High End 2015 • TABlog

by Roy Gregory | May 22, 2015

Most people read show reports to learn about exciting, never-before-seen products they probably can’t afford and may well never see in person. That’s all part of the fun, especially in Munich where the only thing that outnumbers the outrageous turntables is the even more outrageous speaker systems.

So you might well be wondering just why we’re showing you a Rega RB250 tonearm. After all, it’s definitely not new, certainly not newsworthy and can hardly be described as exciting -- except that if you look a little closer you’ll see that, despite appearances to the contrary, it’s also definitely not a Rega. You really will have to look very closely indeed, especially once it is mounted on a turntable. Apart from the smooth arm pillar, there really is very little difference between this and Rega’s once-ubiquitous (but since superseded) budget model. One giveaway is the thick black armlead (Rega’s were generally gray, but always much thinner), while another is the traditional ground tag at the amplifier end of the cable -- an arrangement no Rega RB250/300 has ever used. Finally, the cueing lever was fluted, rather than the simple cylindrical, grooved design used on the pucker device.

This 'arm was displayed alongside a host of different armboards and mounting collars, some with integral VTA adjustment, which explains the smooth pillar in place of the original’s threaded post. An impenetrable linguistic impasse prevented me from discovering any further details, but this certainly seems like a pretty brazen case of counterfeiting -- Rega certainly have no OEM or licensing agreement for Chinese production of this model. Buyers of RB250 tonearms or ‘tables mounting them should be aware that clones are out there and that there’s no guarantee their performance will match that of the Rega-built original.