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New vs old Rega 3

Paul Mc

Paul Mc

pfm Member
A friendly neighbour has loaned me his spare Rega P3-2000 as my LP12 is elsewhere.

I'm not generally a fan of the Regas, but needs must and I was wondering how my vintage stacks up against the modern Rega 3.

Many thanks.
 
I guessed it might be the one with the chamfered plinth so not vintage but quite smart imo. The latest 3 has the advances of lighter plinth, double brace etc which should put it in front performance wise.
 
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There were two P3 versions of that vintage. One was a solid plinth and the later version which Rega didn’t announce looked identical but actually had a great deal of material under the skin cut away to reduce mass. You can easily find out by pressing (fairly gently) and if the plinth underside “gives” a little in some places but not others, that’s where the cut-aways are. This version sounded better. A number of dealers around the time were unconvinced by the P3, full-stop as they preferred the decoupled motor mount on the Planar 3.
The modern ones are a step forward in my view, not least because of the new motors, which suffer less vibration.
 
In my experience, they’ve gotten faster and leaner over the years... but an original Planar 3 and indeed the P3 2000 is a lovely thing. They’re just so well presented, form follows function beautifully... and they all function really rather well, and will continue to do so indefinitely.

I kind of wish I still had an original Planar 3 here. I currently have a tricked out P5 and an RP1. What Rega have achieved over the years is an ever increasingly good performance an a lower price point, to the point where I’d have no hesitation about sticking an RP1 in front of some much more expensive electronics and speakers... mine is currently fitted with an Ortofon 2M blue, into a Linn Majik, LK100 and Royd Sappires... the cartridge, followed by the phono stage are the weakest links in that system.
 
It has a rather tatty Elys, but as things stand I'm not sure it will change for a while.

Interested with comment that more modern iterations are leaner. It's stuck on an Audiotech stand that seems to suit it.
 
Paul Mc said:
It has a rather tatty Elys, but as things stand I'm not sure it will change for a while.

Interested with comment that more modern iterations are leaner. It's stuck on an Audiotech stand that seems to suit it.
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I’m not sure that leaner is necessarily the right word, modern decks aren’t bass light but the bass is tighter and more defined, and the midrange is more projected and three dimensional.

An important thing to note, when people describe how thinly have improved with the newer models, it’d not a criticism of the older decks, they we’re always solid performers at their respective price points and Rega have just built on their original design philosophy incrementally over the years and pushed the boundaries with their higher end models as newer, better materials and manufacturing processes have became available, keeping them competitive and giving existing Rega users an upgrade path.
 
When I exchanged my old 3's motor for the first upgraded type (I bolted mine on for extra rigidity and easy removal) the sound became tighter and leaner, particularly in the bass. Otherwise the sonic signature was very similar. Speed stability improved markedly.

A machined alloy subplatter moved the deck to a different level, one I wouldn't go back from. I don't know how it compares to newer Regas as I haven't listened to any.
 
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I had a 1992 Rega 2 and later a 90s Rega 3 in bright green. The 3 had the RB300 and was very good. Very neutral, possibly a little bland. I imagine a metal sub platter might improve the performance, certainly a Thorens 160 with a metal subplatter is a million times better than the 165, which is plastic.
 
This is mine, I've had it since 1987. It's had a number of cartridges on it, currently an Ortofon 520 mkII. It gets hardly any use these days so I doubt I'll ever change the cartridge again. The golden counterweight is from Origin Live, and the arm is rewired too. The mat is home made, made out of latex that I cast using the glass platter as a mold if I remember rightly (it was about 20 years ago).

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I took a great photo of it in action a few years ago, which became my desktop wallpaper for some time. I love the simplicity of the Rega:

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I think I'll play something on it now in fact.

Sean
 
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