Rega planar 2(vintage) r200 to rb250 swap - help

[Hayduke77]

Hi - has anyone done this? I have a very nice older p2, with the wood trim on the plinth, and it currently has the r200 s-shape tonearm it came with. A very nice arm in it’s time. The antiskate band is gone.

I was hoping to swap it for a RB300 (or possible RB250). I have never done this but was told it’s a pretty basic swap. The only thing might be that the hole for the r200 is 2mm wider. Has anyone done this before? Can they offer advice - or better yet INSTRUCTIONS?! Do I need any spare parts for shims of sleeves for proper fit of the hole or can i just hand tighten the nut?

Thanks to all and any whom have been here before!

 

[bimasta]

This won't help you. I had a Planar 3 with the funky old R200. I installed a RB300. I went back to the R200; looks aside, I preferred it to the RB300.

 

[Van_Isle]

It's been a while since I've had my RB250 on my old (original R200) Planar 3. I have a Sound Supports VTA Adjuster and Speed Nut. As far as I recall, the R200 hole is larger (25mm vs 23mm ?). This is taken up by the adjuster, but you could just as easilly use something to shim the gap in the hole (even card stock or flexible plastic) ... or just eyeball it to the center.

If you want to raise tonearm height you can shim the base (don't buy fancy shims ... a bicycle headset spacer works ... I used that prior to getting the VTA adjuster).

Keep in mind though that with the thickness of the Planar 3 plinths, you have a limited amount you can raise the tonearm before you run out of thread on the pillar. That's where the speed nut or other sleeved nuts are a necessity. Rega sold one for that purpose.

(The preceeding provided with thanks to Alec at Vinylengine)

 

[Dandy]

Keep the R200 and fix the antiskate belt. The RB250 is overrated, IMHO of course.