P2 or P3

There are several firms that offer rewires for Regas,I think that the best one is the one piece complete from Eclectic Audio in Germany.Others like the Origin Live from England are two piece,meaning you can just replace the internal wiring of the arm and leave the connect to the arm(replace later).The complete one piece is best because there is no interrupt from the cartridge clip to the RCA plug.The advantage in having a completely modded RB250(counterweight,complete rewire)is that you can move this on to a better table when you upgrade and it is used on some really good decks.stefanl

I'd get the P3 (as a Planar 3 owner). For cartridges I used to use a Rega super bias, but I found a used Linn K9, which sounds better to me. The K9 was not a particularly highly regarded cartridge in its day which makes me suspect that the Rega cartridges are nothing special.

Many rega P3 owners in the UK rave about Denon DL110 or DL160 cartridges, which are relatively inexpensive. Goldrings get good press, but a friend tried one and found it a bit thin and bright, with emphasis on the surface noise.

Disclaimer: I sell rega (and glad I do!).

Since I happen to have a P2,P3, P25 and Heavyweight here!

I think the new P3 is a worthwhile upgrade over the P2. I've heard both using the same Bias cartridge and the P3 is markedly better. A substantial improvement can be made with the Expressimo heavyweight. It's definitely worth the investment + you can keep it as you upgrade within the Rega line. I did not swap the platters but I did feel that the P3 was still better than the P2 with heavyweight. I would just buy a P3 then later on add an heavyweight. The stock P3 sounds wonderful as it is.

I really like the Rega cartridges which are engineered to work with the Rega tables in their typical 'set and forget' mannor. They are pre-set for VTA on the Rega arms and their three bolt mount assures a good setup. The P3 with the Super Elys is a GREAT package.

Nickway, I have a really old Planar 3 that I fitted with the upgraded motor some months ago. It was easily worth the money to me. Better definition, more even tonal response. I think the motor upgrade for Planars is really high value.

The motor upgrade has been said to be noticable but not that great a leap as an upgrade,I think it has more to do with pitch stability problems with the Planar 2 and 3 generally,which can be cured by a couple of lengths of electrical tape around the plastic hub the platter sits on and/or adding a power conditioner such as the one from Heed Audio.The Planar 2 might be $450-500 new and quite cheap privately or on ebay etc.-luck.The way to go is to play without a mat.i.e I have 15mm acrylic platter that I can use.Mats could be used for adjusting height(VTA)if necessary-play by ear.stefanl

Thanks Stefanl

What about the motor upgrade available for the planer 2. Is it worth it sonically? Also how much is a stock used planer 2 worth? What about matt upgrade. Would you suggest a felt matt? Rubber? Other?

Also how much would a re-wire cost?

Thanks

Sorry, I meant to say the RB250 has a brass stem and a plastic stub,whereas the RB300 has a steel stem and steel stub in their stock form.You get rid of the plastic stub on the RB250,replacing it with the metal counterweight of your choice,there are many available,the Origin one from England has generally been regarded as the best,due to the way it is decoupled-do some research on this.Vinyl Asylum has lots of info.stefanl

There are reasons that a modded RB250 can better a modded RB300.Firstly the RB250 still has bearings on both sides unlike the RB300 where they have removed 1 bearing to put a seemingly improved Bias adjuster in.The RB250 stem is brass as opposed to steel in the RB250.The spring mechanism in the RB300 Bias adjuster resonates noticeably.You apparantly disengage it by sliding it all the way up to 3 or remove it altogether.Once you have added a decent(Origin) counterweight to the RB250 instead of the stock plastic one it becomes a great arm.The Shure has better bandwidth and should be the best cartridge to use.A rewire(after counterweight mod) will make a modded RB250 challenge Rega's best arms i.e the RB900-1000 I did much enquiry on this.Get the Planar 2 with the glass platter,you can get an acrylic platter upgrade for it.Look up further mods here and on Vonyl Asylum.stefanl

I guess the main difference in that configuration would be the difference in the Rega tonearms. There was a fairly detailed review and comparison of the Rega line of tonearms in last months Hifi+ (February issue). This month there's a review of the different Heavyweights. In the Hifi+ review the RB300 came out better than the RB250 against all rumors. I personally have the RB300 with Heavyweight. My cartridge is a Denon DL103. At least using the Denon cartridge the heavyweight was really necessary.
If you are looking for a cartridge the Denon DL103 is an excellent choice (and available for only around $120 minus sales tax + shipping at www.phonophono.de in Germany). I haven't heard the Shure or the Goldring yet but Denon wa certainly a lot better than my old Rega Elys. In Germany the Denon used to be really popular for use on the Planar 3. The only problem with the DL 103 is that it's a low output MC. There is also the DL 160 High output but that one is not as much a classic as the DL103. You could also look for a modified DL103D importet from Japan (there's a few discussion posts in this forum).

Anyway, have fun getting back into vinyl...

Rene