When reading this thread @corsuse I see you have received all the right input from other members already, perhaps I can reiterate with some emphasis of my own:
Rega TTs like their wall shelfs and not being in between the speakers
The muscular fat bass from Naim digital is addictive and hard to reproduce with a TT
Aria is a really nice phono stage but tends to amplify this
Planar 3 is definitely below the minimum level for integration in a decent Naim system
Several routes forward then, one not excluding the other so also and/and:
See if you can change the platform and its placement
Try a Stageline N with Ortofon Bronze M2R (doesnāt need a spacer), or
Upgrade to a Rega Ania Pro, keep Aria or change to Stageline S
Use a Naim grey interconnect RCA>DIN between Aria and pre-amp
Upgrade turntable to minimum P6, preferably P8, or buy a LP12
All in my opinion of course, been there done that, a nice journey to start discovering yourself!
Letās just say, without any value judgement, that Aria and Stageline go in different directions soundwise.
Given you can easily hook up any Stageline via aux2 to your well-powered pre-amp, it may be interesting to try if you prefer that sound.
Then thereās a world of other phono stages, but I would upgrade deck and/or cart first during or after this experiment.
Have fun, you already have great gear so this is all nice to explore.
You canāt beat Naim digital streaming gear for there full and forcefull basspower with a vinyl set up. But with good vinyl you get better 3D picture and a more fleshy quality.
Oh, that sounds great! The nd7 is definitely on my radar. I didnāt know Rega would release a new MM cart. Probably that would be the first thing to do for my upgrade path.
Or a new deck with the Nd7 at the same timeā¦the P6 is quite a step up from the P3 especially for the characteristics youāre looking for, the P8 even more so. I would think both will eventually be shipped with the Nd7 factory installed as one of the options.
P6 or P8, with Ania Pro MC fitted.
The Aria is a fine phono stage and bring lots of synergy to the above.
Having compared the two, IMO, the Aria is a better phono stage than the Stageline.
Ideally, you should try some of these combinations and arrive at your own conclusions. We all hear things differently and make decisions based on our own personal situations.
I ran a Rega 300 on my Townshend for a couple of decades with DV17D2s and a D3 using a Tom Evans phonostage. When I bought a CD5x I found my vinyl sounded rather grey in comparison, though more detailed. Replacing the phonostage with a superline powered from my 282 was a huge improvement but it still had that greyness about it. The cure came in the form of an Aro, which was still made at the time.
This obviously isnāt going to work for you but does point to the arm of your p3 being part of the problem and no amount of upgrading of phonostage or cartridge is going to solve it, youāre on the hunt for a new deck as changing the arm on a Rega is pretty pointless.
Audition a higher level Rega by all means but also look elsewhere. The Well Tempered Simplex would be worth throwing in the mix but thereās plenty of choice out there.
If youāre of a practical bent find an old idler wheel Lenco, spend a few hundred on a PTP kit and some bamboo plywood and build your own deck. Iām delighted with mine with a Korf arm, my Aro lives in its box for now, though Iām quite tempted to build another to take two arms.
Try adding a little bit more tracking weight on the cartridge and see what that does to the sound.
Only go up a bit and really need tracking force scale to do this, very cheap from ebay, etc.
I didnāt go but I have had a number of people who were at the show get in touch and all state that the Rega Nd7 setup was one of the best at the show, the new cartridge sounding well above what its pricing would suggest.
One comment was that if the Nd7 was double the price it would still be good value, in their opinion the new cartridge was better than the Ania and would give the Ania Pro a good run.