Rega P5 vs. Transcriptors Skeleton
stereo_buff -- Thu, 07/10/2008 - 13:52
I have a Rega P5 turntable that I am very happy with. However, a friend of mine has a Transcriptors Skeleton (with the Vestigial tonearm) that is the sexiest thing since sliced bread to look at. I am interested in the Transcriptors, but don't want to waste my time if it's not worth it. Does anyone have any idea how these two would compare in sound quality, assuming appropriate cartridges were mounted on each?
Thanks.
From a sound reproducing prospective, the Rega P5 is generations ahead of the Transcriptors. But the Transcriptors is gorgeous in a way that the P5 can never match. The best thing you can do is to own both, and you should. Use the P5 to play vinyl at a very high level of performance and turn on the Transcriptors to witness one of the finest pieces of kinetic sculpture ever designed. I owned a Transcriptors Hydraulic Reference Standard in superlative condition and bought it because of its great beauty. Years later I purchased a Rega P3 and was appalled at the relatively poor performance of the Transcriptors, both turntables having been set up by a professional (me) with the same cartridge that was fully compatible with both the Rega and the Transcriptors tonearms. The Transcriptors series of tables were among the most beautiful pieces of machined metal craftsmanship ever devised, but they had technical inadequacies in the main bearing design. The unsupportive platter, which touches the record over about 4% of its total surface area, was a theoretical idea that was proven wrong as it leaves the record at the mercy of vibrations that cannot be damped. The vestigial tonearm (the best part of the turntable) is incredibly clever, since the moving mass is lower than any other design ever made, but it's an evolutionary dead end in tonearm design because it lacks rigidity necessary to allow the cartridge to extract maximum information from the record groove. The turntable/tonearm combination doesn't sound terrible, but it doesn't sound as good as as superbly and sensibly engineered P5, which is one of the great sonic bargains among turntables. The best thing you can do it have the best of both worlds, because they are worlds apart. The P5 is a great record player, the way a 1990s Ferrari 348 TS is a great driver's car. The Transcriptors a great work of art just while a 1936 Delahaye 135 Competition Court Figoni & Falaschi Coupe is fine sculpture. The Transcriptors is incapable of sounded anywhere near as good as the Rega, and the Rega can never have the beauty of the Transcriptors.
-Jay
I had a rega etc etc and it sounded awful whereas the Transcriptors is streaks ahead. You really need to have a big pair of loudspeakers not these "shoe boxes" they knock out today, infact i have recently took delivery of the Transcriptors T6 and Spyder and boy do they sound good, problem today everybody thinks they are 'engineers' always having to fiddle about with them, dicussing the properties of this and that, yet cannot sit down and just listen, you could give these so called engineers a piece of paper and a pencil and they would just about be able to draw a circle.
As the former owner of a Transcriptors Skeleton table and Vestigial arm (which I seem to recall Transcriptors spelled as the "Vestigal" arm), I'd have to agree that the combo was and still is a beauty. I can remember a visitor to my college dorm room spotting my Transcriptors rig, going slack-jawed, and then blurting out, "Man, what a hunk of steaming iron!!" Modern turntables just don't seem to generate reactions like that (well, except perhaps for 'tables that cost more than my current turntable/tonearm, my car and my motorcycle combined--yoicks!).
But physical beauty aside, I'd have to say the Vestigal arm was a pretty flawed contraption. The arm's pivoting, very low-mass headshell was designed to accommodate extremely fragile, ultra high-compliance phono cartridges such as the ADC XLM or ZLM, which were all the rage back in the day. But the fact is that the Vestigal headshell had significant problems with warp-induced wow, since its vertical pivot point was only a fraction of an inch behind the stylus. This meant that, as the stylus/cartridge traversed warps, vertical tracking angle would fluctuate all over the map with audible consequences. What is more, the arm essentially had zero chance of working well with the medium-to-low compliance moving coil cartridges that eventually came into favor.
With 20/20 hindsight, I think the better and more versatile tonearm in the Transcriptors lineup was the unipivot arm from the Hydraulic Reference system. I owned one of those (the arm, not the table), too, and speculate that it would still be a decent performer by contemporary standards, give or take a bit.
All things considered, I believe the Rega P5 is an altogether better performer than the Skeleton/Vestigal combo, though it has nowhere near as much sculptural pizzazz. To catch the sonic flavor of the P5, check out this review from Jim Hannon:
http://www.avguide.com/review/rega-p5-turntable-exact-phono-cartridge
Chris Martens, Editor, Playback
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
I won a Transcriptor skeleton on ebay I had it set up by an audio company in Cambridge ma they put the silver platter that the tone arm is set on upside down ( now it is black) but apart from that it worked it is in great cosmetic condition but after a week it would not start without a push and slowed down every now and again then go back to regular speed even then I thought it was a little slow I figured it was the belt I emailed Michael Gammon in England asking about spares after a couple of weeks he replied, he told me that Transcriptor had started up again and they had all parts for the deck available I ordered a belt 3 weeks ago it still hasn't been shipped yet so I ordered one here in the states which arrived in 5 days it was indeed the answer it starts and stops and runs fine but it vibrates and rattles the speed changer for a second when it starts up it's fine after that is there some adjustment that I did not do ? the reason I ask here is when I went on the Transcriptor website forum I asked questions and wanted advice on other stuff no one answered me but a week later Michael replied that it could be the motor, as I said the belt was the answer but no one has answered my other questions so here goes, it came with a grace tone arm and Grado stylus and needle would the original Vestigial arm give it a better sound or not, would changing the plastic red and yellow jacks to more modern jacks help, my other questions were more cosmetic could I fit a sweep arm and stylus brush from the reference TT, (I wondered if Michael didn't answer that because he thought it sacrilege). I know I could get replies saying if you want a better sound buy an SME or an Origin Live but this is the TT I have always wanted since I was a boy it is stunning to look at I just want to know how to get the best from it.
PS Does any one know a audio guy on the north shore in Boston I really was not happy with the store in Cambridge.
Yours hopefully Mick Lynch Swampscott ma.
Hi Mick,
I have Transcriptor Saturn with the Vestigal arm + Goldring 1042. I adjusted the arm with a template.
I think they works great together.
I have an ordered a new motor et-cetera in january, but I still don't have rescued these things yet !
Best Rgds, Jan , Switzerland
Good luck Jan you could and will wait a long time for anything from Transcriptor.thanks for the advice.
Mick.
About the P5. Rega provides an excellent arm that is manufactured to specifically position Rega cartridges optimumly. Also, Rega suggests that the supplied stock phono cable is also optimum. Rega offers the Exact cartridge, which seems to be at a price point consistant with the P5 price point. Yet, I am unable to find a review of this combination, or better yet, that same review expanded to test the rig with other <1K$ cartridges in place of the Exact. Can someone advise me in this regard?
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