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Rega Planar 3 upgrades

Hi Everyone,

I have a couple of quick turntable related questions for the community.

A little background.  I currently have two turntable setups.  One is a Clearaudio Concept with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge.  The other is Rega Planar 3 (2016 version) with an Ortofon 2M Bronze.

I've been thinking of upgrades for the Planar 3 and took the plunge on a new Neo TTPSU.  Any thoughts on a Groovetracer sub platter?  How close would I be to a Planar 6 at that point?

The Clearaudio MM cartridge that came with the Concept table was barely used when I upgraded the cartridge to the 10x5.  I still have it laying around.  Can anyone recommend to me a good relatively cheap (under $400) turntable that would be a good fit for this cartridge?  I believe it weights 8 grams and has a tracking force of 1.9 to 2.5g.

One final question.  Can anyone recommend a decently easy to use cartridge protractor?  I need to learn to do my own setups.

Thank you

mustangjeff

Showing 2 responses by mustangjeff

mustangjeff OP
30 posts
 

This is probably a dumb question.  I see some cheaper versions of the Feickert protractor on ebay for around $100.  Would those be OK or do I need to spend $300 for the real deal?

mustangjeff OP
30 posts
 

I took Tooblue's advice and purchase a Vinyl Source custom arc protractor for Rega arms.  I'll start with this since it's so affordable.  They mentioned I could use this same protractor for my Clearaudio Concept. 

Cartridge Arc Alignment Protractor. For use with Rega Tonearms. | vinyl (thevinylsource.co.uk)

I do like the Rega sound. I like my Concept better, but that magnetic bearing tonearm is super sensitive to floor vibrations.  I've had to relegate it to my basement system where walking across the floor is a non-issue.  It could be I just prefer the 10x5 over the 2M Bronze.  Those systems are apple and oranges to each other as well.

In regards to my newish unused Clearaudio MM cartridge.  I do have a third system which consist of 90's era Rotel gear (972 pre, 980BX amp) with DCM Timewindow 3 speakers that I wouldn't mind a table on.  Seems like anything newish comes with a cart.  I want to find something inexpensive without a cart to play around with setup.

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