Rega Planar 6 RS: High-End Performance, Perfectly Refined.

The Rega Planar 6 RS is a brilliant bit of engineering that uses carefully selected upgrades to push performance firmly into high-end territory while maintaining the brand's signature simplicity. Ed Selley recently auditioned a Planar 6 RS for Sound Advice, and here's what he had to say.

The Planar 6 marks the crossover point between Rega's traditional plinth designs and its skeletal flagships. It features a full-size plinth crafted from ultra-lightweight TanCast 8 foam, now wrapped in a gorgeous aluminium high-pressure laminate. Visually, the proportions are perfect; the range's former "ugly duckling" has officially become a swan.

Ed Shelly stated that “The Planar 6 is interesting because it’s the crossover point between the more affordable plinth-type designs below it and the distinctive skeletal models above.” For the tonearm, the RS borrows the higher-spec RB880 from the Planar 8, featuring precision bearings that offer superior tracking accuracy. Completing the package is the top-tier Nd9 moving-magnet cartridge, which utilizes an advanced neodymium magnet system and a stiff boron cantilever lifted straight from their flagship Aphelion 2.

Sonically, the Planar 6 RS delivers exactly what a Rega should. It is astonishingly articulate, bringing a restless energy to high-tempo tracks while allowing delicate, transient nuances to rise from absolute silence with startling immediacy. This isn’t a simple reproduction of music; it’s a dynamic performance.

That speed doesn’t sacrifice low-end authority, offering a textured bass you can feel just as much as hear. True to modern Rega voicing, it avoids artificial warmth, opting for a clean, neutral, and highly detailed soundstage that remains effortlessly unflappable across genres.

Combining an impressively straightforward setup with the practicality of a full, hinged lid, the Planar 6 RS extracts massive performance from its architecture. It stands out as a deeply engaging deck that offers a genuine shortcut to high-end analogue playback.

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Or, check out this video review with Ed Selley: