Rega P10 turntable with Grimm PW1 – a royal marriage

The influence of preamplifiers

Does a top table only go well with a top preamp? Not just that, but it does get the most out of the investment.

The Grimm PW1

There is only one way to describe it: the Grimm PW1 sounds so carelessly unimpressive that it disappears completely. You can lean completely into the music because the PW1 has a strong asset: it is so fast with microdynamics that you don’t even notice the sound is being amplified. As a result, it not only sounds realistic and insightful, but it is so precise in terms of timing, so completely effortless sounding, that the rhythmic element of music is always there. It doesn’t matter what kind of music you play.

Rhythmically, there is no distinction when you plug in a Rega P6 or a Rega P10. There is a lot to be said about the differences in playback in all sorts of aspects, but not about the timing in playback, despite all the complexity that a music signal is. You don’t even experience this as special, but as natural because it is exactly the same as what your ears perceive when people next to you are playing or singing. It is just right.

When you write it down like that it seems like “it should always be that way,” but our review work is often about the fact that it is not and how a particular device is more or less close to reality. Then, when a component does get it exactly right in terms of timing, it is not an overwhelmingly euphoric sonic sensation, but a sound that you also hear in real life and thus take for granted. What the MU2 does for digital music, the PW1 does for vinyl: sound carelessly natural.

The Graham Slee Reflex C versus the Grimm PW1

Actually, this is not a comparison; the PW1 is better on all fronts. This is to be expected given the huge price difference, but price does not say everything in HiFi.

Nor is it the case – another HiFi cliché – that the PW1 gets more emotion out of the music than the Graham Slee. Rather, it is clear that different choices were made, so the music is perceived in a different way. With the Graham Slee, the emphasis is more on the drive of the music.

The PW1 plays with a little more restraint in comparison, but allows the relationships between the instruments and voices to be heard more. With the PW1, the space between the notes being played is as important as the notes themselves. And then you hear Grimm’s DNA again, at least as I see it: the musicians’ intention first, the equipment is in service of this. And the Rega P10 fits that seamlessly, it is a very fine combination.

Rega P10 with Grimm PW1 versus Rega P6 with Graham Slee Reflex C

The P6 with the Graham Slee is a better combo than the P6 with the PW1. Because the Graham Slee gives much more punch and focus, the Rega P6 gets a much more dynamic sound. The Rega P10 plays much bigger and more dynamic than the Rega P6 and has a deeper soundstage. In comparison, it makes the Rega P6 sound a bit dull with the PW1.

The jazz fusion funk rock on Gino Vanelli’s “Nightwalker” album sounds more “lewd” with the Rega P6 and Graham Slee combination than with the Rega P10 and Grimm PW1 combination. But in terms of sound quality, the difference can be described as good HiFi versus the unmistakable High End of the Rega P10, which the Grimm PW1 takes full advantage of.