Releatively cheap, simple to use, excellent sound, lasts forever!

Two basic flaws - a ringing platter and the deck is prone to vibration, but make the minor mods in this review and you'll have a truly excellent turntable for little cost Cannot use Grado cartridges - too much hum

I have had the Rega II for 23 years and it has not failed. But it was not all wine and roses - in fact lots of Whine - actually induced resonant distortion. The design is simple, but has a couple of flaws The glass platter - rings like a bell and the deck vibrates when played at high levels First the platter - I purchased a Mission sorbathane turntable mat - it was good but not great - so I appied the same deadening principle as Mission does to the topside of the platter, to the bottom side - I pasted 1/16th inch thick cork to the underside - wow - what a difference - NO RING at all. Next the deck - same treatment - applied the 1/16th thick cork to both top and undersides of the deck Lastly - what do I sit it on? Regular shelving of the particle board variety vibrates like crazy. I Need low mass material with minimal surface area but relatively stiff. !/4 inch mahogany ply - with 1.5 inch holes to reduce the surface area and to maintain strength - a couple of bracing strips (in the form of L shaped molding) and to top it off - support the shelf on spiked feet Now this turntable is awsome - can be played at mind numbing levels without any resonant distortion No more vibration - total cost $60 for cork, plywood and Mission mat I would stack this deck up against a pile of more expensive decks Only one last problem - you cannot use the Grado cartridge because they are not sheilded - you'll get lots of hum! NOTE: The hum is not due to earth problems - it increases linearly as the cartridge approaches the unsheilded motor - only occurs when unit is turned on

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None - fell in love with this one - knew it had lots of promise

nicely built; simple design; good sound.

felt mat not round; dustcover slightly warped and unstable when open.

nice simple build; very little to go wrong with this manual turntable. recieved without any flaws except for slightly out-of-round felt platter mat and warped dustcover. these "flaws" are not severe enough to warrant a return. the tonearm is nice and setup was easy. i mounted a clearaudio aurum classics wood MM cartridge within 15 minutes and was listening to vinyl 10 minutes later. the turntable/cartridge combo sounds great with good headphones. the cuing doesn's seem to lift high enough on some records - minor problem if one is careful. one also must be careful when lifting the dustcover - don't let your kids flip a record unless you are prepared for the full weight of the cover to come crashing down on the plinth.

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japanese tables (techniques, pioneer)

very good marketing skills.

cheap junk,

worst turntable I ever bought, it comes with cheap press wood base, tone arm is looking good, wiring and quality of the wires is a nightmare, platter is some kind of wooden junk, on/off switch is similar to cheap $5.00 worth of switch, dust cover is nice looking but the hinges are plastic and will break up, sound quality is I don't know buzz comes a lot, I try all of the plugs in the house, same buzz in every plugs, I got rid of it for a half price 3 mounth after the puchase, don't ever buy this junk, you better of buying an older ariston, linn, thorenz, or new turntable in the market made in the Europe, less than half price called PROJECT, I check their web site it looks much better than Rega, and well put together features in that one, I will try it if I don't find an Ariston rd11, I try this rega with three different preamplifiers I have and they all are great preamplifiers, McIntosh C28/ Adcom 555, and aufdible illusion modulus 3A, same noise and buzz was there all the time, I try it with Grace 9f, and shure 15 type 3, a lot of work for a little fun, they have CD player now out in the market, I see it sounds not vey good, I also notice Rega TT in 1983 with a wooden arm, humid wheathers is not to good for that arm, I didn't like their sound and it was a junk then and same junk worth about $180.00 or $190.00 but they are selling it for a furtune. they build a name yuppies like the style. Please don't make mistake as I did, if you are a hard core listener, look for something else.

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I owned Ariston, Linn, B&O, Thorens 124/160/165/ some belt and DD japanese tables, this one is the worst one I ever owned.

Very musical. Acoustic reverb present without sacraficing dynamics. Very Rhythmic. A solid preformer. The arm is portable---advice to modify as much as possible and if the 'upgrade' itch gets to you, buy something like a VPI HW Jr and use this arm.

