Rega P3 + MC15; alternatives?

My father has decided to buy a new turntable, and budget is absolute max of £500.

His current line of thinking is a P3 with RB300 and Ortofon MC15 Super II (or something).

Anyone have any comments to make on this, or suggest new alternatives (or something special used) for the same sort of money (ABSOLUTE max £500)?

 

I would get the P3 with RB300 and P5 power supply and a Denon cartridge.

 

Second hand opens up the field quite a lot. You might get an old but reasonably good LP12 for that money, or maybe a NAS Horizon (if one came up - they don't often), possibly an older Michell Gyro or Mycro, no doubt others will chip in.

New ... that's a lot more limited. There's a lot of choice in the market at the moment but not at this price point - its pretty much Rega or Pro-Ject.

 

I don't think the P5 power supply works on the P3,the heed Audio will.I would go P3/heed audio/Dynavector 10x5 into if needed a Creek OBH phono stage,this will sound great.

 

It will ... but it won't cost less than £500

 

oh,thanks for that,I thought it only worked on the P5 and 7,not 2/3 and 25,I was always bad at maths!!!!,would have sounded good anyway.

 

From the Rega website:

Important: The TT PSU can only be used with the P5 and P7 turntables. It is not compatible with any other Rega or manufacturers turntables.

Thought so,I know me old Regas pretty well.

 

FWIW the MC15 works very well in an RB300 arm. My combination was enjoyed for hundreds of hours.

 

Mclogan - thanks for that.

He's looked at the project line and hasn't seen anything suitable. He already has an offboard phono stage (NAD PP2... stop sniggering at the back there!), and to begin with the main usage of the deck will be making recordings onto the PC to transcribe various vinyl to digital media.

Budget is just for deck, arm and cart. So far looks like p3/rb300/MC15 isn't drawing huge derision?

 

Can I snigger at the front?

No that should work fine.

The Denon DL-160 is cheaper and has high output and it (and its even cheaper brother the DL-110) should also be on the cards.

You can't go too far wrong with a P3 - I'd go for a reasonably newish secondhand one though - they are pretty bullet proof.