Rega Planar 1
Not even Rega’s best-selling turntable is immune to the desire for a fresh approach. But, despite a considerable list of tweaks to the Planar 1, the company’s signature sound has always remained.
Those changes were always unquestionably positive. They began with the RB110 tonearm, which uses precision bearings and automatic bias adjustment, and has the ideal tracking weight already marked for you.
Neat, sharp lines
During its last round of modifications, Rega included tweaks to the Thermoset, gloss-laminated plinth. Our test sample is a sleek white, but the black finish is equally tidy, with sharp lines and an ergonomic design. The platter has a higher mass and enhanced flywheel effect for improved speed stability.
There are also hand-me-downs from higher up the range. The Rega Carbon cartridge is fitted as standard here, and this is the first of Rega’s entry-level turntables to house a 24v synchronous AC motor with an aluminium pulley. The company claims this offers low noise and, again, is crucial to maintaining speed stability. We play The Tallest Man On Earth’s
Dark Bird Is Home and the Rega’s spry presentation welcomes us like an old friend as Kristian Matsson waves his hand over the album’s opening chords. This is not an entry-level amount of detail; the roomy-sounding acoustic guitar is complemented by the reverb in Matsson’s first vocal line; the distinction in treatment of each part is clearly audible, setting the vocal apart.
Some turntable manufacturers could be said to have a tendency to play up to what you might describe as analogue warmth, but not Rega. If you can render a record as faithfully as the Planar 1 does, that warmth begins to feel like the sonic counterpart of dousing your Christmas dinner in tomato ketchup.
When the record receives its adrenaline shot with Darkness Of The Dream, the Planar 1 is more than capable of responding. The combination of energy and solidity resonates superbly with the track's drive, as it does when supporting the album’s more delicate numbers.
Quality in perspective
But it takes a comparison with its rivals to truly appreciate this turntable. We enjoy the warmth the Award-winning Pro-ject Essential II brings to our copy of Django Reinhardt’s Djangology. Yet the Rega Planar 1 makes its competitor’s rendition sound like a rehearsal.
It is only when heard on the Planar 1 that we discover the album’s true intensity. Finally, we are able to hear the distinction between those notes stroked and those punished with a firm hand. It is hard to come to any other conclusion than that Rega has raised the bar in almost every respect.
Even as an entry-level product, this is the kind of turntable that could feasibly be the last of your system’s components you’d feel it necessary to upgrade.
Add on to upgrade
However, the availability of a Performance Pack add-on for £85, comprising Rega’s Bias 2 moving-magnet cartridge, upgrade drive belt and natural wool turntable mat, means that, when the time does come to upgrade, you needn’t immediately shell out half a grand for something else.
In these times bereft of certainty, you could do far worse than close the curtains, settle in your favourite armchair and spin a few records on the Rega Planar 1.