Verdict
It ’s a minimalist number of outfit but the Planar 2 is an especial turntable that is a pleasure to live with .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Ever since vinyl became a mainstream data formatting , the number of unlike manufacturer active at every price point from entirely low-priced to ‘ basically a telephony number ’ has exploded .
Analogue is full-grown byplay and it has boost a number of companies to stress their fortune . Of course , not everyone cause turntables has number back into making them because some never stopped . Rega recently celebrated their 50thbirthday and for the integrality of that meter , they have beenmaking record players .
This gives the Planar 2 ; the 2nd most affordable turntable that Rega take in , a pedigree that most rivals would kill for but what does that mean in terms of carrying out ? After all , turntable are the perfect definition of ‘ mature ’ technology so it begs the question what can Rega know that is n’t already common knowledge to everyone else ? Is this still the best magnetic disc thread maker at the price or is it swap off repute ?
Availability
The Planar 2 is available through a concatenation of authorised principal for £ 499 in the UK . Many of these dealer have been selling Rega for most of the fifty yr that the fellowship has been trading and they make out everything about both the Planar 2 and the eternal rest of the chain of mountains . There is also a healthy identification number of them and some of them are authorize to cater the Planar 2 online which should make getting wait of one fairly easy .
In the USA , the Planar 2 is uncommitted from a choice of dealers for $ 775 and in Australia it will be you $ 999 AUD . It is also deserving direct out that the Planar 2 has been on sale in various forms for a very foresightful sentence . If you seek for ‘ Rega Planar 2 ’ online , as well as clear label new selection , there will be a bewildering pick of used choices . These will broadly be exchangeable to the model reviewed here ; they are all record players after all , but they will differ in detail aspects .
Design
The Planar 2 is a knock force , unsuspended lazy Susan . This should not be a huge surprise because every mannikin the ship’s company has ever made is a belt driven unsuspended turntable . The motor acts on a sub platter beneath the main platter and does so at a set up speed . There is no dangling or internal closing off and everything is instead attached to the same pedestal .
The Planar 2 is the most affordable simulation that the company makes to feature a meth platter ; something which is then used all the way up to thePlanar 8 . Rega feel it ’s an optimal playing aerofoil and it has the added benefit of looking fantastic . The Rega is a genuinely pretty thing , in part because it is so simple .
Nothing that does n’t absolutely demand to be there is present and it attain the Planar 2 exceedingly elegant . Four finishes are available ; the white in the picture , comment black , gloss red and the recently launched walnut . The way that the Rega is bolted together is model and it ’s land up to a very mellow standard too .
Features
The gist of the Planar 2 is an Acrylic plinth covered in the glossiness ending of your choice . It ’s designed to be as light as potent as possible and it mounts the 24v motor , the self - securing plaque bearing which hold the hero sandwich platter and disc and the tonearm . The lonesome control on the unit is a big businessman switch on the underside of the pedestal which sets the motor spinning .
To change between 33 and 45rpm you need to bring up the platter and move the belt between two spike which might be less than ideal if you have a luck of mass medium in both speed . This plinth sits on three jolly solid feet and Rega says that for the proficient possible performance , it should really be placed on a paries ledge which they will mirthfully betray you although an isolation political platform will also work well .
The arm is call up the RB220 and it is a descendent of one called the RB300 which launch in 1983 and that , in various evolution has been in output ever since . honest-to-goodness versions of this branch had a fixed note value of anti - skate ; the power which the arm employ to check the cartridge shooting to the centre of the phonograph record , which restrict the type of pickup you could meet to it but this latest good example has reestablish it which means you have reasonably free choice in what you might accommodate in the futurity .
Out of the box , the Planar 2 comes with an example of Rega ’s Carbon magazine with a translation of the Audio Technica AT-91 that boast on a deal of low-priced turntables . This is not the last word of honor in audiophilia but it is able of decent performance and is cheap to find successor styli for . you’re able to also buy high timbre renewal styli aftermarket for a simple upgrade or look to one of the magazine that Rega makes in house for a functioning rise .
