Mr Spock
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The Planar 8 differs most from previous Regas by being the first one to go “full Naiad”—or at least as “Naiad” as possible within price and practicality constraints.
The older RP8’s semi-skeletal plinth hints at what Rega has done here, which is to carve away even greater plinth real estate while ramping up the shape’s severe angularity, the goal being even lower mass combined with increased rigidity.
The new RB880 arm is an evolution of the older RB330. Looking at it from the side you can see a new stainless/aluminum composite vertical bearing housing that is said to greatly improved performance. The arm uses low tolerance, hand-adjusted Japan-sourced ABEC bearings. No you cannot adjust azimuth but you can adjust VTA/SRA using either individual spacers between arm and plinth (which necessitates removing the arm) or the ingenious Acoustic Signature integrated spacers, which only requires that you loosen the 3 arm mounting bolts and slip one of the available thickness spacers, between the plinth and arm and then tighten. Or, you can remove the standard issue Rega dust attracting felt mat and use a thinner one to “raise” VTA/SRA or a thinner one to “lower” it!
This combination delivered uncommon tonal neutrality at this price point but even more impressive was the dynamic expressiveness, especially of the micro-variety that gives music a sense of “real life” as opposed to recorded. Low-level detail resolution was also outstanding. The combo delivered well the subtle sense of the acoustic space picked up by the C24 microphone, putting the listener convincingly (me) in the club.
Conclusion
Rega has taken its core rigidity and low mass beliefs to another level here, producing a turntable that weighs 30% less than the already light weight RP8. If you don’t agree with this philosophy there are other “weightier” alternatives. However, I think Rega proves its point here by producing an even better turntable than the model it replaces.
https://www.analogplanet.com/conten...s-much-more-planar-8-plus-exclusive-interview
Rega Planar 8 turntable
http://www.rega.co.uk/planar-8.html
