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The Short Form |
| $1,470 (as tested) / REGA.CO.UK / 972-234-0182 |
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Snapshot
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| A smart step-up turntable for vinyl addicts looking to take things to a higher level of sound quality |
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Plus
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| • Great performance for the price • Solid build quality • Quick, easy setup • Heavy-duty phono cable |
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Minus
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| • A turntable this good can reveal lousy recordings and bad LP condition! |
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Key Features
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• 24-volt motor with anti-vibration circuit |
Working at a record store in the mid-1980s after graduating from high school, I was regularly baffled by the people who would trade in crates of vinyl LPs — collections that sometimes included pristine, rare stuff — for enough credit to cruise out with a mere handful of expensive CDs. (I seem to remember some of them smirking as they left, al- though I might be inventing that detail.) To these folks, it was a sweet deal: They unburdened themselves of an obsolete format and, at the same time, got a foot in the door of the new Compact Disc revolution. To me and my co-workers, however, they were just Yuppies (a slight that carried some weight back then) who were committing a crime against music.
Fast-forward to the present: People are buying a lot fewer CDs, while the vinyl market is not only chugging along nicely but expanding. Any artists with an ounce of self-respect make sure that their new albums get released on both CD and vinyl, and there's a thriving reissue industry for rock, jazz, and classical LPs. Over the past decade, I've been content to listen to records old and new on my first "real" turntable, an entry-level Pro-Ject 1.2. But as my fascination with vinyl has evolved, I've often wondered what could be gained by stepping up to a mid-level turntable — something like Rega's new P3-24.
The British-made P3-24 takes over from the P3 2000, a now-discontinued step-up model in Rega's well-established line of turntables. A number of elements have been retained, including the 15mm-thick glass platter, the main bearing, and the drive belt. But the P3-24 is an otherwise fresh design, incorporating a low-vibration 24-volt motor (previously found only in the higher-end P5), a Medite plinth with resin laminate overlay, and Rega's new RB301 tonearm, which improves on the tried-and-true RB300 by adding a three-point mounting system for extra rigidity — as well as the same heavy-duty phono cable with gold-plated connectors found in the RB700.
For this review, Rega sent me a P3-24 outfitted with the company's Elys 2 moving-magnet phono cartridge (a $200 option) and TTPSU power supply ($375, shown to the left of the turntable in the photo). The latter is a nifty external box that feeds the motor (located under the plinth) with a line-conditioned, low-distortion 24-volt AC input; it also triggers the motor's anti-vibration circuit. But the TTPSU's most tangible benefit is a front-panel switch to conveniently toggle between 33 and 45 rpm. Otherwise, changing playback speed on the P3-24 requires lifting its platter and switching the motor pulley that the drive belt is connected to — the same rather clumsy procedure as with my Pro-Ject 1.2. Needless to say, I find the TTPSU to be a worthy upgrade.
Right off, I was struck by the P3-24's appearance. While not fancy, this turntable manages to look at once solid and sleek. It's also relatively light — Rega's apparent philosophy being that excess mass only serves to store up excess energy, which can ultimately have a degrading effect on sound quality. The glass platter rests on a slim slab of a plinth, and the whole thing balances on a trio of rubber feet that serve to distribute the 'table's mass evenly, as well as couple it firmly to whatever surface it's placed on. Rega's impressively solid acrylic dust cover is also completely nonresonant, and it flips up with fluid, graceful motion when you lift it to move the tonearm or change record sides. (You remember record sides.)
Rega designed the P3-24 for easy setup, so you don't need to buy an extensive kit of turntable adjustment tools just to start spinning. After laying the platter on the plinth, I slid the tonearm counterweight onto its back section and used my inexpensive Shure SFG-2 stylus-force gauge to verify that the cartridge was set at the recommended 1.75-gram tracking weight. A special protractor comes with the 'table for aligning cartridges other than Rega's Elys 2 model. Using this tool, it was a snap to confirm the perfect factory alignment of the cartridge's headshell.
Connecting the TTPSU's cable to a socket at the back of the plinth, I turned on the power supply and looked for a red LED to let me know the Rega was running at 33 rpm — check. My final step was to balance the turntable by adjusting the spikes underneath my equipment rack's top shelf with a level sitting on the platter's surface. Finding the bubble perfectly centered, I was good to go.
I started my evaluation with Wilco's Sky Blue Sky, an LP that I'd recently logged many hours listening to. Immediately, I could hear differences with the P3-24, particularly in the highs, which sounded distinctly clearer than they did with my regular turntable. For instance, Jeff Tweedy's vocals on "You Are My Face" came across as dry and gritty on the Rega — a quality that, I have to say, pushed his voice out uncomfortably toward the front of the mix. Other treble details, such as the cleanly recorded ride cymbal and even Nels Cline's skronking guitar during the song's explosive midsection, were even and balanced by comparison. The Rega P3-24 just seemed to convey the true sound of this recording better than my Pro-Ject 1.2 did. Indeed, the latter turntable was much more sonically forgiving. (Probably a good thing given the condition of some of my older records.)
The Rega's ability to reveal microscopic sonic details set me on a mad stint of comparative listening — as well as some careful record cleaning. Spinning "Cello Song" from Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left, I was impressed by the smooth quality of the vocals (Drake is the anti-Tweedy), as well as the crisp delineation of the acoustic guitar and bass, hand percussion, and of course, cello. The Rega 'table's ability to convey a solid-sounding low end was also apparent on this track; until then, I wasn't aware that the song contained this much bass.
Another thing that struck me was the sense of definition, focus, and space that the P3-24 brought to specific instruments and voices. It was something that I experienced vividly when listening to Classic Records' reissue of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue. On the track "Blue in Green," the location of the musicians was perfectly clear: Miles dead center, pianist Bill Evans at left, and Jimmy Cobb's wispy, subtle scraping of brushes across a snare drum emanating from the right of the soundstage. Listening to this track's first 2 minutes practically put me in a trance, but then a lone ride-cymbal ping, followed by John Coltrane stepping forward to solo, pulled me straight back into 3-D reality. Hearing the Rega's realistic and coherent presentation of this recording was nothing short of a revelation.
Starting at the base price of $895, Rega's P3-24 turntable combined with the company's RB301 tonearm and Elys 2 cartridge ($200 extra) represents a solid and affordable step up for a casual vinyl collector looking to enter the high-fidelity Big Leagues. I approached the P3-24 with open ears, hoping to hear a noticeable improvement in the sound of my records. Not only did the turntable deliver on that promise, it also opened my eyes to the sonic potential (and in some cases, weakness) of my record collection. When you add the company's TTPSU external power supply, the package becomes all the more appealing. Those smirking, CD-adopting yupsters may be gone, but vinyl sure isn't — and when played on a turntable like the P3-24, it can sound better than ever.