None for the table. Just wish I could find a cartridge like the 1006 with a longer cantilever (have a bit of trouble with domestic USA pressings---the starting lip/incline).

Let me first fully describe my system. I have a Moth Alamo (copy from Rega of 2) with heavy modifications. I have an acrylic platter, Origin Live external and internal wire mods, Origin Live counterweight mod using a Goldring 1006 cartridge. It's plugged into a Cambridge Audio A500 (with add-in phono chip), using IXOS tri-braid speaker wire into Klipsch SB-2's. Now, the sound. I'm using Record 8 from the Final Village Vanguard Sessions of Bill Evans (Mosiac Records). The sound is full and has nice bass to it. The piano tone is full with decay and spaciousness. Reverb is also present. I'd rate this more natural then my Rotel 955 CD player.

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Thorens TD180 Mk. IV with IXOS external cable upgrade on Mission Spikes with a Grado Blue.

Musical sound, not fiddly or subject to footfalls, simple, dependable.

Being non-suspended, the dust cover should be removed while in use.

I have been using this turntable for about 20 years with a succession of Grados, from the FTE+1 to the ZTE+1. It has always sounded musical. It's not a Linn Sondek but I haven't liked classical or jazz since I was 16 (and my first real turntable was a Connoisseur BD2, if that gives any indication of my age), so my selection of audiophile recordings is very limited. I can't see listening to bad music by worse performers just for the "hi-fi" of it. I like MUSIC. The tonearm is not of the same quality as the newer Regas, of course. The original mat was poor, and I tried a felt one, but the biggest improvement by far was a Mission Sorbothane mat. It really made the sound smooth and coherent. The bass is surprisingly good for a non-suspended turntable. I can not only tell whether the bassist is using a Precision or a Jazz, but whether the Jazz is a really nice old one or not, for example. My Rega/cheap Grado combo actually sounds every bit as good as, if not better than, my Rotel RCD-865BX CD player, which cost probably twice as much and still is competetive today.

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Connoisseur BD2 turntable, Grado ZTE+1 cartridge, NAD 3240PE integrated, Rotel RCD-865BX CD player, Paradigm Compact Monitor speakers, original Monster cable

Easily upgradeable, great sound.

The RB-250 tonearm might produce some hum. (but it still sounds great!)

I have had the P2 for about 4 months now. I had not listened to vinyl in over 10 years. The P2 has made me realize what an incredible medium that vinyl can be. I first had it set up with the RB-250 tonearm and a Rega Elys cartridge. I liked this setup so much that I ended up getting hooked on vinyl. I want to premise what I'm about to say by emphasizing that I think the RB-250 is a great sounding tonearm for the money. However, there was a slight to moderate hum everytime I lowered the cartridge and RB-250 tonearm towards a record. This occurred with a Musical Fidelity A-300 (very slight hum), an NAD 7100 (slight hum), and a Lexicon CP-3 that was hooked up to an NAD PP-1 phono pre-amp (moderate hum). I recently upgraded the tonearm to a new Rega RB-600, which I found on Audiogon for $395, including shipping. The hum has completely disappeared and the sound seems to have improved(in my mind), especially in the bass. The upgrade was very easy to perform - basically, you just swap the cartridge and then unscrew the old tonearm and screw the new tonearm in. Why the difference in sound? Perhaps it is because the RB-600 has significantly better wiring. The RB-600 has very nice gold plated RCA cabling, compared to the rather thin, nickel plated RCA cables of the RB-250. The wiring of the RB-600 just appears to be more solid. The P2 is a great turntable to get if you want to get back into vinyl. The RB-250 tonearm sounds great, don't get me wrong. It got me hooked on vinyl. My point is that the P2 is easily upgradeable for even better sound and would be a great choice for anyone who wants a great sounding, relatively inexpensive turntable. I give the P2 and the RB-250 5 stars because I feel that you can't do better for the price. When compared to more expensive turntables/tonearms, the p2/RB-250 combo probably would be a respectable 4 stars.

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Kenwood (don't remember the model).

