Thanks @Mr.M, that’s really useful information and will make for a nice little project at some stage.
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How about a refurbished Garrard 401, a plinth off of a well known auction site and second hand arm and new mm cartridge. Or if budget allows Denon 103 and second hand Denon SUT. (allowing you to use your current phono stage)
John
Others mentioned Neo PSU and motor upgrade, EBLT, and a better support - all good ideas - but nobody seems to have mentioned the cartridge. A P3 is much more capable than the lowly Bias 2, even more so after the mentioned upgrades. As you want to keep it simple and have the fine Fono MM, I’d go with a Rega Exact. Edit: someone did after all, seconded
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You may well get to a point with the tinkering whereby simply replacing it with a current P3 and factory fit cart makes more sense economically.
It’s also likely @Mike_S existing deck has the older RB300 tonearm for example, the bracing and tonearm on the current P3 are superior overall even when comparing versions of P3 like for like.
Might be a nice opportunity to take a look at a P8 at that point, opens up some MC cart options as well for some measurable refinements, certainly would be in keeping with the rest of the system from a synergy/performance perspective.
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Rega don’t help themselves or us with how they name their products.
Today’s P3 is not the same as a P3 of 10 years ago. Nor 20 years ago.
Their hierarchy numbering can be flawed too. Is a P9 better than todays P8? The P25 is little more than a fancy P3 ( of the day) with a slightly better tonearm and some wood.
In fact Rega make Naims nomenclature easy to work out!
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I see your point, but a Volkswagen Golf from 1976 is also not the same as today’s. It’s not uncommon at all
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But a Mk1 golf is referred to a such. And people know it was produced until 1983, when the Mk2 was made until about 1991.
And most know the Mk3 was not worth talking about at all.
Rega TTs, are referred to as say P3 need to be qualified by which version. When someone tells us about their P3 it’s meaningless unless they tell us which version. It could be that today’s P1 outperforms a 10 year old P3.
Worth a read to clarify what changes were made through the years. It’s usually fairly easy to identify vintage based on specific elements, the logo/name and the motor connectors. The most recent versions have a brace between the platter bearing and the tonearm bearing as well.
I believe old ones are referred to as “Golf” if more precise specification is not needed, and “Mk 1” or the year is mentioned if it is needed. I agree that “P3” needs additional info in many scenarios, but the problem is IMHO more with the people just saying “P3” and not so much with the model name.
In this case, Mike_S even did mention “I have my original Rega Planar 3” but everyone ignored it 
(Though yes, it could be avoided by calling every model and year by a different name, and then people would complain about proliferation of names and be confused by this instead)
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If it was an original version it would have an S shaped tonearm as well. His doesn’t 
Yes, but it could have been inferred from “original” “Planar 3” and not “P3”, and the pic, that it would be a late 80s one with the one-point arm screw and without the 24V motor. So even though the name changed in this case, it was not taken into account anyway, somewhat supporting my point that it’s not so much the model names causing confusion.
I think we’ve scared Mike in to silence, either that or he’s given up and gone to bed…
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I did go to bed, but was getting a bit anxious about swapping motors etc, though I have a mate who would do it for a few beers. I was thinking about asking my dealer, but he will just try and sell me a new turntable and I think the “original”, but apparently not the true original (I think it’s 40 years old) in black is the most aesthetic match for a rack of black Naim boxes.
That looks as though it has the thicker base of the original P3. but with a later RB300 tone arm.
Top right is the same deck but with the earlier Acos? S arm.
If your TT rotates at the correct speed and is stable I wouldn’t do anything with the motor. If it runs slow or inconsistent than just replace the caps. Its an easy job on these if you can use a soldering iron. You can further improve the running with a new ball at the bottom of the bearing housing and fresh oil. Obviously check your belt and the suspension belt. They stretch over time.
You can put a much better cart on that arm as suggested. That will make the biggest difference.
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My dealer did this for me a few years ago when it wasn’t playing at the right speed.
Silly question, but is that straightforward, just remove one and add another?
Thanks for the advice.
Replacing the cart is straightforward. As you say remove one and put back the new one. The hardest thing is removing the small crimped wires. Just be careful. I use tweezers. You will need to align the new cart with an alignment gauge. The cardboard one that comes with the deck is fine. If you haven’t still got it the internet will find you one.
I’ve just been running a Grado cart on mine and it sounds fine. It’s not the best cart in the world but it shows that the early Planar 3 will run a good cart. If you stick with a Rega cart you can probably ask your dealer to fit and demo it in the shop. Personally I’d do it myself but if the dealer offers then why not. There are a lot of good carts around the 50 -100 pounds mark out there so do a bit of googling for reviews. On the other P3 in the pic I run an old school Ortofon VMS20E which you can pick up cheaply and then buy a new replacement stylus for. Others will have their favourites.
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Thanks. It’s a 170km drive to my dealers, so I’m sure I can manage installing it myself. I might look at the Rega Exact.
Why reluctantly? I was very happy to, never finding anything stimulating about them as physical objects, apart from a few opera CDs with full libretto booklets.
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Mine looked the same as far as I can tell (thicker plinth, one-point arm mounting) and I bought it in 1987
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If you use the Rega cartridges, like the recommended Exact, yes. They have the 3-point mounting, so no faffing with overhang
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