Been wanting to take the plunge for a while now. I did briefly toy with the idea a few years back but instead traded my CD5XS and the nait XS in for a 272 and a 200.
The itch has come back and ive been reading many positives on the new Rega Planar 3. Gave Bob a call at Sound Org a call on our way home from a concert this morning (went to see Ibiza classics with Pete Tong in Manchester last night), and asked when he could be free to give us a demo. Turned out he was free this afternoon so we went along with some vinyl in hand. I also took with me my CA 640P which I bought some time ago to utilise a friends dad's old Thorens TD160.
WIth the P3 rigged up with a 272, 200 and some spendor A6R (no Ovators unfortunately) we were off. We listened to a few tracks on the stock P3 with the 640P before we tried the Rega Fono in its place. Difference was immediate and surprisingly huge. I can only think that there may be an issue with my CA 640 as I have read many places that the Fono is only a modest improvement but to our ears it was no contest, there was actually detail above 3 Khz which we hadnt realised was missing on the CA.
Anyway a few more tracks and the verdict was an extremely positive one. I then asked to hear the RP6 in place. I had in my mind that the Exact cart and the TTPSU were the natural next upgrades to the P3 so I was curious to hear what difference there was, and was expecting a big one.
The difference was definitely there, more refinement, more detail and less noise. I was convinced that the P3 would be better with a more fair comparison however so we did the easy swap of putting the TTPSU on the P3. The gap narrowed significantly and I suspect that it would close even further, if not disappear with the better cart. Timbre and realism of instruments took a good leap and the bottom end was more controlled with the PSU in place.
With the P3 back in place we listened to a few more tracks before making up my mind that the P3 would likely be all the deck I will ever need, and hearing the response it had to a better psu made me realise that its got big potential for the future if (when) the itch comes back to upgrade a little further.
In the end I requested a loan of the P3 with the TTPSU for the rest of the weekend, Bob kindly obliged and I am now sat in my living room with the Rega playing some Radiohead, must say it sounds sublime with my system.
My only head scratcher is whether to plump for the TTPSU and stick with the Elys 2 cart or to upgrade the cart if (ok, ok, when!) I buy the deck. I could go for the obvious Exact as an upgrade but Bob suggested that other carts would be an option if I wished.
I will definitely be going for the Rega Fono with the deck so it leaves me with around 250 to spend on a cart to stick with my upper budget of 1000. I will then save for the TTPSU seperately some time early in the new year.
Any suggestions from you experienced lot?
Pics below, hope you agree it looks like it belongs ;-)
ATB, Dan.
Posted on: 03 December 2016 by Tyranniux
A bit confused... what exactly is the question?
Christopher managed to decypher my ramblings, apologies haha!
Essentially want to know if i am better plumping for an upgraded cart over the Elys 2 or to go for the TTPSU. My current thoughts are that with a discount being offered on the Exact cart it may make slightly more financial sense as I can take advantage of that immediately and go for the PSU later.
As far as I can tell the Elys 2 is approx 125 but comes with the deck for 75. If a similar saving is applied for the Exact it comes in at approx 200 vs 250 meaning I could go for that for the same price as the TTPSU, assuming its as much of an upgrade....
If I were to do it the other way and ended up going for the Exact in the future it would cost me approx £50 more overall...
Posted on: 03 December 2016 by joerand
I could go for the obvious Exact as an upgrade but Bob suggested that other carts would be an option if I wished.
I'd say Bob's a good man suggesting options to the Exact and I'd take him up on that offer if you can get some demos. If you're going to be casually into vinyl Rega carts are a safe choice, but IME they tend to mask surface noise at the expense of dynamics and resolution. If you're more serious about vinyl listening then you can readily find more dynamic carts than the Regas at half the price or less.
BTW - what did you think of the A6R's versus your Ovators? I'm currently running through a laundry list of speakers for home demo and would love to include the A6R's, but the nearest Spendor dealer is a 300 mile round trip.
Posted on: 03 December 2016 by Robiwan
i hope you have not tested the P3 with rega cart on humm/buzz, than you will send it back.
I had one to test at home (P3 2016+Elys2) and it was very noisy with motor (a new DC one) on when moving the arm towards the center (spindle) with volume only set at 10 o clock. It also picked up noise from the Naim power supplies very easily. So returned the damn thing. It sounded good though but that humm was a no no for me at that price range!
Strangely my RP1 performance (Bias2) with simple AC motor is much much more quiet with motor on and placed close to my Naim gear. So Rega hasn't done it's homework properly with P3 with Elys2.
Posted on: 08 December 2016 by Dre
. Just recently went from a Simaudio 110LP to their new 310LP Neo, & have been rather impressed.
Daren, is upgrade from 110 to 310 obvious? Did it take time to find difference, of from cold start better?
Thinking of upgrading, from onboard phono on moon 350p preamo, to a 310, but not sure if its Much better...do you use the 310s power supply with it?
impressions welcome thanks
Posted on: 08 December 2016 by daren_p
. Just recently went from a Simaudio 110LP to their new 310LP Neo, & have been rather impressed.
Daren, is upgrade from 110 to 310 obvious? Did it take time to find difference, of from cold start better?
Thinking of upgrading, from onboard phono on moon 350p preamo, to a 310, but not sure if its Much better...do you use the 310s power supply with it?
impressions welcome thanks
To me, right from cold (had it plugged in for a couple hours before my first listen) it was an obvious upgrade. It sounded great right from the start & seems to have improved even further. Only have about 10 hrs on it so far but it's been plugged in for ~3weeks now. At one point, after the first couple hours it seemed hyper detailed which was interesting but it was also rather bright/forward. But it quickly settled back down. Some claim very long break in times (I'm not typically a believer in the rediclously long times) but I'm already very happy with how it's sounding.
I have the new Neo version that was just released which has a few upgraded components, such as custom upgraded caps in the power supply. Sim is currently claiming the external power supply isn't such a required upgrade with the new version. They don't currently offer the 320PS in a Neo version, so will be interesting to see if they come out with one, possibly upgraded as well?
edit: here is a cut and past from a thread on a local forum that a Sim employee had posted before the Neo was released, that includes some details on the upgrades:
The old and new ones however are far more similar than different. Aside from the obvious visual difference (the new one has the sculpted faceplate like the 230HAD), the power supply has new custom made ultra high grade capacitors and the gain stage employs new state of the art semiconductors borrowed from the studio recording world. Sonically the family footprint is retained, being extremely dynamic and neutral and a definite step up from the discontinued 310LP. If you like the 110LP you are sure to love the new Neo 310LP (or the old one for that matter). The only potential drawback is that the 310LP family, in the spirit of all our products, is engineered to reveal great detail and harmonic resolution. If your source isn't up to that level, the sound may be displeasing in some ways in that you will be hearing the limitations of the source. However overall, and this is subjective, you will most likely greatly prefer the 310LP over the 110LP.
As mentioned above I'm running an rp6/exact2 with a Groovetracer subplatter & the Rega double white belt/pulley. Using a Swagman labs linear power supply on the ttpsu.
