Rega Apheta 2 Loading

[joey_corleoni]

Just wanted to report back on my situation. I have settled for now on somewhere between 1.75 and 1.8 grams tracking force and 100 ohms load on the Apheta 2. 1.9g may have got me through a test record better, but didn't sound as good. It was too bloated. Between 1.75 and 1.8 grams is the sweet spot for me. I really have not played with the loading much but I am happy right now at 100 ohms.

I think you will find that this cartridge does take a bit to break in. In my case, it was about 3 weeks of pretty solid use to get there.

[joey_corleoni]

Just wanted to report back on my situation. I have settled for now on somewhere between 1.75 and 1.8 grams tracking force and 100 ohms load on the Apheta 2. 1.9g may have got me through a test record better, but didn't sound as good. It was too bloated. Between 1.75 and 1.8 grams is the sweet spot for me. I really have not played with the loading much but I am happy right now at 100 ohms.

I think you will find that this cartridge does take a bit to break in. In my case, it was about 3 weeks of pretty solid use to get there.

[Douglas]

Thanks for the feedback Joey. That is exactly where I found the sweet spot on the Apheta 1. I will start there when I get the 2 towards the end of the month.

[joey_corleoni]

Originally Posted by Douglas

Thanks for the feedback Joey. That is exactly where I found the sweet spot on the Apheta 1. I will start there when I get the 2 towards the end of the month.

What were your findings?

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by joey_corleone

What were your findings?

I am not a happy chappy...I still have not received the Apheta 2. The dealer is now on holiday in Germany, so it seems like I will only receive it at the end of September. Needless to mention; I will never buy anything from him again!

I will report when I eventually receive the cart!

[Douglas]

I just received the Apheta 2 yesterday after a very long wait. The long run-in process is now in progress..Yuk!

I can confirm so far that it is a very different sounding cartridge than Apheta 1, sounding much more sophisticated. The midrange is more insightful and it's extracting a lot more detail from the grooves.

It sounds dynamically constraint at this early stage, which I am sure will get sorted after 50 hours or so. It's difficult to comment at this stage before it's run-in, but the Apheta 1 is more Pearl Jam, and the 2 Sting without the Police.

So far I have tried tracking force levels of 1.79 and 1.82 and its sounding much fuller and more cohesive at 1.82. I will report back after 100 hours....!

[Douglas]

The plan is to play 100 records as quickly as possible to run the cart in. I am on number 17

[miner]

It is my understanding the Apheta 2 may need loading down to 25 ohms to sound its best. A difficult load to reach.

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by miner

It is my understanding the Apheta 2 may need loading down to 25 ohms to sound its best. A difficult load to reach.

Thank you, Miner...It's currently loaded at 100 ohms. I will try 70 ohms as well, which is the lowest setting on my Phono Stage. Rega recommends 100 ohms in the manual. The output impedance is 10 ohms

[audio bill]

The original Apheta cartridge had a bit more 'tipped up' response (brighter) which benefited from loading down into a lower impedance. The Apheta 2 is much more naturally balanced and should be fine at the recommended 100 ohms. Of course YMMV.