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Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Origin Live Silver RB-250 Tone Arms by Bkcme

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REVIEW: Origin Live Silver RB-250 Tone Arms

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Model: Silver RB-250
Category: Tone Arms
Suggested Retail Price: $725
Description: Highly modified Rega RB-250
Manufacturer URL: Origin Live
Model Picture: View

Review by Bkcme on February 19, 2003 at 16:53:51
IP Address: 66.235.5.253
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for the Silver RB-250


This is a review for an OL Silver 250 on my Rega P-25

I received this arm literally the day i packed up my system and moved! That was a month and a half ago. I have been dying!! to put it on my table ever sense. Let me just say, i could not wait any longer even though my listing room is still a mess and i have not fully placed the speakers or the turntable for that mater. As of two days ago i have some new audoquest type4 speaker cable and they only has a few hours on them. I wanted to set the room up, get it all sounding as good as i could, learn about the new rooms acoustics and do a very careful listen and review !!!! ..... Well so much for that idea. So i shoved some boxes out of the way and started

Took off the stock RB600, installed the DV20x from the RB600 on to the OL. ..... first problem! the mounting bolts come very close to not fitting in the slots in the head. They must be screwed into the slots until reaching the treadless shank . There is NO play and it made it very difficult to move the cartridge, and this made it a pain to aline.....
OK so now lets just put the arm on the table .... Wont fit .... VTA adjuster is to large for the stock hole. Five minuets with a large round file fixed that.
So i put in the arm, put on the nut and washer and ............ wait, theirs not enough threads for nut AND washer and barely enough for the nut!! ...... So there goes my VTA adjustment ... SH*T!!! ...... I never liked that damn VTA adjustment anywise... The arm is now level to the LP if not ever so slightly down by the tail
Now just aline the cartridge (major pain,see above) set at 2 grams plug in the interconnect ...... Hmmmm the interconnect is the right angle type( cant remember the name for the life of me?) and just so happens to be about 1/2 inch longer than the feet .....so up on 3/4 inch blocks the table goes.
A quick spin on the hifi test lp just to see if every thing is ok and what do you know,it has a harder time tracking than the RB600. With the 600 i could JUST clear the third torture track, but with the OL ... buzzzzz . It gets better when i push towards #2 but i run out of adjustment!??
So that's about it for setting up a “drop in “ arm on my P25 .....

As for the sound, Well after all this i was not feeling to hopeful. Plus new cables for the speakers, and in the arm, listing room a bit of a mess ..... To get to the point of this ramble, upon dropping the arm it was immediately apparent that this is clearly a better arm than the RB600. There was substantial improvements across the board. First, the bass is much tighter, notes start quicker and they seem fuller with adding punch. The midrange is more filed out and rich with a better sense of space, altho sound stage width seems to be about the same ..maybe a little wider?. The highs are sweeter extending a little higher without the slight edginess of the RB600. I now fully understand what is meant by “low level information”. I here details that i have never herd before, the wetness in the mouth of a vocalist!, a subtle note that i thought for years was a bass and now know that it is a large drum .....I can here the skin!. Cymbals have a much longer decay and i can here the cyclic shimmer of one hit hard .. I can clearly here that its made of brass. When a drummer is brushing the snare and roles the brush i can here each bristle hit the skin .... at least i think i can!! With a few LP’s that i have there are songs were some one is singing a high note and there was a bit of grain that bothered me, i thought that it might have been in the recording/ pressing as it only happened on these songs ..... It is no longer a problem. The over all focus is better helping with sense of space but i cant comment on that to much as i still have not placed the speakers in there optimal location yet. For me the two things that stand out are the sweeter, more extended and beautifully detailed high's and the tighter,faster, clearly more accurate bass with a punchiness that is well appreciated.
Over all it was about what i was hoping for, but not necessarily expecting!. I have been disappointed in many “upgrades”. Am i happy with the arm .... indeed i am. I have a hard time thinking of that $ 600 (used) put into my system elsewhere would give such improvement. Would i buy it for the asking price of $800 or so ...you bet!!
Upon rereading this review, it is beginning to take on that tone that bugs me ie: its the best thing sense sliced bread. You know ... nothing critical. This is not the impression i would like to give. With only about 10 hours of listing im still in that WOW stage and am dazzled with nearly every song, so i cant be trusted to give a rational review!!. I also cannot compare it to any thing else exept the RB600 (except my old luxman... but i wont bother) In a few months i will report again and see if i cant find a little criticism, but as for now i have no complaints ..... At least about the sound. If it is true that a table is as important as the arm in quality of sound reproduction, then i hope to get that Teres a little sooner than the year or so i had planed!!!

Bill........


Product Weakness: Drop in fit??
Product Strengths: See above..


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Audio Refinement Multi-2
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Audio Refinement Pre-5
Sources (CDP/Turntable): P-25
Speakers: Meadowlark Shearwater Hotrods
Cables/Interconnects: Speaker: audioquest type4
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Various
Room Size (LxWxH): 23 x 14 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: Nothing yet
Time Period/Length of Audition: Not long
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Origin Live Silver RB-250 Tone Arms - Bkcme 16:53:51 02/19/03 ( 15)