A tale of two turntables

I just upgraded from a Project RPM to the P6 with the Ania Pro. It’s very lightweight Plinth. The table is nice and quiet and operates smoothly. The dust cover must be lifted all the way up to get to hold position. Halfway up and its a guillotine. I pull the cover for serious listening sessions, easy to do. I have to turn up my pre-amp volume more than the RPM but I love the sound. Cart came installed but you gots to put on the counter weight and balance the arm which was easy to do. Used a little coffee scale to set the tone arm weight per specs. It appears to be a really solidly built unit. The queuing lift did not bring the cart off the vinyl far enough. I called Rega and they instructed me how to adjust it and sent me the tiny .5 hex wrench fo free. If you go P6 I highly recommend saving the extra $ and springing for the Ania Pro cart (I expect a MAC would support MC). You will not be disappointed.
Update: Looks like your amp does not support MC according to the 6moons review.

https://6moons.com/audioreviews/mcintosh3/1.html

You will get tired of the Pro-ject Carbon Debut before you know it.  The Ortofon Blue cartridge is the best part of that deal.  No experience with the Rega.  

Personally, I would go with the Technics SL 1210GR or if I staying to a budget, the Technics SL-1500C.  

I own both TTs.  Both are well built and great sounding.  I use the Ortofon Blue on the SL-1500C and the Hana on the 1210GR.

I am a fan of direct drive and I can easily swap out cartridges, which you can not do with the Pro-ject.

I went from vintage Denon to the Pro-jects.  The Technics will keep you satisfied.

Best regards,

Rich 

I really like the Rega arm. It is almost everything a good arm should be and you can adjust it for any cartridge. If I might make a suggestion. Two amazing cartridges for the money are the Audio Technica VM750SH and the Goldring 1042. They are excellent moving magnet cartridges that punch way above their price point. You really have to spend more than $2000 to get a moving coil cartridge that sounds better. 

Why would he get tired of the pro-ject? I don’t get it...I’ve owned the classic sb for going on 3 years and I’ve yet to tire of it. Running the Hana el. Great sounding/looking table. It looks a lot better than the technics, and has better isolation. If I was to somehow get tired of it, I own 6 turntables, so I’d swap another in. That’s the beauty of not putting all eggs in one basket, variety! In my current stable are Thorens (2), lenco, music hall, and pro-ject (2). Also 10 different cartridges 🤪

@audioguy85, there is nothing wrong with the Pro-Jects at their price points until you get to the more expensive ones. Once you get to $3500 there is no excuse for a turntable not being appropriately suspended and isolated as there are turntables in that price range that are. I am not a big Hana fan. I think at their price points you can get better performance out of a moving magnet cartridge.

Thanks for the great feedback. Sounds like either would be an improvement but the Rega May me keep satisfied longer. Never tried MC But I do have a nice phono preamp that would work. And I will check out the guillotine effect to see how much that bothers me. I always take my cover off for listening as well. I don’t have Technics TTs available in my area or price range right now but I have only heard good things about them. Onward to the upgrade!

If you are going to compare Pro-ject to Rega, look further up in the Pro-ject line. As for @mijostyn's comments, my Xtension 10 is a solid piece of gear that uses opposing magnet footers to isolate the (very heavy) table and magnets to assist the (very heavy) platter on the bearing. A lot of engineering on this table.

Oz

Real nice system. The P6 should be nice. It was between that and
a Acoustic Signature WOW for me.

I really like the Rega arms also. I has an RP3 w/the 303 arm. Then I traded the RP3 for an Acoustic Signature WOW w/ a Rega 202 arm.
The Table was a big upgrade but then I traded the 202 for a Acoustic
Signature TA-700 arm. I really didn't think is was that much of an improvement.