Rega RB330 Tonearm

The Rega RB330 — Thirty-Five Years of Arm Design, Rebuilt

A hand-assembled 9-inch tonearm that Rega describes as “the culmination of more than 35 years of tonearm design experience.” It is the arm fitted to the Planar 3, and it is sold separately for owners building or rebuilding a turntable around it.

Rega redesigned it rather than revised it. The bearing housing is new, the bias assembly is new, the balance weight is new, the cable is new, and the arm tube uses what Rega calls “intelligent redistribution of mass” to move resonances out of the way.

Design and Engineering

Bearings and Housing

The vertical bearing housing was made stiffer, and both the horizontal and vertical bearings are lower-friction precision assemblies. Rega's position throughout its arm range is that play in a bearing is the thing that costs you information, and the housing is what holds that bearing still.

The tube was designed with 3D CAD and CAM and built as a single piece, which Rega says leaves it with fewer points of possible resonance than the arm it replaced.

The Details That Show in Use

A 100 g mild steel balance weight replaced the previous one. The arm clip is now integrated rather than added. The bias spring housing has larger, easier-to-read numbers — a small thing until you are setting bias by eye at the back of a turntable.

The cable is Rega's own low-capacitance phono lead, terminated with Neutrik plugs. Low capacitance matters most to moving magnet cartridges, which read the cable as part of their electrical load.

Geometry and Fit

The Numbers

Effective mass is 11 g, which Rega classes as low. Mounting distance is 222 mm from platter center to arm hole center, effective length 236.5 mm, offset angle 21.55°, and overhang 14.5 mm.

Mounting is Rega's three-point system, so the armboard must be drilled for a Rega. That is the compatibility question worth settling before ordering, because a board cut for a single-bolt arm cannot be adapted by moving the arm.

Who Is the Rega RB330 Best For?

• You are building or rebuilding around a Rega armboard — three-point mounting at 222 mm
• You run a moving magnet — the low-capacitance Rega cable is aimed squarely at that
• You adjust bias by eye — the redesigned spring housing exists for exactly that irritation
• Your cartridge is medium or high compliance — 11 g of effective mass is matched to those
• Your armboard takes a single-bolt arm — a Rega three-point arm needs its own board rather than an adjustment; other mountings are in tonearms

How Do You Install It?

Mount the arm to a three-point Rega board, fit the cartridge into the headshell slots and set overhang to 14.5 mm or use a protractor. Balance the arm, set tracking force to the cartridge's figure, then set bias. Rega's manual gives the sequence and is the authority on it.

Pairs Well With

What most owners fit alongside a new arm.

• Phono cartridges — the arm sets the range of cartridge that will work
• Cartridge alignment tools — for setting the cartridge up once the arm is mounted
• Stylus force gauges — set tracking force once the arm is back in service
• Tonearm lifters — so the arm leaves the run-out groove on its own

Frequently Asked Questions

Will it fit my turntable?

It needs Rega three-point mounting and 222 mm from platter center to arm hole center. Rega decks and third-party plinths built for Rega arms are already drilled; anything else needs a new armboard.

What cartridges suit it?

At 11 g effective mass it sits in the low-to-medium band, which pairs with medium and higher compliance cartridges. That covers most moving magnets and a good many moving coils.

What actually changed against the previous version?

A new bias assembly, a stiffer vertical bearing housing, an integrated arm clip, an improved spring housing, lower-friction bearings, a redesigned 100 g balance weight and a new low-capacitance cable with Neutrik plugs.

Is the cable replaceable?

Rega supplies its own low-capacitance lead terminated with Neutrik plugs as part of the arm. If you replace the run to your phono stage, keep capacitance low for a moving magnet.

Does the geometry differ from other Rega arms?

It does not. Mounting distance, effective length, offset and overhang are shared across Rega's 9-inch arms, so an armboard drilled for one takes another.

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