P2 or P3

The motor upgrade has been said to be noticable but not that great a leap as an upgrade,I think it has more to do with pitch stability problems with the Planar 2 and 3 generally,which can be cured by a couple of lengths of electrical tape around the plastic hub the platter sits on and/or adding a power conditioner such as the one from Heed Audio.The Planar 2 might be $450-500 new and quite cheap privately or on ebay etc.-luck.The way to go is to play without a mat.i.e I have 15mm acrylic platter that I can use.Mats could be used for adjusting height(VTA)if necessary-play by ear.stefanl

Nickway, I have a really old Planar 3 that I fitted with the upgraded motor some months ago. It was easily worth the money to me. Better definition, more even tonal response. I think the motor upgrade for Planars is really high value.

Disclaimer: I sell rega (and glad I do!).

Since I happen to have a P2,P3, P25 and Heavyweight here!

I think the new P3 is a worthwhile upgrade over the P2. I've heard both using the same Bias cartridge and the P3 is markedly better. A substantial improvement can be made with the Expressimo heavyweight. It's definitely worth the investment + you can keep it as you upgrade within the Rega line. I did not swap the platters but I did feel that the P3 was still better than the P2 with heavyweight. I would just buy a P3 then later on add an heavyweight. The stock P3 sounds wonderful as it is.

I really like the Rega cartridges which are engineered to work with the Rega tables in their typical 'set and forget' mannor. They are pre-set for VTA on the Rega arms and their three bolt mount assures a good setup. The P3 with the Super Elys is a GREAT package.

I'd get the P3 (as a Planar 3 owner). For cartridges I used to use a Rega super bias, but I found a used Linn K9, which sounds better to me. The K9 was not a particularly highly regarded cartridge in its day which makes me suspect that the Rega cartridges are nothing special.

Many rega P3 owners in the UK rave about Denon DL110 or DL160 cartridges, which are relatively inexpensive. Goldrings get good press, but a friend tried one and found it a bit thin and bright, with emphasis on the surface noise.

There are several firms that offer rewires for Regas,I think that the best one is the one piece complete from Eclectic Audio in Germany.Others like the Origin Live from England are two piece,meaning you can just replace the internal wiring of the arm and leave the connect to the arm(replace later).The complete one piece is best because there is no interrupt from the cartridge clip to the RCA plug.The advantage in having a completely modded RB250(counterweight,complete rewire)is that you can move this on to a better table when you upgrade and it is used on some really good decks.stefanl