FIRST TESTS
FOR Stunning sound; fine MC cartridge; expressive dynamics AGAINST Appearance may not appeal to everyone
18 pages of reviews, starting with the Rega Planar 8
Rega tends to believe in evolution rather than revolution. Anyone who has followed the company’s history will recognise the pattern of a product being launched and then carefully honed over the following years.
It’s a path that’s been followed successfully by the likes of the Planar 1, 2, 3 and 6, as well as the industry standard RB300 tonearm and its derivatives. Many of these products have been around for decades and yet still remain on top of their respective classes. This suggests that the company's typically measured approach works.
Inspired choice
The Planar 8 takes a different route. Rather than being a gentle evolution of the previous RP8, this new turntable takes its inspiration from Rega’s Naiad.
Never heard of the Naiad? Neither had we until recently. It’s something the company considers the ultimate representation of its engineering ideas when executed with little regard for cost or ease of manufacture. In other words, the best deck Rega knows how to make.
Don’t look for it on the website though. It’s in limited production, likely to be capped at around 50 units. It costs a cool £29,999, but you also get a titanium tonearm and a host of Rega accessories. This new Planar 8 is designed to encapsulate the essence of the Naiad at a far more affordable price.
Just look at it. This skeletal deck is like little else out there. The older RP8 has something of a similar flavour when its rectangular plinth frame was removed, but this new one looks even more extreme with its angular shape and aggressive cutouts. The idea is to minimise plinth mass while also increasing its rigidity at the same time.
The plinth has an ultra lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core sandwiched between two layers of HPL (High Pressure Laminate). This new plinth is 30 per cent lighter than that used on the previous model, and more rigid with it. Rega believes mass absorbs energy – and that ends up taking the life out of the music.
Rigid approach
The company also believes that rigidity is most needed between the tonearm mounting and main bearing, so it has added a phenolic brace between the two. That's a clever way of adding reinforcement without significantly increasing the overall mass.
In contrast to the cheaper models lower down in the range, there isn’t much carry-over of parts. The Planar 8 has a new main-bearing assembly, which uses a single-piece aluminium subplatter and hardened tool-steel spindle running inside a custom brass housing. Plenty of care has been taken with the way this bearing mounts onto the chassis, so that the transfer of unwanted energy is minimised.
The platter is something of a work of art. It’s made of three pieces and uses two different types of laminated glass.
“The platter is something of a work of art. It’s made of three pieces and uses two different types of laminated glass”
While Rega goes to extreme lengths to avoid mass, this is one area where more mass leads to better results by creating a flywheel effect to smooth out any small speed fluctuations. The company’s solution adds mass at the rim, rather than making the whole platter heavier. Keeping the platter as light as possible also makes the main bearing’s job easier.
Rega’s well-proven 24V motor provides the drive to the platter. It is powered by the Neo outboard power supply, which is hand-adjusted to match the motor optimally. The company even goes as far as developing its own drive-belts to ensure consistency and therefore improve speed accuracy.
There’s also a new tonearm. The RB880 may look like the designs used on Rega’s other turntables, but it has an improved vertical bearing assembly and impressively high standards when it comes to free-play. The bearing assemblies are adjusted to a play of less than a 1000th of a millimetre. The arm uses low capacitance phono cables terminated by some high quality, lockable plugs to ensure a good contact.
The Planar 8 is available in four guises. You can buy the deck without cartridge for £1699, but it can be equipped with the Exact moving magnet (+£210), Ania moving coil (£420) or with the Apheta 2 MC (+£740) we have on test here.
The Apheta 2 (priced at £1049 if bought separately) is the latest version of the company’s original range-topping moving coil and has been extensively refined. While not particularly high output, it works without issue when feeding into our reference Cyrus Phono Signature/psx-r2 phono stage.
Suspended belief
The Planar 8, as with other Rega turntables, doesn’t have much in the way of suspension. There are just three soft feet to absorb external vibrations. You’ll need a level and rigid support, positioned as far away as possible from your speakers to get the best from it. Rega also makes a custom wall bracket for just this job.
The set-up process is easy. The cartridge is pre-mounted and its alignment is guaranteed thanks to the