wow and flutter

Make sure the belt is new or in good condition. Clean the rim of the subplatter and the pulley with isopropyl alcohol. Then clean the belt in hot soapy water so that it feels sticky to the touch afterwards.

If it's a planar 3 with the old motor then make sure the motor mount belts are in good condition.

Last, use some double sided tape (carpet tape works well) to secure the felt mat to the glass platter to prevent slipping.

Speed stability is not the rega's strongest suit, but I've found the above steps help significantly.

Not bad .. 5 answers and 1 of them attempts to answer the question. How discouraging for this audiogon newbie.

I'm afraid I don't understand your response. The question regarded speed stability on the P3. As a P3 owner I know that speed stability is probably its weakest suit. So I offered advice that has helped me in the past. Others told him to change to a direct drive turntable, and then there was a long answer which seemed to imply that wow and flutter add to the music.

Well, I'm sorry but wow and flutter detract from the music in my book, both as they are measured and as they are heard.

New belts are not tight, but neither are they expensive ($20). It would be worth trying.

If the turntable has the original belt-mounted motor then the rega motor upgrade kit will improve speed stability. After that the Heed Orbit power supply is reputed to improve speed stability. By the time you have purchased both of these you might be better off selling the rega and getting a better deck.

However to really crack speed stability you need a better turntable. At it's price point the rega has fundamental limitations. The platter is too light, with not enough peripheral mass. The bearing is not designed for extra mass, so carefull with adding mass to the existing platter. And an acrylic platter will have even less mass.

Look at the design of the Teres and Nottingham decks for examples of how to build belt drive decks with speed stability.

Oh, and make sure the deck is absolutely level, so that the bearing shaft is not rubbing on its housing.

"Belt-drive turntables will always be subject to speed stability issues caused by stylus drag because of their relatively weak motors."

A 20+lb platter should make this a non-issue. And that I believe is why practically all high end belt drive tables have high-mass, often periphery weighted, platters. I would wager that the polar moment of inertia of these platters is a lot greater than the torque generated by the motor of a direct drive deck.