Rega Planar 1 Turntable with Rega Carbon Cartridge

Description

This multi-award winning ‘Plug and Play’ design utilises our handmade RB110 tonearm, with pre-set bias and a factory fitted Carbon cartridge. Set-up is possible in under 30 seconds and delivers incredible performance well beyond its price point.

With a pre-set tracking force and a Carbon cartridge factory-fitted to the RB110 tonearm, the multi-awardwinning Planar 1 can be set up in under 30 seconds and delivers incredible performance well beyond its price tag. Advanced EBLT drive belt now included as standard.
 

Performance beyond price -

A fresh new look for the multi-award winning Planar 1. We are delighted to introduce the new matt finish Planar 1. Every single aspect of the Planar 1 has been meticulously designed to improve performance. The Planar 1 uses a bespoke 24 V, low noise, synchronous motor to reduce vibration combined with our hand made RB110 tonearm fitted with our unique Rega designed ultra-low friction bearings. We have added our latest drive belt technology the EBLT belt which delivers greater accuracy and improved speed performance. If you are looking to get back into vinyl and want serious performance that will last you a lifetime, then look no further.

The new special edition Walnut effect finish will be introduced across August & September 2022 and is constructed from the same high rigidity premium laminate used on the standard matt  P1. This is an attractive, high quality, realistic finish which is supplied as standard with the premium smoked dustcover to set off the design.

Reviews:
 

Tech Radar: Rega Planar PL1 review: the best cheap turntable you can get. The rich vinyl sound you want for an irresistible price.

"The Rega Planar PL1 is the latest version of an entry-level record player first introduced in 2005 – and this may be the best version yet, which is saying something. For very nearly 50 years now, Rega has been setting turntable standards – and at all price-points.
 

"The Rega Planar PL1 is not a very luxurious item, no – paying out for this doesn't buy you something that looks deluxe. But everything about the Planar PL1 is fit for purpose, and where the real essentials are concerned, it’s worth every penny. The motor, bearings, tonearm and cartridge are all carefully designed and engineered, and the attention to detail here is apparent in the sound quality. 
 

"In almost every way, the Rega explains what it is people love about the best turntables as a way to enjoy music and, by extension, why vinyl has dodged the coffin all these years. It presents music as a unified, integrated whole, as a tangible performance rather than as a collection of individual strands or events. It does great work making rhythms and tempos feel natural, it extracts an awful lot of fine detail without getting uptight about it, and it has the sort of dynamic heft that can make your hair stand on end.
 

"Not every turntable brand considers this sort of money to be ‘entry level’, it’s true. But if you want to know why vinyl is still a preoccupation for so many music-lovers, and if you perhaps want to be lured into a lifetime of tonearm adjustment, cartridge upgrades and vinyl subscription services, well… you know what to do.  

• Open and convincing soundstage
• Good dynamic heft
• Impressive detail levels
   

"What sort of records do you own? What sort of music do you like? Whatever it might be, the Rega Planar PL1 likes it too.
 

"Really, it doesn’t matter the vinyl you play, the PL1 relishes it all. In this test we slipped on everything from Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends to Cosmogramma by Flying Lotus via Arrival by ABBA, all of which was easy to listen to – and that’s meant in the least pejorative, most positive sense.
 

"The vinyl format hasn’t survived this long by accident. There are virtues to the way it presents music that make it the only way to listen, for some people at least, and the Rega Planar PL1 embodies all of them to a lesser or greater extent. 
 

"The soundstage it describes, for example, is open, well-defined and easy to understand. It locks individual elements of a recording securely, and it allows each contributor to a recording all the breathing space they need in order to express themselves. Yet it manages to do this without letting anything sound remote, or estranged, or in any way dislocated. Recordings are delivered with a unity and a coherence that makes the word ‘performance’ entirely appropriate.

"It’s equally confident where tonality is concerned. Bass sounds are robust, properly textured and loaded with detail. Yes, some other turntables (inevitably more expensive than this) can give the low end a little more speed and momentum, but the PL1 is no slouch in this regard. At the opposite end of the frequency range, treble sounds are similarly detailed and so similarly articulate. Again, there could conceivably be even more sparkle to the sound, but don’t imagine the Rega is in any way dull or blunt. And in the midrange, which is where the action is for singers and so on, the PL1 is just as eloquent, just as information-rich and just as direct as it is elsewhere.
 

"Integration through the frequency range is smooth and convincing, and the Rega has the sort of low-end positivity that allows rhythms good expression. It’s helped by the dynamic headroom that’s on offer here – the distance from the quietest moments of a recording to the most raucous is considerable – as well as the harmonic variations the turntable can identify and describe. 

"If we’re being picky (and we usually are),  the PL1 is a little too ready to indulge lush or luxuriant recordings. The Simon & Garfunkel album, for example, can sound a little less perky than is ideal – the Rega seems seduced by the warmth of its sound. But let’s not get carried away, this is a minor shortcoming, one we mention really for no other reason than it doesn’t suit us to be utterly uncritical." - Simon Lucas

Full Review Here

Key Features -

• New Walnut effect finish added for 2022
• EBLT Advanced drive belt fitted as standard
• New matt finish for 2021
• RB110 tonearm with ultra-low friction play bearings
• Factory fitted Carbon moving magnet cartridge
• Phenolic resin, flywheel effect platter
• High quality, 24 V low noise synchronous motor
• Lifetime warranty against manufacture defects