Rega Planar 3

I am thinking of buying a Regar Planar 3 for my NAIM system

With Pre-Amp and upgraded power supply, I am looking at around £1200.00

Should I be looking at any alternatives or is the RP3 the best bang for your buck?

Would 1200 get you to a RP6, phono pre amp and power supply. It would be a better buy if so.

1 Like

The Planar 3 is an excellent deck, and bundled with the Exact costs £800. As you say, with the Neo and Fono MM the cost comes to a little over £1,200. Note that there are new versions of the Neo (the mk 2) and Fono (mk 5) that look considerably better.

If you are already thinking of adding the Neo, you may do well to try to find a gently used P6, which is better generally and comes with a Neo.

Note that the RP3 and RP6 are the previous generation decks - the current ones are the P3 and P6 and those are the ones to look at.

Current P6, Exact and Neo is listed at 1259. You would then need the Fono.
A discount should be available on such a package if you shop around.

It’s knowing when to stop of course. I recently sold my year old P8 for £1,050, which with a new Exact would come to £1,300, about the same as a new 6. I think the point really is that if already thinking of a Neo with a 3, it’s probably best to go with a 6.

2 Likes

Yeah of course. There are loads of other decks in that price range and some are exceptionally good. The forum is often a bit binary for turntables. 90% are probably Linn or Rega, but they are not the only horses in the race.

TEAC, for example, do some excellent decks in the P1 - P8 price range. My dealer does the usual Linn and Rega but I walked out with a TEAC TN-4D. By the time I had tarted it up with a better cartridge and power supply it was P6 price territory but who’s counting.

There are many others too. I think you are spoilt for choice.

2 Likes

As per HH. If you think a Neo is a way forward, just go for a P6. Interestingly the P6 does not come the pot adjustment “tool”. They must assume it never needs adjustment.

A Roksan Attessa Turntable is certainly another one in for the running and IHMO has a lot more interesting design features than any of the Rega decks for around your intended budget.

The Attessa is certainly interesting. I was looking at one when I was in Audio T recently. The flat arm is certainly very different and makes a nice change. Whether interesting design features beat solid engineering refined over decades I’m not so sure, but it’s got to be worth trying.

1 Like

I see you have a NAC92, this probably has a phono stage built in. A separate one may be an upgrade on this, but using it may free up more of your budget for a better turntable which is the most important component.

1 Like

The 92 seems to have had a high level input on input 1 as standard, which could be converted to phono by adding the appropriate boards. If it does have the phono boards, it’s certainly ideal to use them, and save the £250 or whatever.

1 Like

I imagine a lot of those who bought a Naim amp on the 1990s would have used a turntable with it, so there’s a good chance of it having phono boards fitted. Of course you would need to check that the boards were compatible with your chosen MM or MC cartridge.

1 Like

…And what a phono stage that was too. If indeed the OP’s 92 does have those boards fitted, i’d be using those for sure and forgetting about a separate stage altogether. I ran a Rega P3 2000 with mine and i thought it sounded excellent, especially for the cost involved.

1 Like

Rega RP3 is a great turntable for the money and you are not likely to regret it. It’s something of a bargain really.

I see some are suggesting buying an RP6 and it Is an improvement for sure but it sounds an incremental one to me rather than being a leap forward and so possibly not so good value in my view. However, there are many who will disagree.

If I was looking for something a lot better than a Rega RP3 I would be looking at the RP8 which in my view is at another level even to the RP6.

I would suggest auditioning the P3 and P6 side by side. That’s what I did and the P6 won by by a long way but that is probably because it had an Ania MC cartridge,. It seemed to me that if you want to go for the Neo there is not much to be saved by going for the P3 plus the Neo over the P6 which is bundled with the Neo. The P3 with the Exact cart sounded great absolutely but the P6 added a lot more.
The other thing worth considering is the cost of a replacement cart if it gets damaged - the MC ones aren’t cheap so I don’t let any of my kids even look at the P6 let alone use it (and the youngest is 22!)

That’s a bit harsh. I owned a Linn with an MC cartridge when I was 18 and was more than capable of using it.

2 Likes

You haven’t lived with my kids! They would want to play with the P6 after a skinfull and that is going to get expensive. Besides which they are happy playing with the Sonos in the rest of the house

The more i keep looking at one the more i’m tempted to give it whirl. I wonder what the Dana cartridge is like? Also, will it suit a SN3’s onboard stage? :thinking:

Just be careful that you know what you are getting into. I started with a Planar 1 Plus and now have a Planar 10. If the deck isn’t good enough for the rest of the system you won’t use it as much. Then there’s the record cleaner for £300 or so, and of course records aren’t cheap. It’s great fun though. I suspect a Rega would be a better way to go, and if you you do want to upgrade later there is a ready market. As I’ve discovered over the past year…

1 Like

Yes sound advice Nigel. Plenty to ponder on first of all before getting carried away. I don’t have that many records anymore either though I suspect buying them is just as good fun. Your record player looks really lovely in the pictures. All the new decks here recently have me salivating. More an indulgence if i’m to be totally honest. It never stops.:+1: