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Rega Planar 6 or Planar 3? - both with Exact Cartridge

C

cjyosemite

pfm Member
After about a 25 year absence I returned to vinyl 3 months ago with a Rega Planar 3 with Elys 2 cartridge for my conservatory system. I took advice from both my Linn-addicted friend & neighbour and my local dealer about the right entry level. I had my eye on the Planar 6 with Exact cartridge but they were slow coming from Rega because at the time production numbers were low so initially could only demo the Planar 3 with Elys 2 cartridge. I bought a single LP of the same version (Hogwood/AAM) of Handel's Messiah which I already had on CD to do a direct comparison and was suitably impressed with it. I was about to place my order when the Planar 6 arrived which I took that home for a couple of days but it was not a successful demo as it had the MC cartridge so I had to borrow a phono stage & there were problems with hum & space. I decided the Planar 3 with Elys 2 was good enough for my needs at that stage & have been very satisfied with its performance.

I am now considering a second turntable for my lounge system & my thoughts again turned to the Planar 6 with Exact cartridge but wondered whether it was really worth the extra cost over a Planar 3 with Exact cartridge which I am told is a good step up from the Elys 2. I realise there are differences between the Planar 6 & Planar 3 but with the same Exact cartridge & same RB330 arm (different balance weight) I find it difficult to reconcile any other sound improvement with the additional cost of around £450, i.e. £1,200 for the Planar 6 & £750 for the Planar 3. Am I missing something in my considerations?
 
I've had the latest Planar 3 /Elys and it was good but RP6/Exact is quite a bit better IME

Guess the new Planar 6 goes even further, should I go there it would be with Ania (Aria or MC Fono needed)

Perhaps not a real answer to your specific questions - sorry
 
cjyosemite said:
I decided the Planar 3 with Elys 2 was good enough for my needs at that stage & have been very satisfied with its performance.

I am now considering a second turntable for my lounge system & my thoughts again turned to the Planar 6 with Exact cartridge but wondered whether it was really worth the extra cost... I find it difficult to reconcile any other sound improvement with the additional cost of around £450.
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Only you know the answer to this. Is a house with 4 bedrooms and a nice kitchen worth £x more than one in the next street with only 3? Is a BMW 530 worth £x more than a 520? They both go down the motorway fine. Is a Hugo Boss suit worth £100 more than one from Next?
If I had the sort of money of which you speak I'd be buying a Garrard 401. A RP3 is a nice deck, I've had one with an Elys 2, but a Garrard murders it. A Garrard built today would cost thousands, and there is a very nice one, rebuilt by Loricraft, in the Classifieds at under £600. £200 for a plinth, arm of your choice, you have a deck that you can put up against anything. I know, because mine went to FlatP's bakeoff running a very modest DL110 cartridge and stood shoulder to shoulder with LP12s, WTAs, SMEs and the like.
 
Yes, you are "missing something" - the platter, bearing hub and power supply of the P6 makes it a far better sounding turntable than the excellent p3.
 
The 3 is a great deck for the money
The 6 is a better deck for more money

Do you want to pay the extra?
It's that simple...
 
I'd say that £450 difference was actually much easier to justify to my ears/bank balance than the difference between the new Planer 3/Exact and the £250 late noughties P3 with Bias2 my record shop has for sale! The upgraded cart and updated deck are all good, but gradual improvements, proper speed regulation is night and day. Perhaps I have unusually bad mains frequency fluctuation, but that has been my experience!
 
I think the Planar 6 is a fantastic deck and is well worth the money. I’m less sold on the Exact, I personally think Rega’s MC designs perform much better at their given price points than their MM offerings, so if the Ania doesn’t suit, perhaps consider trying the Ortofon 2M bronze or black on a Planar 6, it will significantly outperform the Planar 3 Elys.
 
I really like the tonal balance of the Exact: sweet highs, but with a lot of detail and texture. It's true I never heard anything else on my RP6 while I had it, maybe the Ortofons are even better.
 
The Exact is quite a bit better than the Elys 2. You'll hear the difference. The thing to consider with the P6 is that for the extra £450 you get the (new) TT PSU and the metal subplatter (and the lighter plinth material). They will make a difference. £450 worth? Only you can decide. I have a pimped P3, and it sounds mighty fine. Close to its big brother I'd wager. But if the P6 had been available at the time, and the extra expense wasn't a stretch, I'd have gone with it in a heartbeat.
 
