What I did with my Rega P-3 (when I had it--I now have the P-9): 1. tone arm rewired with cardas wire, clips, cardas box and jacks so you can use any interconnect cable. tried many cables, settled on an Ensemble cable 2. Remove feet, used 4 sets of two Mod Squad soft shoes end to end as feet. 3. replaced target stand "wood" platform with custom-made 1/2" thick solid steel platform, totally killing vibrations. 4. replaced felt mat with audioquest sorbothane mat. Used an older benz-micro mc3a pickup. after these changes I experienced about the same perceived improvements that you have over the stock unit.
Notes on Rega upgrades
I just thought I’d drop a quick post/ very mini review on some of the Rega upgrades discussed by W. Garcia in the feb/mar TAS. I have an old Planar 3 with a modified RB 300 (heavy counter weight but not one of the newer offset ones, metal end stub). I’ve also replaced the rubber feet with sorbothane footers. I just yesterday added the sheer audio acrylic platter/extreme phono matt, and the 3M damping sheets reviewed in the most recent TAS.
In my system (Vanedersteen 3’s, Classe 6 mkII preamp, Classse Dr-8 monos, and a Sumiko BPS) I found that all three of these addition made real improvements in my vinyl playback. Individually (and together) these upgrades extended and tightened my bass response, enlarged the soundstage, improved detail while simultaneously reducing glare, and improved the sense of space around instruments. My wife who enjoys music and has pretty good ears but isn’t really much of a gear geek said that she found listening to music much more involving and in fact said that listening to Dark Side of the Moon was like listening to it when she was 14 again. I just thought I’d let other Rega owners know that at least one person who paid full price for these upgrades thought they were totally worthwhile.
In my system (Vanedersteen 3’s, Classe 6 mkII preamp, Classse Dr-8 monos, and a Sumiko BPS) I found that all three of these addition made real improvements in my vinyl playback. Individually (and together) these upgrades extended and tightened my bass response, enlarged the soundstage, improved detail while simultaneously reducing glare, and improved the sense of space around instruments. My wife who enjoys music and has pretty good ears but isn’t really much of a gear geek said that she found listening to music much more involving and in fact said that listening to Dark Side of the Moon was like listening to it when she was 14 again. I just thought I’d let other Rega owners know that at least one person who paid full price for these upgrades thought they were totally worthwhile.
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