The Planar 8 was inspired by the ultimate Rega turntable, the ‘Naiad’. REga decided early on that instead of an evolution of the previous RP8, the new Planar 8 was to be developed and engineered to encapsulate the essence of ‘Naiad’ at an affordable price. Rega’s aim was to deliver a level of performance far beyond what has been achieved at this price point before.
This turntable does not come with a cartridge fitted!
RB880 tonearm
For the new RB880, Rega have introduced an improved vertical bearing assembly constructed using an aluminium and stainless-steel, low mass assembly with vastly improved stability and rigidity.
This tonearm is using Rega’s advanced preloaded zero tolerance bearing assembly adjusted to less than 1000th of a mm, this gives friction-free movement and zero levels of unwanted play. This subtle but effective new structure is only visible via small windows at the rear of the new bias housing assembly.
A thinner stainless steel balance weight is used, allowing greater adjustability and compatibility. Finally, the RB880 is terminated with a re-designed, low capacitance phono cable terminated with high quality, locking phono plugs to ensure the best possible connection.
Plinth
The Planar 8 is the second Rega turntable constructed using Rega’s latest ultra-lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core (a material developed for the aerospace industry). This material is sandwiched between two layers of HPL (high-pressure laminate).
HPL is exceptionally thin and extremely rigid. This new construction makes the new Planar 8 skeletal plinth 30% lighter than the original RP8 while offering increased rigidity over the previous model.
Double braces
A super lightweight plinth combined with a ceramic top brace and phenolic resin bottom brace mounted specifically where the increased rigidity is required (between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing) forms a structurally sound, “stressed beam,” assembly.
The use of braces instead of the complete skin allows increased thickness in these key areas while providing further weight reduction to the plinth which directly addresses the issue of mass absorption and unwanted energy transmission.
Hub Bearing Assembly
The Planar 8 uses a new low mass central bearing assembly. A single piece machined aluminium sub-platter and hardened tool steel spindle run inside a custom brass housing which is cleverly mounted within the chassis. This new mounting is designed to eradicate unwanted potential energy being transferred or stored in the plinth.
Super Flywheel Effect Triple Layer Glass Platter
The Planar 8 uses a three-piece laminated glass platter which is the result of collaboration with a British glass engineering company. This brand new platter is constructed from two different high-quality Pilkington glasses. This platter design means keeping as much of the mass to the outside rim of the glass platter to create more flywheel effect but keeping the inside of the platter as light as possible without sacrificing stiffness.
24 V Low Noise Motor Assembly
The Planar 8 uses Rega’s latest generation, 24 V, synchronous, low vibration motor technology. Uniquely mounted using the highest level of coupling while retaining higher vibration isolation than any previous model.
This new motor mounting technique (mounted from the bottom) has been taken directly from the ultimate Rega turntable, the Naiad.
This unique mounting method removes all stress on the motor body. The reduced vibration and more rigid mounting delivers superior drive from the new EBLT drive belts. Each motor is hand-tuned to match its own custom Neo power supply before fitting to the turntable to optimise the anti-vibration circuit.
Neo PSU
The Neo PSU offers a smooth power supply, an advanced anti-vibration circuit and fine electronic speed adjustment. It uses the RP10 DSP (digital signal processing) generator built upon a high stability crystal.
The DSP generator will divide the accurate signal from the crystal to the exact frequency required to turn the platter at the selected speed. The DSP generator will also produce a near-perfect sinusoidal waveform to drive the motor. This, along with an efficient drive amplifier, generates a 24 V, AC balanced signal of less than 0.15% distortion, which is completely unaffected by any changes in the mains/line voltage and conditions. This then drives the turntable’s anti-vibration circuit, which is situated beneath the turntable.
Turntable Dimensions with dustcover: W 42 x H 12.5 x 31.5 1.5 cm
Neo PSU Dimensions: W 18 x H 5 x D 15.5 cm
Turntable Weight: 4.2 kg
PSU Weight: 0.6 kg
