Motor upgrade for Rega Planar 2 and 3 turntables

Over the past few years Rega has pioneered through cost effective and sophisticated electronic circuitry - the advanced fine-tuning of our already superbly quiet motor. Our electronic expertise has allowed us to take this technology in a passive form down to our budget turntable.

The new P2 and P3 motor upgrades use no active electronic trimming devices and combines remarkable cost-effective engineering producing extremely low vibration. This has enabled Rega to re-design one of the most classic features of the original Planar design. As their new motor assembly has virtually no vibration, it can be directly coupled to the turntable plinth using the latest in adhesive pad technology commonly found in the automotive and aerospace industry. Being able to directly mount the motor to the plinth provides a highly effective drive train from the motor pulley through the drive belt to the sub platter. This process will directly reduce both wow and particularly flutter that the turntable produces. This will demonstrate itself in sound quality as having more control accuracy and detail.

Special offer: Calling all Planar 2 owners

If you are the proud owner of a Planar 2 turntable, you will be glad to know that your aging turntable can be upgraded to current specification for much less than you think! You may still have one of the older Planar 2 turntables with wooden surround and R200 arm (shown below) and in this case you are in for a real surprise. The following upgrade options should be considered (in order of importance):

Motor upgrade: After some years of use your Planar 2 motor will start slowing down, to the point where it will not start up without some manual assistance, and wow and flutter will increase. Remove the platter mat and switch on the turntable. It the motor pulley moves sideways and shudders then you have the older motor which was loosely suspended from the plinth. Replacing this with the new P2 upgrade motor will have the greatest overall improvement: rock steady pitch (stable speed on 33rpm and 45rpm, with no wow and flutter); and quick startup time. The onboard PC board improves dramatically on the older model.
Drive belt: The drive belt wears out in time and a new drive belt, along with the new motor, allows a perfectly stable and pitch-free rotation of the platter.
Felt mat: Your old felt mat should be full of grime by now, which invariably finds its way to the record. Replace your mat today.
RB250 arm: Replacing the R200 arm with the RB250 or RB251 is put last on the list, not because it is least important, but because of cost. The RB250 / RB251 is an excellent arm and is used by many other turntable manufacturers are standard equipment on their own turntables.

Rega Planar 2 upgrade options The individual cost of the above products are as follows:

P2 motor upgrade: R1699.00
P2/3 Drive belt: R395.00
P2/3 Felt mat: R190.00
RB250 arm: R2299.00

Our special offer, excluding the arm, is R1900.00, which is a considerable discount and worth every cent. We have already helped a number of Planar 3 owners to revive their turntables and now it is your turn. In addition to replacing the motor, we will also clean your Planar's plinth; check for any obvious faults and fix them; clean the bearing and add new oil at no extra charge.

Should you want to upgrade the arm, we will give you a R300.00 rebate on the old R200 arm.

Planar 3 owners

The motor upgrade kit for the Planar 3 puts many onder Planars on the same performance level as the new P3-24. The replacement motor is the same one used on the new P3-24 and P5 turntables. However, please note that fitting the new motor to an older Planar does not mean that you can use the TT PSU (off board power supply for P3-24 and P5 turntables) off board power supply for new Rega turntables. The reason for this is that the new P3 and P5 turntables has an additional connection on plinth that older Planars do not have, and cannot be retrofitted.