I'd wait and save for a Rega 8 if at all possible.

If not then go for the 6. The £450 difference now will still be worth +£200 if and when you come to sell/trade up.
 
Seanm said:
I really like the tonal balance of the Exact: sweet highs, but with a lot of detail and texture. It's true I never heard anything else on my RP6 while I had it, maybe the Ortofons are even better.
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I think the Ortofons are better, quite significantly. The difficulty is getting a demo on different cartridges but the 2M range are widely acknowledged for their great performance. I’ve used them on a P2, RP3 and two P5s I’m running a 2M black on my P5/Neo at the moment and I’ve been thinking of getting an Ania but suspect it’ll be a sideways move, hence I might go as far as an Apheta. That might sound like overkill on a P5 but mine with the Neo and a GT ref sub platter is a very solid performer.
 
Thanks for all your replies, I will try to reconcile my reservations with some of the points which have been made.

Cost is not an issue but being a tight-fisted Yorkshireman I do like to get good value for my money. I did ponder about the RP8 as there are clear design differences to the Planar 3 & 6, but decided that would be getting ahead of myself. The same applies to MC cartridges as apart from the additional cost of the cartridge I would need to buy a MC phono stage whereas my Rega Elex-R has built-in MM input, & I am also tight for space for a separate phono stage as I mentioned in my opening post.

Getting a demo of both decks with the Exact cartridge would not be a problem as I have a very good relationship with my dealer & he prefers me to demo at home before buying as neither of us wants to repeat a problem I had with Naim about 10 years ago - good in the shop but dreadful at home. He has also suggested a different cartridge which he often sold in the past but it's recent price inflation has tempered that recommendation somewhat.

I found the website comparison between the Planar 3 & 6 useful as it helped put the design differences into context of the likely benefits. Much of the cost difference I referred to initially is down to the power supply & whilst the Planar 6 version is reputably more advanced than the one available for the Planar 3, that remains a post-purchase option for the 3 if I have problems with speed stability which has not been the case so far with my existing 3. Some of my vinyl purchases to date have been piano music (I am 100% classical) with both complex very fast sections & other sections with up to 5 seconds decay on a single note & nothing has jumped out as being a "bum" note.

Vinyl is unlikely to become my main listening format as I am very much into opera & the lack of continuity with vinyl is one drawback but another is that I have a growing opera collection on blu-ray which enables me to watch as well as listen. Furthermore my main system is restricted to CD/SACD & FM radio as there is simply no room for any more kit in that system unless I have a complete clear-out & rebuild from scratch - don't think wife would be too impressed with that as I already spend more than enough on Hi-Fi. The system where I am considering the second turntable is actually system no. 4 which is primarily AV but the Hi-Fi element of it is recently upgraded for the opera previously mentioned - Arcam BDP300, Rega Elex-R amp & ProAc Tablette Anniversary speakers with Castle (ATC design) classic sub-woofer. Perhaps I should also mention that an Oppo 205 is a likely replacement for the Arcam in the near foreseeable future - but probably a bit further away if I go for the Planar 6.

Clearly your unanimous opinion favours the Planar 6 & my next step will be to demo it with the Exact cartridge, which I was not able to do when I bought my existing Planar 3. If I think it is a good value for money step up from my 3 then that is what I will probably go for, if not I may reflect on whether I really need the second turntable - it just isn't a good time of the year to listen in a conservatory at night & time available in the day has been limited recently (even though I am retired). Thanks again for your comments & I will let you know the outcome in due course.
 
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Perhaps move your P3/elys to lounge and upgrade main rig with old stock RP6/Exact

Sometimes these are not much more than a new P3
 
cjyosemite said:
Thanks for all your replies, I will try to reconcile my reservations with some of the points which have been made.

Cost is not an issue but being a tight-fisted Yorkshireman I do like to get good value for my money. I did ponder about the RP8 as there are clear design differences to the Planar 3 & 6, but decided that would be getting ahead of myself. The same applies to MC cartridges as apart from the additional cost of the cartridge I would need to buy a MC phono stage whereas my Rega Elex-R has built-in MM input, & I am also tight for space for a separate phono stage as I mentioned in my opening post.

Getting a demo of both decks with the Exact cartridge would not be a problem as I have a very good relationship with my dealer & he prefers me to demo at home before buying as neither of us wants to repeat a problem I had with Naim about 10 years ago - good in the shop but dreadful at home. He has also suggested a different cartridge which he often sold in the past but it's recent price inflation has tempered that recommendation somewhat.

