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A suitable cart and possible practical tweaks for a Rega Planar 3...

Hello All -

I own a Rega Planer 3, with the RB300 tonearm - purchased in 1996, and lightly used; and still have my original cart - a Signet AM40 cartridge. I have gone through periods of moderate use, to little use, to no use; but now, after several year, I am ready to start listening to vinyl again.

I'm thinking about changing the phono cartridge, but I am unsure of what will make an appreciable difference - and pair well with the RB300 tonearm.  The Signet is not a bad cartridge - and it still sounds 'good', subjectively.  However, I believe that I can do quite a bit better without a significant investment - LESS than $800.00.  I'm looking for well-defined lower bass, warm and clear midrange and clean high-end without distortion.

My phono stage is an Acurus P10, about 20 years old and I've always been fairly pleased with it, as it is can acommodating both mm and high and low output mc. Again, open to upgrading if it will make an appreciable difference, and would go used to save some money.  I am also open to a less expensive cart, and one or two tweaks that I can hear.

My research has brought me to consider these phono cartridges which are in and slightly above my price range:

Rega Elys 2 mm

Ortofon 2M Black mm

Denon DL-103 mc

Hana EH mc

Goldring E3

Goldring 1042

Sumiko Blue Point No. 3

Dynavector DV 10x5 mc

I know variations of this very question has been asked many times over the years on these boards, and I apologize for the repetition and all of your patience!

Many, many thanks to all for the benefit of your knowledge and experience.

red-hydrant-1928
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,497 posts
 

You cant go wrong with the Dynavector 10X5, it is a amazing sounding combo with the RB300 tonearm. However, the key to great vinyl is the phonostage. I really liked the Rega P3 with the Dynavector using a Musical Surroundings Phonomena II , this was a very musical sounding package with great dynamics and excellent pace. This is all elevated by platter and sub platter/ bearing upgrades via Groovetracer.com :-)

Another tweak I liked a lot for the Rega P3 is the Mapleshade maplewood platform with 4 of their isoblocks underneath the platform, these are made of cork and rubber, they work very well. this tweak substantially reduces the noise floor of the table to new levels of quietness.

Enjoy

 

Matt M

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,119 posts
 

As for the tweaks to this Rega table…, sell your old Rega, add the money you were going to spend on tweaking this old turntable and buy yourself a newer and better table like VPI, MoFi, Clearaudio or Marantz. You’re going to get a better turntable with all possible adjustments that can accommodate pretty much any cartridge  I wouldn’t spend a $1 tweaking this Regs but hey that’s just me  

 

tablejockey
3,915 posts
 

Include the Audio Technica OC9 series in your search. Other than cart, time to consider a current generation Rega or something else. Modding that series of Rega is a waste of money that could go to a P6 which is considerably better.

Used a modded P5 when that series was still in circulation.

 

effischer
562 posts
 

Another vote for the DV; I used the 23RS with great success for many years.  One task you should do that's extremely inexpensive and definitely overdue if you haven't done it yet:  Change the bearing oil, clean the pulley, clean the sub-platter and install a new belt.

I wrote a very lengthy post on how to do that here some years ago, so you may be able to find it in the archives.  Either way, it's a simple job guaranteed to drop your noise floor and maintain accurate speed. 

Good hunting for your new cartridge and happy listening!

drbond
422 posts
 

Tweaks?  Buy a record clamp, as it will improve the SQ dramatically on a Rega. . . And look at isolation footers of some sort.

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