Should You Buy the Rega Planar 2 Turntable (No Cartridge or PSU)?
Who Is the Rega Planar 2 Turntable Built For Without a Cartridge or PSU?
The Rega Planar 2 turntable, supplied here without a cartridge or power supply unit, is a belt-driven deck built around the RB220 tonearm and a 24V low noise motor, developed alongside the Planar 3 over a two-year engineering programme. Rega aims this variant at a buyer who already owns a cartridge they want to keep, or who wants to choose and fit one separately rather than accept whatever ships fitted from the factory. Because the deck arrives without a cartridge installed and without a separate power supply, the buying decision centres on tonearm compatibility, mounting flexibility and the motor's own internal power handling rather than on a fixed cartridge specification.
What's Different About Buying It Without a Cartridge or PSU?
Standard Planar 2 turntables leave the factory with a Rega Carbon moving magnet cartridge already fitted, or the Nd3 moving magnet cartridge as a factory-fitted option introduced in May 2024. This variant omits that step, so the box contains the turntable, tonearm, platter and dust cover, with cartridge selection and fitting left to the buyer. It also doesn't include a separate power supply unit, since the Planar 2's 24V motor and PCB handle power conversion internally rather than relying on an external box. For a buyer who already has a phono stage and cartridge preference, or who's building a system component by component, this keeps the purchase limited to the turntable itself.
How Do You Fit a Cartridge to the RB220 Tonearm?
The RB220 uses Rega's three-point mounting system at the headshell, the same fixing geometry used across Rega's own cartridge range, including the Carbon and Nd3. A buyer fitting a third-party cartridge needs to check it accepts standard half-inch or compatible mounting hardware, since the RB220's headshell isn't a proprietary fitting beyond Rega's own bolt pattern. Once a cartridge is mounted, the RB220's adjustable bias, added from autumn 2020, lets the user set the inward or outward pull on the arm to suit that specific cartridge's tracking requirements, which widens the range of cartridges the arm can be set up to handle correctly compared with a fixed-bias design.
What Else Does the RB220 Tonearm Offer During Setup?
Beyond bias adjustment, the RB220 is hand-assembled and fitted with Rega-designed, ultra-low friction bearings housed in a stiffer, lightweight bearing housing developed specifically for this arm. An integrated arm clip secures the arm when not in use, and the arm tube itself is a custom aluminium design. A multilingual quick start guide is supplied to walk a buyer through tracking force and anti-skate adjustment once their chosen cartridge is mounted, which matters more for this no-cartridge variant than for a factory-fitted model, since the buyer is carrying out the full alignment process rather than checking a pre-set arm.
How Does the Motor Run Without an External Power Supply?
Power comes from a 24V low noise, low vibration motor assembly paired with a new PCB built into the plinth, so the Planar 2 doesn't depend on an outboard power supply unit to regulate speed or reduce motor noise. The motor drives the platter via Rega's Advanced EBLT drive belt, fitted as standard from March 2021. Because the power handling sits inside the plinth rather than in a separate box, setup is limited to connecting the mains lead and fitting the belt, with no external PSU to position or wire in separately.
What Supports Stable Platter Rotation and Cartridge Tracking?
The central bearing housing uses an 11mm self-securing brass bearing, a patent-pending design intended to improve fit and reduce stress on the bearing, preventing potential energy building up and transferring into the platter. Redesigned feet improve isolation and stability, reducing how much external vibration reaches the bearing assembly. These two areas matter for a buyer fitting their own cartridge, since a stable platter and low-noise bearing are what let any cartridge mounted on the RB220 track the groove consistently, regardless of which model is eventually fitted.
What Are the Plinth and Platter Made From?
The plinth is built from either a high gloss acrylic skin or a walnut effect laminate, giving increased stiffness over a standard laminate construction and finished with an ergonomically positioned power switch. The platter is a 10mm float glass Optiwhite design, which Rega specifies for improved dimensional accuracy over denser alternatives. A stiffer plinth limits flex that could otherwise shift tonearm geometry once a cartridge is set up and under load.
Which Finishes Are Available, and Where Does This Variant Sit in Rega's Range?
This Planar 2 variant is available in high gloss black, high gloss white and walnut effect finishes, with the walnut effect model supplied with a smoked dust cover and the gloss finishes supplied with a clear cover. Positioned alongside the Planar 3 in Rega's development history, the standard Planar 2 sits as the step up from the entry-level Planar 1 and Planar 1 Plus; this no-cartridge, no-PSU variant suits a buyer at that same level in the range who wants RB220 tonearm compatibility and the bearing, motor and plinth improvements over the Planar 1, but who'd rather select their own cartridge than take the factory-fitted Carbon or Nd3 option. The turntable carries Rega's lifetime limited warranty against confirmed manufacturing defects, with wear parts such as the drive belt and any cartridge fitted afterwards falling outside that cover.
