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Your preferred Rega turntable

What is your preferred Rega Turntable?

  • Planar 2/P2

    Votes: 4 4.0%

  • Planar 3/P3/P3-24/RP3

    Votes: 28 27.7%

  • P25

    Votes: 8 7.9%

  • P5

    Votes: 5 5.0%

  • P7

    Votes: 3 3.0%

  • P9

    Votes: 7 6.9%

  • RP6/Planar 6

    Votes: 8 7.9%

  • RP8/Planar 8

    Votes: 14 13.9%

  • RP10/Planar 10

    Votes: 23 22.8%

  • Planet/P1/RP1

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Total voters
    101
david ellwood said:
£600 entry level my arse
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He did say closer to the entry, comparing models with appropriate bundled cartridges, the entry model is £249 , the flagship is £3600, the P3/Elys2 is £649, so whilst it’s not the entry model, it is closer to the entry model than in the 80s, when in was the top model, out of a range of two models.
 
I started with a Planar 3/R200, which ran untouched for many years, then swapped it for my current RP3, metal sub, MP200, which I am enjoying enormously. I think I'll stay with it, but depending on funds, would go for a new P6, or used P8, either of which should improve sounds.
 
I voted P8. Over the years I have owned a P3, P25, P6, RP8, RP10 and now P8. Of those my favourites have been the P25, RP8 and P8.

The P25 was a cracker of a turntable - rather small sounding but very tight and rhythmic, and looked great. I do regret selling that one.

For a while I owned both the RP8 and RP10 and much preferred the RP8, since I really don't like the sound of the ceramic platter. To my ears it sounds a little cold, brittle and bright. When I decided to pick up a new Rega as my second turntable (the first is a Kuzma Stabi Ref/4Point), I chose the P8 for that reason, and it sounds fantastic, the best sounding Rega I have owned. It is also much better than the top spec LP12 I owned a few years ago. At some point I may put the RB3000 arm on the P8 to produce (IMO) the best sound possible to attain from a Rega.
 
RossB said:
At some point I may put the RB3000 arm on the P8 to produce (IMO) the best sound possible to attain from a Rega.
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It's an interesting point. Not a criticism as such but wouldn't it be cool of you could buy Rega decks without arms? It might be eye opening to find out how some 'cross breeds' sound.

I totally agree about the clinical sound of the RP10. It has taken me ages to find a cartridge that gives a warm, airy sound. A Grado. It's not perfect in other ways but at least I know it's possible to balance out the sound on the RP10.
 
I voted for the Planar 3, but the specific one I have in mind is the late-70s/early-80s model with the ‘S’ shaped R200 arm and R100 cartridge. Black plinth and lid, white logo. It was just such a radical, clean and logical design and stunning aesthetically. A real design classic. IIRC the waiting list was many months to get your hands on one at one point. I’m not suggesting it is the ‘best’ Rega, but it is unquestionably the most important. I’d love to have a mint boxed one in my little collection of vintage audio classics.
 
Tony L said:
I’m not suggesting it is the ‘best’ Rega, but it is unquestionably the most important.
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What makes you say it's the most important? I think the RB arm casting is the single most important thing Rega has ever done, in a sea of fairly clever things!
 
Ibbots said:
I've got a Funk F5 on my P3 whilst the LSD is out of action. Seemed quite the improvement.
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This is a best in show purebred competition.

Things are going to get quite complicated if folk start bringing in their crossbred Regamutts.

And quite dangerous too, especially so, if they haven't all been properly fixed; let alone dewormed, deloused, tick and flea dipped, etc.
 