Unlike many designs at this price , the Rega does not have a phono point built in . From Rega ’s perspective , this is because they make a selection of phono stages and fit them to the integrate amps that they make at this variety of terms . It ’s impossible to contend that there are rivals being sold at this form of damage that do more than the Planar 2 does though .
Something else that warrants remark is that unbox and setting up the Planar 2 is a masterclass in how it should be done . It come out of the promotion and together in a way of life that is a demonstration of things Rega knows after 50 year that many of its rivals do not .
What ’s more , if you may set a Planar 2 up , you may also set up a Planar 8 … or even aNaia ; Rega ’s statement turntable that launched last year and cost over twenty metre as much . If you wish what the Planar 2 does , you could be fairly surefooted that other model will compact the same buttons .
Sound Quality
consider objectively , the Planar 2 appear like a phone number of other record role player on the grocery store , it ’s simple-minded than many of them and there ’s nothing about the engineering involved that is really ultra . You might even question if the very truehearted following the companionship commands might be ballyhoo driven . It take about half a side of a record you are in any path conversant with to realise that there ’s something a scrap particular going on here .
First , the basics . Once the disk is up to speeding , the sales pitch stability is excellent and the haphazardness floor ; the amount of perceivable noise that the Rega make is extremely down in the mouth . The less make noise the turntable itself makes , the more of the record you ’ll hear and the Rega is super good in this regard . So long as the arm is set correctly , the Planar 2 will also successfully play through wear and damage that will flummox contender .
And , more than any of these things , the Rega is effortlessly ripe playfulness to mind to . The live concert version of Bloc Party ’s Silent Alarm begins with a bunch absolutely hyped to be there , waiting for the first step guitar of Like Eating Glass to begin . When it does and resound mouse higher , the Planar 2 captivate the excitement and volume of that moment better than almost any turntable at the price .
Some of this experience is down to how agile the Rega go . The complex and layered All My by DJ Shadow can feel almost broken if it ’s not reproduced with its very finical time touch regurgitate aright . The Rega effortlessly unknot this and what can often go like a discordant slew of a track snaps into focus . There has n’t been a record I ’ve tried on the Rega at any tempo that has unnerve it , regardless of how notionally fast or complex it is . Likewise , put on Vince Clarke ’s calm , almost chilling Songs of Silence and the Rega never wedge it or get out it sounding relentless or wearing .
Not everything is perfect though and a fair bit of this can be levelled at the Carbon Cartridge . This is n’t a bad piece of kit but it ’s realistically the limiting element of performance at the £ 500 ask terms of the Rega . It ’s tonally pretty good and it by and large leaves voice and musical instrument fathom convincing and well defined but there are all right details on record I ’ve play that I simply ca n’t discern here in the way I can on other turntables at not too different a Leontyne Price .
Happily , change a cartridge on the RB220 limb is a unproblematic job and one of Rega ’s own cartridges or something from Audio Technica ’s VM-95 series would unlock a significant extra story of performance at a sensitive price .
As a machine for experiencing music though , the Planar 2 is n’t ‘ unspoiled for a turntable ’ , it ’s good full stop . you could argue over a mass of measurements and material body but when the time comes to play something you have a go at it at a volume tier it deserves , the Rega is capable to get you into the heart of what you sleep together about it easily than moderately much any contender . Half a century of experience counts for an direful flock and the Planar 2 has it where it matters .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
By concentrate on being a record player , the Planar 2 has abilities that are beyond most similarly priced contender . It simply sounds , more fluid , engaging and musical . It ’s very fairly too .
Compared to many alternatives , the Rega will feel incredibly sparse in terms of feature of speech . If you desire an on board phono stagecoach or speed mastery , to say nothing of Bluetooth etc , you ’ve occur to the wrong place .
Final Thoughts
If you choose a gimmick that seeks to do one thing perfectly , it will broadly outperform something that try out to do lots of things . So it is here . The Rega assay to do less than many key competitor but it will give you so much more at the same time .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every lazy Susan we review exhaustively over an extended period of time . We use industry standard tests to equate features properly . We ’ll always say you what we get . We never , ever , accept money to go over a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
You ’re not bound in term of which magazine you desire to habituate , so if you are concerned in swop it out , you’re able to do so .
