Company & Product Overview
Rega produced their first turntable back in 1973, in a garage that was just a short hop away from their current UK factory. For nearly 45 years, they have continued to manufacture their products in the UK, focusing on producing turntables that not only sound great but are an incredible value, no matter the price point. Rega backs up everything they make with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. It’s not uncommon to see 40-year-old Rega turntables in our shop that still run and look great all these years later.
One thing that makes Rega unique is that they do not create new products simply for the sake of releasing a new model. It is only when their engineers come up with enough improvements to make a significant difference, that Rega releases a new turntable.
In today’s review, we are taking a look at the new Rega Planar 6 (P6). The P6 falls right in the middle of Rega’s great turntable lineup with the P8 and RP10 above it, and the P1, P2, and P3 below it. As you might have guessed, it is an improvement on their long-term standard, the RP6, which has been around for many years.
The P6 is available in three different versions. For $1,875 you get the table itself with no cartridge. Above that are two versions where Rega bundles the Planar 6 with two of their cartridges, offering significant package savings.
For $2,245 you can get the Rega Planar 6 paired with the Rega Exact moving magnet cartridge. If you want another step up, you can get a package that includes the Rega Planar 6 and Rega’s brand new Ania moving coil cartridge for $2,595. Regardless of which package you choose, you will save $200 by purchasing the package versus buying the cartridge and the turntable separately.
Design & Build Quality
The design philosophy that Rega adheres to for all of their turntables focuses on three primary objectives.
- Spin the platter at the most consistent speed possible
- Minimize vibrations by using a light and stiff system that dumps resonance out through the turntables feet
- Utilize a tonearm and cartridge combination that tracks your records perfectly.
With the Rega Planar 6, the team at Rega combines technology they’ve used in some of their more expensive tables with a few new tricks, to set a new standard.
Every Rega turntable is a pure manual design, and the Planar 6 is no different. This means you will need to start it up with a button press, lower the tonearm onto the record yourself, and at the end of the record, pick up the tonearm. The majority (actually probably 99.9%) of the high-performance turntables in the world today utilize a manual design.
If you make turntables designed to last 40 years or more, they have to be built extremely well. The new Planar 6 is no exception. From the minute you pull it out of the box, you can tell it is a fine piece of machinery.
While the plinth on the new Planar 1, 2, and 3 turntables have glossy finishes, the Planar 6 opts instead for a Polaris Grey matte finish with a high-gloss black polymer edge trim. The finish is just beautiful! When you pull the turntable out of the box and you have just the plinth in your hand, you will notice that although it hardly weighs anything, it feels extremely rigid. It is truly a great combination of technology and design!
