Turntable Rega Planar 8 Ania (White)

The Rega Planar 8 is inspired by Rega Research's most advanced turntable, the Naiad. The company immediately decided that the new Planar 8 would not be an evolution of the previous RP8 model, but would be designed and engineered to embody the essence of “Naiad”, but at an affordable price. The goal was to provide a level of performance significantly superior to what had previously been achieved at this price point. Every aspect of Planar 8 is designed to extract as much detail as possible from the vinyl surface. State-of-the-art materials and engineering have been used, built around an extremely lightweight plinth, to ensure maximum levels of performance. Planar 8 comes standard with the new RB880 tonearm and Neo power supply, which provides electronic variable speed control, advanced anti-vibration control and user-configurable electronic fine-speed control for complete precision and control over motor operation. The outer frame of the previous model has now been removed, and a new stylish, removable one-piece dust cover further reduces the overall weight of the player.

Body

Planar 8 is Rega's second turntable to feature the latest ultra-lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core (a material developed for the aerospace industry). This material is sandwiched between two layers of HPL (high pressure laminate). HPL is an exceptionally thin and extremely rigid material. Thanks to this new design, the new Planar 8 skeleton plinth is 30% lighter than the original RP8 while offering increased rigidity compared to the previous model.

Double staple technology

The ultra-lightweight plinth combines with a double phenolic resin shackle mounted exactly where increased rigidity is required (between the tonearm mount and the main hub bearing) to create a structurally strong "tension beam" assembly. This rigid plinth design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances that introduce unnatural distortion into music.

At the same time, the heavier mass can transfer more unwanted energy, such as motor or bearing noise, directly to the spinning plate. Using brackets instead of a solid skin allows the use of double-thickness phenolic resin in these key areas, providing additional mass reduction to the plinth, which directly addresses the problem of mass absorption and unwanted energy transfer.

Tonearm RB880

The new RB880 features an improved vertical bearing assembly made from aluminum and stainless steel, offering low weight and significantly improved stability and rigidity. This tonearm uses an advanced, preloaded, zero-tolerance bearing assembly adjusted to less than a 1000th of a millimeter to provide friction-free movement and zero unwanted play. This subtle but effective new design is only visible through small windows at the rear of the new offset chassis. A thinner stainless steel balance weight is used to provide greater adjustability and compatibility. Finally, the RB880 uses a newly designed low capacitance phono cable with high quality locking phono plugs to ensure the best possible connection.

Belt drive

For three years, Rega, together with chemists, researched and developed a new rubber compound for drive belts. Using a special vulcanization system, the new drive belt ensures excellent consistency in its modulus of elasticity (a constant that reflects the degree to which a substance has a certain property, such as elasticity). The new belts are manufactured on modern, ultra-precision machines developed by Rega, which produce “perfectly round” and “exactly sized” belts, which are very important for ensuring ideal speed stability.

Wheel bearing

Planar 8 uses a new low-mass center bearing assembly. The one-piece machined aluminum platter and hardened tool steel spindle are housed in a custom-fabricated brass body that is thoughtfully mounted into the chassis. This new mounting is designed to eliminate unwanted potential energy transferred or stored in the plinth.

Three-layer glass plate

The Planar 8 uses a three-piece laminated glass plate, which is the result of a collaboration with a British glass company. This new plate is made from two different high quality Pilkington glasses. Typically, the only part of the turntable that requires additional mass is the turntable platter to achieve a constant rotational speed. However, a heavier disc creates more problems for the main bearing design, so a compromise is the best solution in this case. In practice, this means that most of the mass is on the outer rim of the glass disc, creating a flywheel effect, but the inner part of the disc remains as light as possible without losing rigidity.

24V low noise motor

Planar 8 uses Rega's latest generation 24V low vibration synchronous motor. Unique mount using the highest level of mating while maintaining higher vibration isolation than previous models. The new motor mounting technology (bottom) was borrowed directly from Rega's most advanced turntable, the Naiad. This unique mounting method removes all stress from the engine housing. Reduced vibration and stiffer mounting provide superior drive from new EBLT drive belts. Before installation on the turntable, each motor is manually tuned to its own Neo power supply to optimize the anti-vibration circuitry.

Ania cartridge

The Rega Ania moving coil cartridge design is unique in its approach to creating an ultra-low mass, no damping (no tie wire) oscillator using a unique diamond-shaped cantilever joint driven by a specially designed, exclusive to Rega, neodymium magnet system.

Power supply

The Neo power supply provides smooth power delivery, advanced anti-vibration circuitry and precise electronic speed control. It uses an RP10 DSP (Digital Signal Processing) oscillator built on a highly stable crystal. The DSP oscillator divides the precise signal from the crystal into the precise frequency required to spin the record at the selected speed. In addition, the DSP generator produces an almost ideal sine waveform for motor control. Together with an efficient drive amplifier, it generates a balanced 24V AC signal with less than 0.15% distortion, unaffected by any changes in line voltage or operating conditions. It then activates the turntable's anti-vibration circuit located underneath it.

User manual