Planar 10 Reviewed in The Absolute Sound + Roy Gandy Interview!
Posted by The Sound Organisation on Sep 13th 2021
When it comes to turntables, it's hard to beat Rega Research. At every price point, Rega has a turntable that can outplay nearly any of its competitors. For many price points $5,000 and above, the Planar 10 is undeniably the best-in-class; regardless of price. In fact, the Planar 10 is the Rega's attempt to take the technology from their moonshot Naiad Turntable (MSRP: ~$42,000) and create a more attainable version for mass market. So, in essence, the Planar 10 is a turntable that mimics something that costs 7.5 times its sticker price. Because of this, many reviewers, critics, and listeners have fallen in love with the Planar 10 after listening to its immensely transparent and accurate playback.
In the July/August 2021 edition of The Absolute Sound, Stephen Scharf writes about his experience with the Rega Planar 10. Scharf begins with his history with Rega turntables before moving on to a detailed explanation of each component of the Planar 10 and how it affects the overall performance. Then, he was on to set-up and listening impressions. The first thing he noticed was how extremely quiet the Planar 10 was. "In fact, this turntable set new standards for me for its exceptionally low noise floor and, as a result, the quietness of its musical presentation." When designing the Planar 10, Rega focused on reducing mass and increasing rigidity in order to remove unwanted noise. By removing the unwanted vibrations from the operating parts, the Planar 10 outputs the cleanest and most transparent signal.
The highest praise comes from his final words:
In case you haven't figured it out by now, I love this turntable... The bottom line? Yes, you can spend more money on a turntables, but, honestly, I can't think of why you'd need to. I can't imagine having a more satisfying and engaging experience than the one that the Planar 10 offers from LPs. It's an outstandingly well-thought-out, well-engineered, and well-made product, and will last a lifetime making beautiful music.
Read the Full Review here!
Or, pick up a copy of The Absolute Sound
As if publishing a highly-detailed love letter to the Planar 10 wasn't enough, The Absolute Sound also included an interview with Rega Founder Roy Gandy and CEO Phil Freeman. During the interview, Roy Gandy goes over the engineering behind the low-mass design principle and how it reduces stress, vibration, and noise in the turntable. One of the fascinating things Roy points out is that the Planar 10 sounds so much better not just because there is less noise, but because there is more information being pulled from the vinyl. "You're probably hearing two, three, four, five percent less noise, but maybe ten, twenty, or thirty percent more signal." For those interested in the engineering advances throughout the Planar 10, the interview is a must read!
