- News
- Posted
Rega Planar 6 RS Edition
Rega has added the Planar 6 RS Edition to its range - a new special version of one of the company's most important turntables. The British manufacturer has spent decades developing designs based on lightweight, rigid plinths, precise belt drive systems and tonearms of its own making, showing that the classic turntable form still has a great deal of potential. This time, Rega has taken the well-known Planar 6 and equipped it with solutions normally associated with higher models in its catalog. The result is a technically advanced turntable that should be ready for serious playback almost straight out of the box, without the immediate need to replace the cartridge, power supply or drive components. With the RB880 tonearm, Neo PSU MK2, Reference EBLT belt and Nd9 cartridge included, the Planar 6 RS Edition looks like a proposition for listeners who want to move to a higher level of analog playback without building the system through a sequence of expensive upgrades. Rega is offering a complete package in which technologies from higher models have been sensibly combined with the familiar Planar 6 format.
Rega is a British audio manufacturer founded in 1973 and best known for turntables, tonearms, cartridges, CD players, amplifiers and loudspeakers. From the beginning, the company has focused on its own engineering solutions, UK production and a consistently developed philosophy of lightweight, rigid turntables with simple but highly precise construction. The Planar 6 RS Edition fits neatly into that tradition, showing that even a proven design can be refined by replacing the most important mechanical and electrical elements without moving away from the ideas that have defined Rega turntables for years. The Planar 6 RS Edition is the second turntable in the RS line, or Rega Special. The first was the Planar 3 RS, which was well received as a carefully upgraded, complete version of the popular Planar 3. The new model follows a similar path, but starts from a higher-positioned platform. Compared with the standard Planar 6, it receives several important changes, including the RB880 tonearm known from the Planar 8, an upgraded subplatter, twin Reference EBLT drive belts, the external Neo PSU MK2 power supply and a factory-fitted Rega Nd9 moving magnet cartridge. In practice, the user receives a ready, factory-configured package in which many components have been selected to deliver a higher level of precision and operating stability.
The basis of the turntable remains Rega's characteristic ultra-light plinth with a Tancast 8 foam core. It is finished with an HPL laminate and metallic surface, while its structure is reinforced using Double Brace technology. This solution strengthens the area between the tonearm and the main platter bearing, which is critical to the working geometry of the turntable. Rega has long argued that instead of building heavy, massive structures, it is better to remove unnecessary mass and control resonance through rigidity, precision and reduced energy storage in the plinth. Drive is provided by a hand-tuned, low-noise 24 V motor working with the external Neo PSU MK2 power supply. This is an especially important element, because the power supply not only allows electronic speed change, but also provides more precise control over the motor. Together with the twin Reference EBLT belts, it is intended to improve speed stability, rhythmic precision and overall coherence. For the user, it also adds convenience, as switching between 33 and 45 rpm does not require manually moving the belt.
One of the most important upgrades in the new version is the RB880 tonearm. This design is known from the Planar 8, a model positioned clearly higher in Rega's range. Using this tonearm in the Planar 6 RS Edition matters not only from the point of view of product positioning, but also because of the real performance potential of the whole turntable. The tonearm has a direct influence on cartridge tracking, resonance control and the retrieval of information from the record groove. In this context, the Planar 6 RS Edition is not merely a cosmetic version of the standard Planar 6, but a design in which key parts of the mechanical signal path have been changed. The factory-fitted Rega Nd9 is the most advanced moving magnet cartridge in the company's history. It uses a boron cantilever and a nude Fine Line diamond stylus inspired by solutions used in Rega's reference Aphelion 2 moving coil cartridge. Rega has also used a neodymium magnet and a new generator geometry. According to the manufacturer, the Nd9 is intended to offer high speed, strong detail retrieval, expansive spatial presentation and a natural tonal character. From the user's point of view, it is just as important that the Planar 6 RS Edition does not immediately demand investment in a better cartridge, because it already comes with one as standard.
The new turntable therefore occupies an interesting place in Rega's catalog. It is still recognizably a Planar 6, with the familiar rectangular shape, light plinth and clean design, but several of its most important elements have been drawn from a higher level. This makes it particularly attractive for listeners who like Rega's basic engineering philosophy but want a package that sits closer to the Planar 8 in key mechanical areas. The Planar 6 RS Edition is priced at €2699/£2000/$3195, which also makes the package worth considering in purely practical terms, given that the Nd9 cartridge, RB880 tonearm and Neo PSU MK2 are all substantial parts of the overall value. Info and photos by Rega.
