Rega planar 2 or RP3

[Bubbles]

Hello, i'm after some advice and opinions please. My husband has offered to buy me a turntable for christmas which is great as ive been eyeing them up online all year. I've got lots of vinyl already as I used to have an old 1960s record player with built in speakers, it wasnt the best sounding thing in the world but I loved the physical eliment of vinyl and really miss it. I bought a cambridge audio amp and speakers early in the year and now just need a phono stage and turntable to complete. My budget is around £400 for the turntable which I Know is quite low compared to many others. Don't mind making some upgrades along the line but nothing to major. I think I have finally narrowed it down to the new rega Planar 2 which comes with either carbon or bias cart, or the Rega RP3 with elys 2 which is still available online as discontinued stock for around the same price as the planar 2. There seems to be no stores near by where I can look at the 2 tables and compare, but can find places to see the P2. Oh and the new planar 3 is way out of price range. What is everyones opionion about the 2 tables? which one is the better buy? i've done lots of searching online and there is no comparisons out there. I know the RP3 is officially the step up but can't tell whether the new p2 is on equal par due to all the modern changes made. Any help and advice is much appreciated.

 

[Al ears]

Hello, i'm after some advice and opinions please. My husband has offered to buy me a turntable for christmas which is great as ive been eyeing them up online all year. I've got lots of vinyl already as I used to have an old 1960s record player with built in speakers, it wasnt the best sounding thing in the world but I loved the physical eliment of vinyl and really miss it. I bought a cambridge audio amp and speakers early in the year and now just need a phono stage and turntable to complete. My budget is around £400 for the turntable which I Know is quite low compared to many others. Don't mind making some upgrades along the line but nothing to major. I think I have finally narrowed it down to the new rega Planar 2 which comes with either carbon or bias cart, or the Rega RP3 with elys 2 which is still available online as discontinued stock for around the same price as the planar 2. There seems to be no stores near by where I can look at the 2 tables and compare, but can find places to see the P2. Oh and the new planar 3 is way out of price range. What is everyones opionion about the 2 tables? which one is the better buy? i've done lots of searching online and there is no comparisons out there. I know the RP3 is officially the step up but can't tell whether the new p2 is on equal par due to all the modern changes made. Any help and advice is much appreciated.

What a nice husband.

To be honest their isn't going to be a lot between them. It pretty much comes down to the cartridge. In this case I would go for the RP3 as the fitted cartridge is slightly better than either on the Planar 2.

 

[Bubbles]

Brilliant thank you for the advice really appreciate it : ) just can't wait to start playing my neglected records at Christmas now.

 

[audioaddict]

i think the planar 2 looks hot, even thinking about getting one myself. mind you, i read the planar 1 was as good as the 2 so you save a few quid

 

[GoodersGold]

I recently upgraded my TT and fancied the Rega P2. I auditioned the P2 and while I was there the guys brought out the new Planer 1 I have to say I was very surprised by the results, my ears could not really tell the difference, now I will say I enjoy listening to music rather than the equipment but it does have to sound good! I went home with the P1. Interestingly both TT are fitted with the same Carbon Cartridge, I did experiment with changing this over to my ( 5x more expensive) cart out the old TT but quickly changed it back, for the money it's a great TT and super easy to setup. Hope this helps, all the best