I found the website comparison between the Planar 3 & 6 useful as it helped put the design differences into context of the likely benefits. Much of the cost difference I referred to initially is down to the power supply & whilst the Planar 6 version is reputably more advanced than the one available for the Planar 3, that remains a post-purchase option for the 3 if I have problems with speed stability which has not been the case so far with my existing 3. Some of my vinyl purchases to date have been piano music (I am 100% classical) with both complex very fast sections & other sections with up to 5 seconds decay on a single note & nothing has jumped out as being a "bum" note.

Vinyl is unlikely to become my main listening format as I am very much into opera & the lack of continuity with vinyl is one drawback but another is that I have a growing opera collection on blu-ray which enables me to watch as well as listen. Furthermore my main system is restricted to CD/SACD & FM radio as there is simply no room for any more kit in that system unless I have a complete clear-out & rebuild from scratch - don't think wife would be too impressed with that as I already spend more than enough on Hi-Fi. The system where I am considering the second turntable is actually system no. 4 which is primarily AV but the Hi-Fi element of it is recently upgraded for the opera previously mentioned - Arcam BDP300, Rega Elex-R amp & ProAc Tablette Anniversary speakers with Castle (ATC design) classic sub-woofer. Perhaps I should also mention that an Oppo 205 is a likely replacement for the Arcam in the near foreseeable future - but probably a bit further away if I go for the Planar 6.

Clearly your unanimous opinion favours the Planar 6 & my next step will be to demo it with the Exact cartridge, which I was not able to do when I bought my existing Planar 3. If I think it is a good value for money step up from my 3 then that is what I will probably go for, if not I may reflect on whether I really need the second turntable - it just isn't a good time of the year to listen in a conservatory at night & time available in the day has been limited recently (even though I am retired). Thanks again for your comments & I will let you know the outcome in due course.
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The new aftermarket PSU is the Neo, they no longer sell the TT-PSU MK2. The Neo is the same PSU as supplied with the Planar 6 and costs £225 to buy on its own. Well worth it in my opinion if you already have a Planar 3 or RP3 and especially worth it for their older higher end decks... but if you’re buying a new deck and a Neo, you’re probably better off spending that bit more and buying the Planar 6 and I suspect a demonstration will confirm that.
 
While I haven't yet heard the new P6, I have no doubt that if the rest of your system is up to it, it will be well worth the additional cost vs the P3. I'm currently an RP6 owner (will likely jump on a P6 if I can't wait for I would expect eventual P8), previously I had an RP40. The RP40 was basically a "hot rodded" RP3 & it seemed like it had most of the goodies that should make the RP6 better vs the RP3 (TTPSU, better bracing, better feet, etc), so I purchased that as my first table. I went from the Elys2 to Exact on that table (noticeable improvement) & then upgraded to an aftermarket subplatter (again, noticeable improvement). To be honest I wasn't a huge fan of the look (glass platter had a green tint with a red mat, looked like Christmas) & a gloss white RP6 came up which I much preferred the look of. I thought at best they would sound the same (since I already had upgraded the subplatter on the RP40 & would be using the stock one on the RP6), but to my surprise the RP6 was an obvious upgrade.

The new p6 is supposed to have an even better power supply, add that to the plinth that now shares tech with the higher up models & I would think the new P6 should be quite an upgrade vs the actual price difference. On a side note, if you can get away from Rega cartridges & can run MC, I'd highly recommend Hana cartridges. I've swapped from the Exact to the Hana SL & the Hana is a far superior cartridge for right around the same cost. While the Exact seems like a good "jack of all trades", much better can be had for the same price.
 
daren_p said:
.... On a side note, if you can get away from Rega cartridges & can run MC, I'd highly recommend Hana cartridges. I've swapped from the Exact to the Hana SL & the Hana is a far superior cartridge for right around the same cost. While the Exact seems like a good "jack of all trades", much better can be had for the same price.
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Thats V interesting, the SL are similar priced as Ania, not that very much more expensive vs Exact, both need another phonostage though

Never been a fan of HO MC's I noticed Hana LO version are same price as HO, making Hana EH direct competitor to Exact pricewise
 
I thought the Exact was more than that now, that does make it more competitive but from what I've heard of the Hana cartridges, I'd spend the extra. I thought those were closer to £600 but at £384 they're a bit of a bargain!
 
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