Lovely turntable, sounds great, no set-up hassles. I finally have a turntable that I am very satisfied with. I love the totally manual operation and the simplicity of design -- no frills. The P2 is probably the best sounding turntable that I've owned. I highly recommend the P2 to anyone on a budget!

Lovely sounding for the price, couldn't be bettered considerably more was paid. Great arm which can be used on next turntable when you upgrade. Can play 45's (eh?) without a fancy power supply @ £500. Looks nice too surprisingly.

Good support necessary if you have bouncy floors or live in earthquake zone.

Lovely turntable, sounds great, no set-up hassles & has recently come out of storage again for its 2nd gasp. Just a great performer! Realistically other turntables sound better but you do have to pay a lot more & get something like the Gyrodeck, LP12 before you feel the extra is worth spending. When your expensive bouncy supsension model goes out of set-up it's always handy to have one of these in case you can't be ar*&d to fiddle for hours instead of listening to music.

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EB101, Planar 3, Origin Live Oasis, LP12, PT Too, Gyrodeck, Well tempered etc.

Great sound for the money. The RB-250 arm is superb!!!

The speed on 33 rpm is a little less than 1% off--according to the US importer, speeds that are off 1% or less are within acceptable limits. I personally don't think that it degrades the sound quality--I just enjoy the music!!!

I had been wanting a Rega turntable for a long time, and now I finally have one! I've owned numerous turntables over the past few years (The P2 is my 13th!!!). I finally have a turntable that I am very satisfied with. I love the totally manual operation and the simplicity of design--no frills here! The construction is totally solid. Rega definitely takes pride in their design and construction. In my opinion, the sound is very good--the P2 is probably the best sounding turntable that I've owned. I have a Goldring 1012 GX cartridge on it that I think is a very good match (no VTA problems and a fine line stylus). Like Rega claims, their motor is almost completely vibration free and therefore can be hardmounted to the plinth via a sticky pad, thus eliminating speed inconsistencies. I am a very satisfied customer and I am looking forward to many years of faithful service from the P2. I highly recommend the P2 to anyone on a budget!!! I'd also like to add that the US importer is great--very quick to respond to emails, take care of problems, answer questions, etc.

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Technics, Pioneer, Thorens, Dual, Sansui, and the list goes on....

Musical, flexible, great value

No longer comes with wooden base

The Rega P2 has to be one of the greatest values in audio. I purchased it after numerous suggestions from an audiphile friend who kept trying to get me to dump my AR (which I was very happy with). I had intended on performing upgrades on my AR until I found out that Merrill doesn't offer the components any more. After reading up on the Rega I realized that it could very easily be upgraded in the same manner I had planned to upgrade the AR. Just out of curiosity I started looking at Rega's on various sites. That's when I stumbled upon the deal of the century, my P2 new in box, still sealed for $300.00. I decided to take the Rega test. Right out of the box with a cheap Goldring Elan cartridge I had lying around (that wan't even installed properlly) the Rega Knocked off my AR. The difference in sound was amazing. I was hearing things that I never heard on my AR! It was also much smoother and the music had greater depth. When I got my table I noticed that the lift arm had been broken at the manufacture. The folks at Mastercraft got another tonearm out to me very quickly. Once the new arm came I replaced the Elan with a Rega Elys which was properly mounting, I also replaced the stock felt mat with a custom made one, and the counter balance weight was replaced as well with an after market one. Again I noticed an improvement in sound quality. Listening to Mel Torme and George Shearing's "An Evening at Charlies" the sound was smooth and detailed. I could here everything I was supposed to be hearing...or so I thought! Next I plugged my Creek OB 8SE phono stage into the system and boy did the sound really become even better. Mel and George seemed to be right in my living room. The gentleman who set up my table has over 30 years in the audio industry He to was impressed by the improvement. I've noticed on various boards that people don't have an extremely high opinion of the Creek OB 8se, I think the reason is the wall wart that used to come with it. I have the one with the larger power supply and I have not had any of the interference problems they complained about. In a nutshell, great table, easy setup outstanding sound quality.

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AR XA, Eb-101, Vintage Kenwood, Empire, Thorens