Rega Planar 6 - Release Date, Reviews & More

Rega Planar 6 turntable After two years of development, the long-awaited Planar 6 from Rega is heading to Australia. Its predecessor, the Rega RP6, was a multi-award winner and hands-down the top selling turntable here at Living Sound in Brisbane since its release in 2012. So with such a hard act to follow how does the Planar 6 stack up? Let's find out!

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Planar 6 Features > Planar 6 Reviews > Planar 6 vs RP6 > Planar 6 Price & Release Date >

Rega Planar 6 Features

Rega Planar 6 in Brisbane The Planar 6 is built around the huge success of the RP8 and RP10 turntables and the first Rega turntable to be constructed with an ultra lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core plinth (a material developed for the aerospace industry). The Planar 6 uses a single piece, machined aluminum sub-platter, a new 24v motor hand tuned and matched to its own NEO power supply and custom drive pulley fitted with Rega's upgrade drive belt as standard. The Neo PSU uses the RP10 DSP generator built upon a high stability crystal. The DSP generator produces a near perfect sinusoidal waveform to drive the motor. This, along with an efficient drive amplifier, generates a 24V AC balanced signal of less than 0.15% distortion, which is completely unaffected by any changes in the mains/line voltage and conditions.

Key Features:

  • NEO outboard power supply
  • Super lightweight foam core plinth
  • Plinth laminate: New Polaris HPL (high pressure laminate)
  • Available in one finish ‘Polaris Grey’ matt finish with high gloss black polymer edge trim
  • Upgrade white drive belt fitted as standard
  • Custom dual layer smoked / clear float glass platter
  • Single piece aluminium sub platter
  • Custom machined high precision drive pulley
  • Patent pending, ultra-low friction central brass hub
  • Rega’s double brace technology, with integral custom matched aluminium tonearm and hub pillars to ensure maximum rigidity and accuracy
  • RB330 handmade precision tonearm with custom stainless weight
  • New high spec Rega 24v low noise synchronous motor – each motor matched by hand to its own NEO PSU ensuring optimum anti-vibration control
  • New smoked dust cover
Full features and specs on the Rega website >

Rega Planar 6 Reviews

We're getting our Planar 6 stock in October so will post our own review then. For now, here's a sample of what overseas reviewers have had to say:

What HiFi Review, September 2017

"Rega aims high and scores with a wonderfully refined, articulate and precise turntable that’s lovely to listen to." "It’s a frankly astonishing refined and mature sound."
Full Review >

HiFi Choice Review, September 2017

"The Planar 6 is a simply outstanding turntable that’s well worth the wait"
Full Review >

 SoundOrg Review, July 2017

"Not only has Rega moved performance upward to a large degree but they have done so with only a small commensurate increase in price...Add to that the awesome cartridge and phono-stage package pricing and this turntable is unbeatable."
Full Review >

A/V Forums Review, September 2017

"This is a startlingly good turntable and an elegant demonstration of Rega’s design philosophy continuing to evolve and improve."
Full Review >

Rega Planar 6 vs RP6

The folks over at SoundOrg have done a great comparison of the Planar 6 against the RP6 - here we summarise the main changes of the Planar 6 vs the RP6:

Tonearm

Planar 6: RB330 with zero tolerance bearings, vertical bearing housing redesigned to increase strength, new bias housing, improved wiring RP6: RB303 (anyone who has compared RP3 to Planar 3 will tell you the RB330 is a major step forward in the long-arc of Rega arms)

Plinth

Planar 6: Tancast 8 foam core with Polaris high-pressure laminate skin RP6: MDF core with multi-layer acrylic paint

Platter

Planar 6: Dual-layer clear Optiwhite and tinted Pilkington float glass platter RP6: Dual layer float glass platter, tinted

Hub/Bearing Assembly

Planar 6: Single-piece machined aluminum hub with cold welded spindles; interlocking compression-free main bearing well RP6: Phenolic hub w/ machined aluminum adapter; compression-fitted bearing well

Motor

Planar 6: Bespoke low-noise 24V twin-phase motor with custom spindle; white reference belt included RP6: Generic 24V twin phase motor; black standard belt included

Motor Controller

Planar 6: Neo PSU with DSP-based sinewave generator and high precision crystal clock oscillator, based on RP10 PSU; user adjustable speed RP6: TT-PSU with analogue-based clock; non-adjustable

Bracing

Planar 6: Thicker phenolic, aluminized top, interlocked with main bearing and tonearm mount for higher rigidity RP6: Phenolic, aluminized top

Feet

Planar 6: Ultra-lightweight, high stiffness hollow cones made from Santoprene rubber, aluminum reinforcement trim rings RP6: Heavy rubber and aluminum feet (better than the feet that proceeded, nowhere near as good at isolation as new style)

Planar 6 Price & Release Date

The Rega Planar 6 will be released in Australia in October 2017, with a recommended retail price of $1,999 without cartridge, $2,399 with the Exact cartridge or $2,999 with the new Ania MC cartridge (below). Planar 6 with Ania MC cartridge

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More info

For more information about the Planar 6, call us on (07) 3552 7000 or visit our Brisbane showroom.