Just got back in the vinyl community

Well I love what you’ve done with the system! However, I feel strongly that your not going to get the full potential out of the Exact cartridge upgrade using the awful bearing (steel) and brass thrust plate (end of spindle on sub platter) of the P2. There is however a wonderful and "Must have" upgrade,. This will change the bearing to a Cubic Zerconia bearing and a Sapphire thrustplate at the end of a polished steel shaft. REGA dosent make great tables, they make fantastic tonearms, so doing these simple do it your self upgrades will really make the table a lot more quiet,stable and reliable. The sound will improve by being more authoritative, dynamic, detailed, lively!

This will take that P2 to super heights and would be hard pressed to find better sound for less than $2,000!

www.groovetracer.com/subplatter_groovetracer.htm

You can change the platter too, Highly recommended.

https://groovetracer.com/images/P5_Black-GT.jpg

Please Please do your self a favor and dont buy new records of old music or new records of new music because no one presses records from original master tapes they use a digital master which sux! and then they dont know how to press a record so you get horrible sound just horrible. Find OLD USED records from Atique malls and friends family or record conventions or estate sales ...anywhere but Barnes and Nobles or Walmart or Target...OMG! Find used record stores!

I understand. Thanks for your tips. Like Bekeske said, I will look into the current system and records that I enjoy to determine the direction of upgrades. Thanks for mattmiller comments on the Rega and new remastered recordings for vinyl. I do look around for vintage records too. 

As a Pre-Planner for anything you may choose to bring into the system at a later date.

I suggest that you spend some time learning what might be a good structure to mount your TT on.

There are endless options at varied costs. My experience is that very attractive results are able to be created at not too much monies, using Items that can sell on quite easy, if investigations are showing up support devices that are being superseded.

Getting the Support Structure to a place where it is undoubtedly perceived as being Optimised, can have a impact that will create the impression a New TT>TA is in use, when recollected for the sonic produced on a previous method of support. 

Such an Optimised Structure should prove its value to any future endeavours.

Congrats. I agree that vinyl can be rewarding, but it tends to bring out the OCD in some.  I think you were wise to go with a Rega table/cart combo because you can relax in knowing that it’s set up to Rega spec and you don’t have to fiddle with alignment, vta and all that stuff. I would wait a few months and if you still enjoy records, I would invest in a record cleaning machine. You don’t need anything fancy right now. I think Record Doctor makes one for about $200 that looks good. After a year or so, if you’re itchy, I would consider moving up 2 notches in the Rega line. Your dealer might even take yours back in trade. Keep the box. Have fun. 

I can only imagine how frustrating and discouraging it is for the label owners who invest a lot of time in tracking down original analogue master tapes to then see over and over again the false narrative that "no one presses records from original master tapes they use a digital master." And to then to hear "they don’t know how to press a record so you get horrible sound just horrible."

Those kinds of statements come from people who think in terms of the LP’s sold at "Barnes and Nobles or Walmart or Target" (that's like going to McDonalds in search of good food). They are apparently completely unaware of record labels such as Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Intervention Records, Vinyl Me Please (VMP), Acony, Light In The Attic, New West, Jackpot Records, Blue Note Records, Impex Records, Craft Recordings, Sundazed Records, Third Man Records, and numerous others.

They are also seemingly unaware of record pressing plants such as Quality Record Pressing (QRP)---they are doing the Hendrix and Steely Dan reissues, Pallas (in Germany), and Record Technology Inc. (RTI). VMP is right now building a new LP pressing plant.

Just as you have to know where to look to find superior hi-fi gear, you have to know where to look to find the good new LP’s, whether reissues of older albums or all analogue pressings of new releases. There is so much being released it is impossible to keep up with! I’m still out there searching for original pressings from the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, while also watching closely for the superior reissues of old albums. Some reissues actually sound better than originals, some don’t. If you don’t think the Analogue Productions reissue of The Beach Boys Surfer Girl album sounds better than the original Capitol Records pressing, you need a better hi-fi!