Rega Ania

joecoulson

So I have been after a good MC cart for quite some time. After getting the Rega TT I started looking at their lineup. The Ania looked great but was a little outside what I wanted to spend. Then I started thinking what I always do. I take a mid step before the right step. Getting mid jumps instead of holding out and getting the right one to start with. Not sure if I’m alone on that.
Anyway, I ordered this from my local dealer (hifibuys in atlanta) as I like to spread the $$ a little and not focus on one supplier or shop. It took a week to come in and I got it today.




This thing is made beautifully. Hand made in England. It was a stupid simple mount for me as it uses three screws. The primary front screw cannot move in the hole drilled and the other two create a no wiggle mount. Perfectly aligned out of the box!!





There is acrylic on the body so you can see the internals which is very cool.




I have this on my P2 with the upgraded sub platter, upgraded pulley with two clear silicone belts, upgraded zirconium bearing and now this Ania cart. It feeds the Vincent PHO 701 with a Genalex Gold Lion 12au7 balanced triode tube. Output through AQ Victoria cables into the PS Audio stellar.
The cartridge has yet to break in but the synergy already is prevalent with the records I have played. Pink Floyd’s The Wall with Comfortably Numb has the cymbals sound so separate from the other instruments/vocals like it sounds on a SACD. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings And Food- Take Me To The River’s keyboard echoes all around me.
I knew to expect good things from this, but it’s always nice to hear the fruits.

I will have more thoughts as this breaks in but for now, spin spin.

joecoulson

Listened to
PF - The Wall, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
The imaging and production work on these has always been great. I’m noticing more separation and much more detail. The track Yet Another Movie on AMLOR has sounds completely surrounding me. The ability of this needle to dig so much deeper has me hearing things I never heard especially on this track.
Elton John - Madman Across The Water. Tiny Dancer’s piano and EJ’s vocals are some much smoother than the NG
Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet the track Street Fighting Man (one of my favs from their whole catalog ) has a lot of transients and dynamics. The NG would loose some of the tambourines and drums during these and the Ania has them all back where they should be.
Tool- Lateralus. Admittedly this is a new record for me but the album I am very familiar with. Schism took on a new form for me. Typically the songs faster sections would capture me, this time the slower parts with stunning bass work was just captivating. Again hearing things on this I had not heard before but listened to hundred and hundred of times.
UB40 - self titled (1988) and pretty much all of side 1 I noticed much better low and mid bass. Reggae always challenges the mid bass from any system and I noticed the Elacs putting mid tones out that I had not heard yet.

All in all this is opening up very nicely and I will report more as it does.

mhardy6647

Nice photographs!

joecoulson

Thank You Mark

stangman67

I’m fairly in love with the ania so far. The synergy between the P6/ania/Fono MC is on point as is to be expected. Still got 90 hours until I’ll call the “break in” complete. Interested to compare opinions

joecoulson

Me too as you have the “perfect” setup for that cart. My end game involves the Rega P6 or P8 so I thought I would go ahead and get the cart that goes with it.
The first hour showed improvements alone. I can only imagine at 100+ hrs

Clipdat

joecoulson wrote: »

This thing is made beautifully. Hand made in England. It was a stupid simple mount for me as it uses three screws. The primary front screw cannot move in the hole drilled and the other two create a no wiggle mount. Perfectly aligned out of the box!!

So this thing doesn't require a degree in calculus to mount to a headshell? That actually makes it enticing to me.

miner

All Rega 3-point mounts are based upon their proprietary geometry, not a standard Lofgren, Stephenson, or Baerwald geometry.

joecoulson

And there is some discussion out there that some folks get better results with Rega’s On the Baerwald method.
Not gonna mess with anything until I have break in hours past.

joecoulson

@stangman67 not sure if you have experienced the same but the cart breaks in beautifully
Edginess disappears and soundstage opens up. Single biggest jump I have ever taken in regards to vinyl.

stangman67

I haven’t gotten enough hours in it unfortunately. Life has been been pretty busy so I’ve only got 25 hours or so on it

gfong

Hope you don’t mind me jumping in on this Ania thread as well with comments as it breaks in.
3 days in on my new Rega P6 with Ania and I already had the Rega Aria stage that I used with my RP6 with Exact cart. (back-up now)

Precise, pinpoint, clear, exact definition are all words I would use to describe the sound but not harsh at all. Wide soundstage, musical but not lazy.
Really liking the upgrade from my RP6/Exact combo! I did try the Ania on my RP6 and will make a separate post later.

