wow and flutter

There is lots about the Rega Planar and speed stabilty on this forum.Do a search of the archives and you find various approaches to the problem.

If you want a more correct answer it is this.Cartridge/tonearm resonance is at the core of this issue.The Rega tonearm has an effective mass of 11gms.To this you are trying to match a cartridge that has a resonance of around 11/12Hz with the Rega arm.You are thus looking for a suitable cartridge.A search of Audigon archives will be helpful here.It is now commonly accepted that a Moving Coil cartridge with a relatively low vertical compliance is most suitable for the Rega.At entry level there is the Sumiko Blue Point Special,Dynavector 10x5,Denon DL-103.Wow and flutter are only subjective approaches at best as Paol Ladegaaard points out in a famous paper.Good speed stability and correct cartridge/tonearm matching is what you are looking for.

In relation to the last 2 posts there are two fixes for a Rega Planar 3 that is not running at speed.Firstly check your running speed either with a strobe or stopwatch.You can get a downloadable strobe from the Vinyl Engine library.It will usually be 2% fast if not on speed.The first fix is the official Rega one and you must clean your bearing well and parts out thoroughly and then add 2 DROPS ONLY of 80w/90 Gear Oil.The second fix is the one I use and that is usually 2(3) spliced,not wound lengths of black electrical tape around the edge of the sub-platter to widen it sufficiently so that it slows the table down.You can use oil of your choice here so that it does not evaporate quickly as in the first fix.I can get dead-on speed(playing a record to account for stylus drag) this way.

A new belt is always a good idea,after about 3 years.The Heed power supply mentioned in the prevous post was especially developed for the Rega.A stable power source will always yield an improvement,so try that or some form of conditioning before going full hog on new motor.There are issues with the motor upgrade,such as the way it is mounted being a step-back,and so you might not consider it worth the money if you can get good results otherwise.Belt-drive turntables will always be subject to speed stability issues caused by stylus drag because of their relatively weak motors.

I must admit to making a somewhat general statement here and I am sure you can address this issue with a heavier weighted platter.It does not become a non-issue though, even with high-end turntables and I crave your indulgence as that is one of the things that make the idler-wheel Lenco very competitive,as is being dicussed over at that thread about building high-end on the cheap at home depot.Basically no matter how sophisticated your motor or platter/bearing system is,you are still relying on a rubber belt that is subject to cogging,stretching and wear etc. The idler wheel method provides a superior constant speed stability.For more on this and a better explanation I can only recommend the above-mentioned thread.