Should You Buy the Rega Planar 2 Nd3 Turntable?
What Makes the Rega Planar 2 Nd3 Turntable Different from a Basic Belt-Drive Deck?
The Rega Planar 2 Nd3 turntable is a belt-driven record player built around the RB220 tonearm, a 24V low noise motor and a redesigned central bearing, developed alongside the Planar 3 over a two-year engineering programme. Rega positions it as the next step up for a buyer who wants more precision than an entry-level deck offers, without moving into the higher-spend Planar 3 system. Its differentiators sit in three linked areas: the RB220 tonearm geometry, the choice of factory-fitted cartridge, and a bearing and motor assembly aimed at reducing the noise and vibration that can interfere with accurate groove tracing. Each of these is explained in turn below, since they're the features a buyer evaluating this turntable against alternatives needs to understand before deciding on cartridge and system matching.
Which Cartridge Comes Fitted, and What Does That Mean for Upgrades?
Every Planar 2 ships with a Rega Carbon moving magnet cartridge fitted as standard, giving a plug-and-play starting point that needs no separate cartridge purchase or alignment at setup. Buyers can instead specify the Nd3 moving magnet cartridge factory-fitted in its place, an option Rega introduced in May 2024. The Nd3 uses a neodymium magnet generator, a bonded elliptical stylus profile and an aluminium cantilever, mounted to a glass-filled PPS body, and it tracks at 1.75g. Because the Nd3 uses Rega's own three-point mounting system, it locates directly onto the RB220 headshell using the same fixing geometry as the standard Carbon cartridge, so a buyer upgrading later isn't choosing between competing mounting standards. Replacement and upgrade styli are also available for the Carbon cartridge, which matters for ownership cost over time, since a worn stylus can be replaced without buying a new cartridge body.
How Does the RB220 Tonearm Simplify Setup?
The RB220 is a hand-assembled tonearm fitted with Rega-designed, ultra-low friction bearings, housed in a stiffer, lightweight bearing housing developed specifically for this arm. From autumn 2020, Rega added adjustable bias to the RB220, which lets the user fine-tune the inward or outward pull on the arm to suit the cartridge fitted, widening the range of compatible cartridges beyond what a fixed-bias arm allows. An integrated arm clip and a custom aluminium arm tube round out the design, and together with a multilingual quick start guide, these features are aimed at a buyer who wants a deck that can be set up correctly without specialist tools or prior turntable experience.
What Keeps the Platter Turning Steadily During Playback?
The Planar 2 uses an 11mm self-securing brass bearing in its central bearing housing, a patent-pending design Rega says offers an improved fit and reduces stress on the bearing, preventing the build-up of potential energy that could otherwise transfer into the platter as unwanted vibration. This sits alongside redesigned feet, which improve isolation and stability by reducing how much external vibration reaches the bearing and platter in the first place. Drive comes from a 24V low noise, low vibration motor on a new PCB, connected to the platter from March 2021 onward by Rega's Advanced EBLT drive belt. Because tracking accuracy depends on the platter rotating at a constant speed free of motor or bearing noise, these three components work together rather than as separate features: a noisy motor or an unstable bearing would undermine what the RB220 tonearm and cartridge are otherwise designed to read from the groove.
What Are the Plinth and Platter Made From?
The Planar 2 plinth is built from either a high gloss acrylic skin or a walnut effect laminate, chosen for increased stiffness over a standard laminate plinth and finished with an ergonomically positioned power switch. On top of it sits a 10mm float glass Optiwhite platter, which Rega specifies for improved dimensional accuracy compared with denser, less consistent platter materials. A stiffer plinth reduces flex that could otherwise alter arm geometry under load, while platter consistency affects how evenly the stylus tracks across a full side of a record.
Which Finishes and Accessories Come with the Turntable?
The Rega Planar 2 is available in high gloss black, high gloss white and walnut effect finishes. The walnut effect model is supplied with a smoked dust cover, while the gloss finishes come with a clear dust cover, both intended to protect the plinth surface from marks when the turntable isn't in use. For buyers planning a full vinyl system around this deck, Rega's Fono Mini A2D phono stage is a compatible matching component: it's designed for moving magnet cartridges, which covers both the standard Carbon and the optional Nd3 fitted to the Planar 2, and it adds USB output with analogue-to-digital functionality for transferring records to a computer.
How Does the Planar 2 Sit Within Rega's Turntable Range?
Rega developed the Planar 2 alongside the Planar 3, sharing engineering work on tonearm and bearing design between the two models, which positions the Planar 2 as the step beyond Rega's entry-level Planar 1 and Planar 1 Plus for a buyer who wants the RB220 tonearm's adjustable bias and a factory-fitted moving magnet cartridge upgrade path via the Nd3, without yet moving to Planar 3-level specification. A buyer who already owns a moving magnet phono stage, or who's adding one such as the Fono Mini A2D, can match either the standard Carbon or optional Nd3 cartridge to it directly, since both are moving magnet designs. The turntable carries Rega's lifetime limited warranty against confirmed manufacturing defects, reflecting that every unit is designed and assembled in the UK; the warranty doesn't cover wear and tear or consumable parts such as the stylus or drive belt, so ongoing ownership costs are limited mainly to those replaceable items.
