to start things off. But tbh the sound is sogood at the moment,I'm not intoo much of a hurry.

Chris

 
A

Alex A

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Is it an RB250? If so, you bought an arm with £30 extra for the rest of the TT.

 

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