wow and flutter

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.

Mayanitis,

I don't think the arm/cartridge resonance is relevant for what you hear at your 3 kHz test track unless it is a 3 kHz tone superimposed on a low frequency (near the arm cartridge resonance frequency)signal.

You should make sure that the platter bearing is properly lubricated. An old bearing with insufficient lubrication may cause flutter.

If the bearing and belts etc are fine, then you might improve things with a heavier platter.

If none of the advice above (i.e cleaning the belt, lubrication etc)helps, then you'll either have to learn to live with it or get another TT such as suggested already by Psychicanimal.

Good luck!

- Harald

To chime in, wow is a distortion in reproduced sound consisting of a slow rise and fall of pitch caused by speed variation in the reproducing system. Flutter is simply the same phenomenon at a higher pitch.

Your issue is with the usual suspects: belt and or motor, assuming the LP itself is not grossly off-center (all LP's are to some extent). You may just need, as others have pointed out, to lubricate and replace motor and belt, respectively.

I would not replace the platter first.

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.

The turntable was purchased second hand, I cleaned the belt as recomended but it has a little slack in it. Are the new belts a tight fit?. I presume the ac motor is the ultimate cause, there appears to be some caps in the power supply, can changing these make any diference and will the dc motor upgrades (ie origin live) eliminate this distortion or do they merely reduce it.
Thanks for all your replies, I am enjoying my sojourn into analog, just trying to optimise my equipment.