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Rega planar 2 r200 arm, advice

R

rkidLG

Member
I purchased the beautiful wood plinth rega planar 2 knowing about the issue the r200 arm possesses. I have gotten in too deep now… The anti skate mechanism fails due to the manufacturer of the arm using a belt (that turned to dust over 40 years). This can be solved but the process is known to be very challenging. Upon taking apart the arm I found the cuing lever to be leaking quite a bit, the wiring previously touched and now should be redone, and obviously there is still the anti skate issue. I have stopped on my mission to fix the belt as I believe this arm is a lost cause with all these issues. I have decided to forgo the operation. This turntable is in cosmetically perfect condition. It looks brand new. It’s shocking how good it looks. So I don’t really want to give this table up for someone else to have. Since the arm has failed due to its very old age I thought it would be nice to completely add on a new rega arm. However, I was unaware that every rega arm is very expensive. I could almost buy a current day rega planar 1 or 2 at some of these prices. If I go the replacement route, I’d like to keep a rega arm on the rega table (previous original arm was not rega). I’d like to only spend about 200 dollars maximum on it. Does anyone have a model off the top of their head that fits my situation? I also wanted some opinions on people modding differently than the original. Is this frowned upon? I am in college and have gotten into buying and fixing, I’m not huge on cash and I don’t know nearly as much as you all. I could use some general guidance and recommendations here. Thanks!
 
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Difficult for me to make straight comparisons as I'm in the uk but that 200 dollars would pay for a bias belt replacement service and full litz rewire, all done for you, over here in blighty. I'm sure there are options more local to you which might enable you to use the r200 and keep the easy option of switching headshells/carts it provides.
 
Greenie said:
Difficult for me to make straight comparisons as I'm in the uk but that 200 dollars would pay for a bias belt replacement service and full litz rewire, all done for you, over here in blighty. I'm sure there are options more local to you which might enable you to use the r200 and keep the easy option of switching headshells/carts it provides.
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Have you ever heard of the cuing level leaking before? I haven’t been able to find anything on it. Also I’ve heard the magnets used for the anti skate lose magnetism over time.
 
rkidLG said:
I’d like to only spend about 200 dollars maximum on it. Does anyone have a model off the top of their head that fits my situation? I also wanted some opinions on people modding differently than the original. Is this frowned upon? I am in college and have gotten into buying and fixing, I’m not huge on cash and I don’t know nearly as much as you all. I could use some general guidance and recommendations here. Thanks!
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One option might be to look for a 2nd hand Rega RB250 (the older version). This had the same screwnut fitting from underneath. The older RB300 was likely the same. The later arms moved to a fixed mounting design.
 
Not sure the collar/shaft size and hole pattern on the old Rega tables with the tonearm you noted, but a brand new RB220 can be bought from britaudio.com (they also sell on ebay) for $400.
 
DavidTT said:
Not sure the collar/shaft size and hole pattern on the old Rega tables with the tonearm you noted, but a brand new RB220 can be bought from britaudio.com (they also sell on ebay) for $400.
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I think your right. Forgot it's the old s-shape Rega arm in question.
 
Sorry, But it looks like a money pit to me. There's some decent WORKING vintage turntables on Canuck Audio mart in the $150 - 300 range, less in US dollars. There's probably similar deals on other markets like Craigslist or eBay.

And this is from a guy who just spent $1,000 CDN on a new Planer 2 and love it.

The question is why upgrade an old Rega turntable with a new RB220 arm and 24 volt motor, When for not much more you can buy their NEW Planer 2 with both, and your choice of plinth finishes.

If you had a $400 - $500 budget there's a bunch of very nice new tables available too from the likes of Audi-Technica, Fluance, Denon, and more. No Rega's though. Just Google " best turntable under $500".
 
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If the bias was set to something sensible when the belt failed it's probably ok - try it with a cartridge.

I have two R200s with broken belts, but they both play fine with typical cartridges.
 
wd40addict said:
If the bias was set to something sensible when the belt failed it's probably ok - try it with a cartridge.

I have two R200s with broken belts, but they both play fine with typical cartridges.
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On the other hand, This might be good advice. Anti state compensation is very light. The point of my post #8 is not to invest too much money or time in the table.

Some cartridges are less sensitive to anti skate functions, and have light tracking. Perhaps look for one. I think Goldring has an E2 and E1 conical that aren't fussy and sound quite good
 
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