motorstereo

Thanks for posting those detailed pics as I never knew what the innards of a mc cartridge looked like. I'm glad to hear it's settling in very well to.

joecoulson

Breaking in beautifully
Not in a rush, but ever time I throw familiar stuff on it, I hear new.

stangman67

I have about 35 on mine now. Really starting to open up. The edge is disappearing which i was a bit worried about.

motorstereo

I'm loving my mc cart that I picked up from nooshinjohn a couple weeks ago. Despite all it's shortcomings vinyl now trounces cd's for the first time ever on my set up. I never ever thought I'd be able to say that.
I wonder how much of the improved sound comes the mc cart's tiny needle that sits deeper in the groove and extracts more from the vinyl or if it's more the cart itself?

joecoulson

I wonder that too.
Before picking up mine I was very skeptical that a needle and cartridge would make such a profound difference from one to another. Now I know.

dromunds

They used to say cartridge was 90 percent of your sound concerning Vinyl

joecoulson

I believe that now.

displayname

Totally agree with the cartridges effect on the sound. I think in a pure analog set up the biggest effects go in this order:
Speakers
Cartridge
Preamp
Turntable
Amp

Obviously there are exceptions, but that's a good guide for anyone looking to make changes.

The Ania is certainly a solid performer at its price point. On paper it shouldn't out perform something like a Hana SL, and I haven't compared them side by side, but I think I'd go with the Ania over the SL based on past demos.

jdjohn

Joe, I know you didn't get a whole lot of time last Saturday to evaluate the inclusion of an SUT with your Ania and Vincent pre, but I'm curious if you came away with any initial thoughts or conclusions.

joecoulson

My initial thought was that with other preamps it would almost certainly make a difference right up front with regard to gain on the preamp. As you saw, we had to get the volume up to 70-80 % of full volume for decent listening levels. 95 to skirt on reference levels. The PS Audio gain tech helps that be a non issue, but I would want that number to be lower with another type of preamp. The Vincent's MC setting is not adjustable and with the low output on the Ania, it is what it is for output.
Unfortunately because of time, I just was not able to draw any sound change conclusions with it added.

stangman67

Got an estimated 60 hours on the ania now and it sounds wonderful. I don’t foresee me needing anything else better. My first foray into Mc cartridges, this P6 ania combo is a sweet setup.

joecoulson

Agree completely. I have a Fono waiting for me at the dealer, but I’m still gonna keep the Vincent. Slightly more noise but the Sonics are beautiful.
My first MC cart too, and it’s a doozie for the coin.

displayname

joecoulson wrote: »

Agree completely. I have a Fono waiting for me at the dealer, but I’m still gonna keep the Vincent. Slightly more noise but the Sonics are beautiful.
My first MC cart too, and it’s a doozie for the coin.

I've only heard the Ania/Fono MC combo once, but I highly impressed with it. It think the synergy of an all Rega front end works very well.

miner

Rega makes great equipment and have been doing so for many decades. I would not hesitate getting back in the Rega lineup again.

WagnerRC

Would anyone have a comment on where to research gain setting for the ania cartridge. Would it very from preamp to preamp or should the right gain work with most preamps. Thanks fo any input.

jdjohn

Different phono preamps have different amounts of gain (for both MM and MC). It's really whatever the designer feels comfortable with. Some are adjustable...some are not. It's often a, "it is what it is" situation as Joe mentioned in one his posts above. You just have to adjust the volume on your main preamp (or otherwise) to get the loudness you desire. You could also try a step-up transformer (SUT) going into an MM phono preamp setting.

I think the question you might to ask is: "Since the MC gain on my phono preamp is XXdb, what would the output be when applied to an Ania cartridge?", and then, "Is that enough output for my main amp?"

WagnerRC

That makes sense. Thank you. And I do have the parks budgie. I picked up a Phonomena phono preamp for a great price. I will play around with it. Thanks. And I do like your phono pre. very nice.

jdjohn

Happy to help. You have a Musical Surroundings Phonomena? Which version? IIRC those have rechargeable batteries to minimize noise...very cool. They also have multiple gain settings, so you should have lots of options.

I don't recall mentioning my phono pre, but thanks?? I have a [cough] problem accumulating gear, so actually have a few different phono preamps

newbie308

@WagnerRC What are your impressions of the Musical Surroundings Phonomena? I've been looking at that phono pre as something I'd like to try.