Advantage of Rega Motor Upgrade

On this and a recent thread, you seem to want to believe the motor upgrade is not that worthwhile. That's OK; how can anyone but you size up how much of an improvement your tweaks have made? As far as a stock P3 motor compared to a stock Planar 3 motor, it doesn't take careful listening to tell the difference. The improvement is evident as soon as you spin a record.

Just scepticism on my part as I am beginning to think I have put a bit of money into this Planar 2(Origin weight mod,Incognito rewire,damping etc)and I can't make a silk purse.... I had previously seen on Vinyl Asylum some posts that this motor upgrade was not a huge leap up for various reasons,now the last few I have seen here and on the other forum are singing the new motor's praises.With my own damping(2 Rubber rings,high and low) I think I could have adressed some physical issues and I do use conditioning,so am I going to notice it.I could do the bearing mod for 7 pounds and be really smiling instead of forking out $155 more.I am going to add a VTA adjustment which should really make a difference.Why is the new motor great?

I don't mean to be vague, but I think saying it doesn't take careful listening to notice the improvement is as helpful as any attempt I could make at audiophilic descriptions. Also, I'm not that much of an audiophool. If I decide I like something, I tend to forget about it and any analysis I've done and just start listening to the music again. I would just say the new motor increased the resolution, low to high, of my Planar 3 and cleaned up a warm burnishing of the sound that, while pleasant, restricted the freedom of the sound a bit. The sound is clearer and more open.

I would say the improvement is in the same league as a step up in cartridge quality, or as when I put my TT on a Neuance shelf. It's in a higher league than playing with different feet, switching TT mat, or using the Expressimo Heavyweight.

I'm not going to say the upgrade is "great," or that I feel like I have a totally different TT. I would just say that the upgrade was easily worthwhile. From my limited experience, the motor upgrade is additive to non-motor improvements -- its effects would not be swamped by improvements elsewhere in the TT setup. I understand why you have a touch decision, since there's no way to know how it would compare with your tweaks without making the irreversible expenditure. Best of luck!

I've done it to my P2 as well. The original motor, suspended as it is on the rubber band, caused sufficient wow to be evident on any recording that had sustained notes or chords, like pianos and organs. In the old days, we used to call that 'wow'. I was surprised that my old Sony DD TT's speed control was far superior to the Rega.

Now, with the Rega motor upgrade, this they are on par. Additionally, the Rega is a bit more quite on the rumble now, too.

Justifying $150 for an upgrade, unheard, is tough but I would encourage you to consider it rather than some of the other 3rd party alternatives. For me, I was about to trade in the P2 on something else but that's not going to be the case as I'll stick with the Rega with the upgrade.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

David