Rega Exact MM Cartridge

I have a Rega Planar 3 TT which came with the standard Elys 2 cartridge. Whilst this is a good match, I was looking for more engagement with my vinyl and after reading up on all the MM cartridges, decided to go for the Exact, for two main reasons;1 - It has excellent reviews across the board for a MM cartridge in this price range, on multiple different turntables.2 - It fits the RB330 tonearm perfectly without the need for spacers or shims (obviously, as it's made by them).The difference in sound is excellent. More bass, but not too much, better mids and a more rounded, engaging sound.I would highly recommend this cartridge as an upgrade to any system. And once you have it, you can replace it cheaper when it wears out with an exchange programme Rega have. What's not to like?!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought this cartridge: I had been running a Rega Elys previously. They go for £119, so the cost of the Exact is more than double. The question then is; would I get an improvement that gives me twice the performance?After running this cartridge for a couple of weeks I am extremely happy with it's performance! It gives greater focus to the sounds, reduces the background noise to nothing (through speakers), makes new LPs (on 180gram vinyl) sound utterly brilliant, and improves the sound of my old LPs to modern levels, minimizing the noise created by wear and tear over the years (but you can still hear scratches), giving good bass and smooth treble.I had no problem fitting it, as I have a Rega turntable and tonearm, because the 3 bolt-on attachment points on the Rega mean that its virtually impossible to miss-fit it. I did check the alignment with the card that came with the deck, and it was immediately perfect.I would thoroughly recommend this cartridge as an upgrade to the Elys, or any similarly priced cartridges. 5 stars!

Well after sporadically listening to my Rega P3 over the years with an Acutex 410E and being disappointed with the sound I finally decided to upgrade my Cart. I originally looked at a high output MC like the Denon DL110 and the MM Ortonfon Bronze (etc) as well as the Goldring 1042 and everyone seemed to have a hugley different opinion, usually written at great length with lots of fist waving... I now understand there is no perfect cartridge in this price band so after haggling with myself I looked again at the Exact. After the faff of protractor alignment with the Actutex I decided that the fixed fitting of the Exact on my Rega arm made sense as well and the fact that it has great reviews and that if Rega makes such well respected turntables their carts are not going to be any less quality. So I went ahead and brought it. Installation tip: Fit one bolt on the left side and slide the cart all the way out to the stop at an angle away from the arm-head and re-tighten. This makes it massively easier to attach the wires to the pins. There is no needle proctector so it's squeeky-bum time fitting that first bolt!The detail 'straight out of the box' and without breaking in made me "phew" with relief after spanking so much coin on this cart. The bass is superb. The missus is now fed-up because I can't stop listening to it! The only other downside is that it's not forgiving of old vinyl. My old LP's that had been ripped to shreds with my Matsui (Currys) deck from the 90's sound so bad compared to new vinyl because the cart is soooo good at pulling out detail that I’m now going to have to try and find fresher pressings of my old stock! FYI my system is: Rega P3 (1990's), RB 300 arm, Roksan K2 amp driving Wharfdale Diamond 225's. In conclusion, the Rega Exact has changed my listening experience and subsequently my bank acccount because of all the vinyl i'm about to buy (re-buy!).Edit!: After looking again at my installation and the fact that I guessed what to do, I went onto Rega's site and downloaded their instructions as the one that comes with it doesn't show the proper bolt orientation. The side bolts go upwards with the hex nuts on top. (Doh! See photo) These should recess in the guides on the head. The small yellow spacer is a sleeve for the front bolt so it doesn't wobble in the hole. Now the best bit, the box the cart comes in doubles as a magnifier! (See photo) This is super helpful for attaching the wires. Brilliant! This is not mentioned in the guide.... Now you know.

This is a replacement for the original Ortofon cartridge on a Project Debut II turntable from the early 00’s which we didn’t want to replace for sentimental reasons - but it did need TLC and an upgrade to get it back to its best.Well ...This cartridge has taken things to the next level and is so smooth and reveals tons of detail I had no idea this turntable would have a chance of retrieving - a really great purchase and wasn’t that difficult to fit to my project tonearm .Let me put it this way - I’ve just made a 25 year old budget turntable sound absolute amazeballs with this Rega Exact, although It’s also worthwhile before you start tinkering to do your pre-req homework with some Video watching, and get a compass and tonearm scales - well worth the effort !

Easy to install no messing about VTA on rega turntable. Very good improvement over the elys 2 which I had on my P3.

The Rega Carbon cartridge that came bundled with my Rega Planar 2 was perfectly reasonable but I felt the P2 had more to give. The Rega Exact is a significantly more expensive cartridge than the Carbon but the step up in performance is huge! It really has unleashed the full potential of the P2.It was a purchase that I was nervous about but certainly not one that I regret. The step up in performance doesn’t come at the cost of the “warmth and foot tapping musical engagement that I so loved so much from the Rega. It’s just now even better!Fitting a new cartridge is a fiddly job if you aren’t used to doing it. The terminal arrangement on the Exact is different to that on the Carbon so the photo I took of the original cartridge to tone arm wiring was redundant. So read the instructions! Although fiddly and demanding of some patience, it isn’t overly complicated and something you can do yourself as depending on where you live, a dealer can be some distance away!

Amazing step up from an Elys 2 . Almost like someone has drawn back a curtain to let more sound flood through.

Fitted to my Planar 1 but terrible distortion. Good and quick refund from excellent seller though so not their fault