Newbie turntable advice - Rega P2

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

I have one LP, but really want to get a turntable and buy a few LP's. One hi fi shop gave me the fantastic offer of a Rega p3/24, Elyo Cartridge and a rega TT PSU for £450.I am very tempted, but to spend £450 when i only have 1 LP and it could be just a whim at the moment ! So i was thinking maybe getting a Raga P2 and if i take to vinyl and buy more then i can upgrade later on. Any Thoughts ?

Also, does anyone have a P2 Rega ? What do they think of it and what Cartridge do you recommand ? Don't want to spend over £300 if i can help it.

Thanks,

Gbeer7

 

[Lost Angeles]

Gbeer7:

Hello all,

I have one LP, but really want to get a turntable and buy a few LP's. One hi fi shop gave me the fantastic offer of a Rega p3/24, Elyo Cartridge and a rega TT PSU for £450.I am very tempted, but to spend £450 when i only have 1 LP and it could be just a whim at the moment ! So i was thinking maybe getting a Raga P2 and if i take to vinyl and buy more then i can upgrade later on. Any Thoughts ?

Also, does anyone have a P2 Rega ? What do they think of it and what Cartridge do you recommand ? Don't want to spend over £300 if i can help it.

Thanks,

Gbeer7

Only having one LP and nothing to play it on is cruel and sad. It must sit in your rack with no one to talk to and never gets the chance to show what it can do. At least Michael McIntyre's herbs and spices have each other to talk to.

 

[Anonymous]

LOL !

He's fine, part of my Tom Petty Anothology box set.

 

[Lost Angeles]

Gbeer7:

LOL !

He's fine, part of my Tom Petty Anothology box set.

I'm glad about that

 

[Lost Angeles]

The Rega P2 with Bias 2 fitted is listed at £299 and may be a good start.
You don't list your amp, I presume it has a phono in socket.

 

[Anonymous]

I have an audiolab 8000s. Just checked and it doesn't appear to.

 

[Lost Angeles]

If you have no phono in socket then you will need an external phono stage which will be more expense.
My 8000A had a good quality phono stage, presume they have left it off to reduce cost.

 

[Anonymous]

I have an audiolab 8000s. Just checked and it doesn't appear to.

 

[jetjohnson]

...It's a sign of the times when an Audiolab amp doesn't have a phono input (I've checked with What hifi's own review section!) but going on my own experience (admittedly a few years ago) a Rega and an Audiolab amp used to be made for each other .....

One piece of advice re plunging into a vinyl buying spree though ...new vinyl is almost always way more expensive than the equivalent CD ....being an old gadgie from vinyl's deep and dark 70's heyday I'm lucky to have loads of albums from way back but can only afford so many at today's prices ....even 2nd hand shops have cottoned on to the resurgent vinyl market and are likely to charge high prices for anything regrded as even sightly "rare" (or what they think may be rare)

....However vinyl can still sound wonderful and you can buy some decent vinyl on ebay if you are careful and there are many posters on here who can reccomend some decent shops.

 

[Anonymous]

The project debut doesn't require a phono stage and is within budget. Worth trying to have a listen.

 

[crusaderlord]

i sold all my vinyl a few years ago but as often happens as i got older i found i missed the interraction of playing vinyl from my youth

so i started with my 3 remaining LP's i kept for posterity and bought a good condition Rega Planar 2 off ebay for £100 to test the water which i then kept for a year

during that time i obtained some more LP's mostly in 2nd hand stores for between 30p and £1.50 each, a good way to try music out if anything and apart from a couple of poor copies off ebay (i have learnt not to buy cheap ebay vinyl but look instead for more reputatable dealers - costs more but safer) i now have a small but decent collection on the cheap

recently i sold my Planar 2 for a little more than my purchase price and got a new Rega P3-24 with the outboard PSU and an Ortofon 2M Blue all for £475. If it helps you this set up far far outperforms the Planar 2 and makes vinyl a better proposition to listen to (i was always still tempted to ditch vinyl again as a medium when i had the Planar 2)

so one issue with buying a cheaper TT is that is wont necessarily sound quite a good as you hoped and so may put you off a little, it nearly did for me but the P3-24 is very good value, still not as quite good as my CD which is my primary source but still enjoyable enough now to pick up some vinyl bargains - currently listening to a mint Chris Rea album Shamrock Diaries which sounds great and cost me 30p !

 

[Lost Angeles]

The Rega-SynergyAV website is advertising the P2 with Bias2 cartridge for £300 and the Rega phono mini amp for £60. They are also offering a free home trial so this may be worth looking at.
I know Chebby had a P2 you could perhaps do with his opinion of it and the phono amp as I have never heard any of this gear.

I have no association with the above company.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks LA. I'll take a look. I have though about going for a P3 24, but thinking that could be alot of money. Why can't hi fi stuff be free !!

 

[Anonymous]

If you don't mind me asking... Where did you guys manage to get the deals on the p3-24 tables with TT PSUs and Cartridges around the £450-£475 mark? I'm looking into upgrading my Debut III and that kind of deal sounds perfect.

Thanks in advance for any direction you can point me in...

Cheers