Mr Pig said:
What makes you say it's the most important? I think the RB arm casting is the single most important thing Rega has ever done, in a sea of fairly clever things!
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You may be right, but it’s not what I think of when I think of Rega even though I’ve owned at least four of them! I suspect it is an age thing, that particular Planar 3 was just a legendary thing when I got interested in audio and very hard to actually get hold of. There is also a school of thought, which I’m pretty sure I subscribe to (but would need to go back in time and double-check), that the R200 actually suited the Planar 3 rather better giving a rather friendlier, warmer, fuller and more coherent sound than the more rigid RB300. Add the excellent R100 cartridge into the mix and it really was a wonderful vinyl front-end. No denying the RBxxx arm’s place in history though. It is a classic arm for sure.
 
Craig B said:
This is a best in show purebred competition.

Things are going to get quite complicated if folk start bring in their crossbred Regamutts.

And quite dangerous too, especially so, if they haven't all been properly fixed; let alone dewormed, deloused, tic and flea dipped, etc.
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I will put the unruly mutt in a sack and chuck it in the canal at once.
 
Tony L said:
I voted for the Planar 3, but the specific one I have in mind is the late-70s/early-80s model with the ‘S’ shaped R200 arm and R100 cartridge. Black plinth and lid, white logo. It was just such a radical, clean and logical design and stunning aesthetically. A real design classic. IIRC the waiting list was many months to get your hands on one at one point. I’m not suggesting it is the ‘best’ Rega, but it is unquestionably the most important. I’d love to have a mint boxed one in my little collection of vintage audio classics.
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I've a minty one here awaiting a tonearm ground repair, Tony. Sadly no original box, manual, etc. but a lovely thing. Last one I had was complete with every bit of internal packing and docs. I was a bit swamped with decks at the time and ended up selling it to a nice gent in Seattle (the music dept head at the uni there, IIRC). I have regretted selling that one ever since.
 
Tony L said:
that particular Planar 3 was just a legendary thing when I got interested in audio and very hard to actually get hold of. There is also a school of thought, which I’m pretty sure I subscribe to (but would need to go back in time and double-check), that the R200 actually suited the Planar 3 rather better..
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There was a waiting list for the P3/RB300 as well but these things have got more to do with Regas limited production capabilities than anything else.

I agree that the R200 sounds lovely and is competitive with the cast arms. My argument though is that it was those new arms that really set Rega apart from other manufactures and laid the foundation for what Rega is today. Had Rega continued to build turntables wearing Japanese sourced arms do you think we'd be having this conversation right now?
 
Mr Pig said:
Had Rega continued to build turntables wearing Japanese sourced arms do you think we'd be having this conversation right now?
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Linn did! (ducks, covers)

PS Rega would not have got to the point of being able to tool-up and manufacture a radical new arm design without the considerable success of the original Planar 2 & 3.
 
Tony L said:
There is also a school of thought, which I’m pretty sure I subscribe to (but would need to go back in time and double-check), that the R200 actually suited the Planar 3 rather better giving a rather friendlier, warmer, fuller and more coherent sound than the more rigid RB300...
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Not one that Roy Gandy subscribed to. The reworking of the Acos Lustre arm by RG (R200), his quest to have an arm of his own design built in Japan, the frustration of that not happening and the birth of the RB tonearm are wonderfully covered in the Rega book.
 
Earlier in this thread I wrote that my preference for the (classic) Planar 2 over the (classic) Planar 3 might be due to the 3's more 'dead' glass platter. So home I went to take a good look at my trusty old Planar 2 - and lo and behold: My Planar 2 has a glass platter! Is/was that standard with the Planar 2, or do I have some kind of mix between a 2 and 3...?
 
Thom PC said:
Earlier in this thread I wrote that my preference for the (classic) Planar 2 over the (classic) Planar 3 might be due to the 3's more 'dead' glass platter. So home I went to take a good look at my trusty old Planar 2 - and lo and behold: My Planar 2 has a glass platter! Is/was that standard with the Planar 2, or do I have some kind of mix between a 2 and 3...?
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AFAIK Rega have always used glass platters with the exception of the newer P1/RP1 and the ceramic platters used in their top models, 2's & 3's have always used glass.
 
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