Rega introduces the new Rega Planar 6 Turntable

I have been interested in the RP10, but don't like the look. My cherry P9 looks beautiful!

I am getting the Planar 6 as my second system table...

 

The P9 is still the flagship, as far as I'm concerned.

 

The transfer of energy into the platter and or tonearm will manifest itself in raising the noise floor and a blurring of the sound. The new Planar 3 does not have the overly warm sound that the outgoing RP3 had. Transparency is increased and bass response goes quite a bit lower. The new table can hit you in the chest with bass, the old one did not. Dynamics are also much improved and the table is now capable of using better cartridges.

Stopping this energy from transferring into the signal is just as important as speed stability. Most turntables use the mass damping approach to achieve this, the monster tables with 100 lb plinths and 75 lb platters. It works, but so does Gandy's method of extremely light plinths and rigid tonearm and platter assemblies. As price increases on Rega tables, the plinths get lighter and stiffer and the platters gain mass.

Also pretty sure Rega isnt using packing peanut material for these plinths.

 

Hey, I admitted they look killer.

 

Sorry, I banned bathroom scales from my home 50 lbs ago.

 

Again, this all just sounds like complete nonsense. Less energy yet somehow more bass? The old table 'blurred' so much signal that entire bass frequencies were obscured? Come tf on.

How about this. I'll throw a VPI Classic against a lighter weight RP1. I know which one wins.

Has nothing to do with the sound of either table, just like your ridiculous answer.

 

you would have to compare vpi classic to RP10... personal taste aside i would wager they are equals

 

You just compared a 3k VPI against a 400 dollar Rega. Lets compare your VPI classic against a Kronos. Bet I know which one will win. Just as ridiculous as your answer. I'm done. I don't come on here to teach physics. Adios.

 

The argument about light foam plinths seems like super-science but then let's talk about the fact that Rega simply bolts their drive motors directly to that plinth. It's silly to supposedly put so much effort into dissipating energy and then simultaneously bolt the noisiest component of the entire machine directly to the plinth, right next to the platter bearing. Many, most at the mid-to-higher levels perhaps, manufacturers simply disconnect the motor assembly from the plinth, which is a much more elegant and reasonable solution to the problem of noise getting into the platter and arm. This pseudo-science that the Rega boosters throw around is just bull. If noise getting into the signal is so worrisome take the damned motor out of the noise equation then. Your arguments about Rega's science and comparative engineering simply are not convincing.

 

I get that it would be nice to really understand the theory and the physics involved in any design, but what's really important is how it sounds. Forget the why. I think it's safe to say that Rega tables are pretty good, otherwise they wouldn't have survived this long, not to mention that they are one of the leading brands right now in terms of popularity. So they must be doing something right. I grew up with Thorens turntables, which have a completely different design, and also some direct drive turntables, and I am very happy with my P3-24. Now, does the lighter more foamy plinth in the new P6 give you a noticeable improvement over an RP6? I don't know, and nobody will know until you actually try the TT out, using your own ears and your room.

 

Perhaps in a few years Rega will find a trick to dispense with a plinth.

 

Finally available in France for 1290€ without a cart.
Might purchase it in a couple of months and mount my at440mlb with it, i just need to save a bit of money first.

 

Really, I'm so tempted to run out and get one as soon as they're available but things are going so well with my RP3 it would be a shame. I'm even saving up for a new cartridge for it.

 

The P6 looks great, but I am so thrilled with the RP6 I picked up on clearance that I doubt I will be thinking about any kind of table upgrade for a while to come.

Now about the RP1 in my second system however...

 

Surely you realize it's a matter of opinion. I would say the solution that requires the motor to sit in a separate box is many times not elegant at all and makes the whole turntable more complicated than necessary. In most cases, I'd choose the turntable that makes it look easy.

 

The way i see it the ultimate end game of the Rega theory would be to have all the components magically floating in the air but 100% rigid.

Mass loaded design end game would be to have all components attached to a plinth (or 2 plinths to keep motor isolation) of infinite mass and density that no force could be exacted on.

Obviously neither of which is possible and either would work equally well (yes theres room to speculate here but its splitting hairs) but i feel i the Rega design is closer to achievable at a lower price point.

 

I sold an RP10 to move to a VPI Classic 2 (near 3). I know which I prefer after more than a year with each. Anyone here with similar personal experience with both tables?

But following the established logic of 'lighter = better'.... the RP1 must be a serious bargain. Thinking of revising my old Fisher Price setup. I'll bet that one didn't 'blur' my low end due to to too much plinth mass transferring all of the energy!

And no, you do not 'have to' compare tables of like $$$, as Marshall_SLX and SWVAHokie so blindly insist. Thats the exact sort of bait the industry expects us go for. So if I take a $400 table and toss it a $2k price tag, then I can compare? Total nonsense.

Isn't that, in many ways, exactly what Rega is doing? Moving up the line foam plinths and 'tighter tolerances' are offered for significant supercharge -- but same basic table same basic engineering and the same voices citing the same nonsensical benefits in voracious defense.

SWVAHOKIE -- I'm glad you don't come here to teach physics, because you don't know jack about physics. You simply regurgitate Rega's marketing nonsense and expect the rest of us to lap it up as enthusiastically as you do.

Back to the original point. This is the job of the damned reviews. And Rega won't allow them to make direct compares against the outgoing tables. Or down the line.

WONDER WHY?

 

You mean there is a law now that reviewers can't compare ? A conspiracy ?

 

Yes. Conditions of review samples. Wake up.

 

It is bizarre to not compare the new P3 or P6 to their RP counterparts. If the new designs are truly technological and/or engineering advances, they should sound better. If they are just change for the sake of a newer, spiffier model, without noticeable sound improvements, that should be pointed out.

 

Lotta Rega trolls creeping around in here.

 

Valid criticism does not a troll make. Especially when having significant experience with the products. All the way up and down the line.

But I do see some troglodytes.

 

Yawn

 

Mate i believe you are more qualified to compare these high end tables than i am but you just cant compare an RP1 to a VPI Classic and then say the RP1 sounds worse because its a lightweight design. It sounds worse because it has inferior quality parts and manufacturing not because it is light. If an RP1 sounded like a VPI Classic and still cost $400 then very few people would own a VPI Classic. You might not "have" to compare same priced models but you do have to compare models with equivalent quality parts and manufacturing, it just so happens that this normally means a similar price point.

I too am skeptical everytime a new model comes out however it has been my experience from the tables ive owned that P5 bettered P3 - 24 (not by a huge amount) and now my P7 bests them both.

Also too i believe it is the rigidity that is crucial here and an RP1/P1 without a brace, a less engineered plinth, phenolic arm base and basically pheloic everything else just isnt as rigid as the higher end models. A heavy turntable also needs rigidity with its arm, bearing and whatever drive system it uses otherwise the weight means very little but it just so happens that most things that are heavy (that you would use in TT manufacture) are also rigid.

 

I've read your Rega story here.

I'm not sure how anyone can really have a valid criticism of the Rega P6 (you know, the actual subject of this thread) when no one has even heard it yet.