Rega

Planar 10 Turntable

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For the Planar 10, Rega uses its most advanced materials and engineering solutions, built around a supremely lightweight plinth to ensure the maximum level of performance.

Like its sibling, the Planar 8, the Planar 10 was inspired by the ultimate Rega turntable, the Naiad. Rega decided early on that instead of an evolution of the previous RP10, the new Planar 10 would be developed and engineered to encapsulate the essence of the Naiad at a more affordable price. The Planar 10 narrows the gap between itself and the Naiad even further by using more exotic materials, carefully selected to reduce mass and improve rigidity throughout the design. Innovations in hub bearing, sub platter, motor, and drive belt design have led to even greater accuracy in turntable speed which directly improves sonic performance.

The Planar 10 features Rega’s new RB3000 tonearm fitted with an improved, low mass, precision-bias housing. The company has pioneered a completely new, low-mass central hub bearing assembly with improved mechanical integrity. For the first time on a Rega production turntable, a ceramic top brace delivers ultimate rigidity and accuracy while simultaneously creating the perfect platform between tonearm and central bearing. Finally, this entirely new player is controlled by Rega’s most advanced electronic power supply housed in a brand-new, full-metal custom case designed to match the latest range of Rega electronics.

seattle rega planar 10 turntable dust cover

rega planar 10 turntable and p10 power supply unit

seattle rega planar 10 turntable power supply

Double Brace Technology

“Mass absorbs energy - lost energy equals lost music”! 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. This rigid plinth design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances which will add unnatural distortions to the music. Equally, heavier mass can transfer more unwanted energy such as motor or bearing noise directly into the rotating record. The tonearm and cartridge must to be able to read accurately, directly from the platter. This unique Rega double brace solution enables this. 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.

24v Low-Noise Motor Assembly

The Planar 10 uses Rega’s latest generation, 24v, 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 from the motor body whilst holding the drive pulley perfectly still. This enables better speed stability and accuracy from the turntable. 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 matched PL10 PSU power supply before fitting to the turntable to optimise the anti-vibration circuit.

Ultra-Lightweight Plinth

The Planar 10 is the third Rega turntable constructed using their latest technology the 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 10 skeletal plinth 30% lighter than the original RP10 while offering increased rigidity over the previous model.

RB3000 Tonearm

Rega is renowned for the quality of its tonearm bearing assemblies. In particular the accurate manufacturing of our bearing housing and bearing spindles. Technical characteristics such as “roundness” and “parallelity” are critical. Over the past three years Rega has found a new manufacturing process which improves on all these characteristics resulting in a micron perfect bearing fit. The RB3000 is the first Rega arm to benefit from these improvements.

Hub Bearing Assembly

The Planar 10 uses a new low mass central bearing assembly. A single piece machined aluminum sub-platter and hardened tool steel spindle run inside a custom brass housing designed with improved mechanical integrity. The complete assembly is cleverly mounted within the chassis to eradicate unwanted potential energy being transferred or stored in the plinth.

Ceramic Platter

The P10 uses a custom ceramic, flywheel effect platter. The platter is produced from ceramic oxide powder which is compressed, fired and diamond cut to ensure perfect accuracy and flatness across the surface. The latest platter features a modified construction with improved coupling to the sub platter.

PL10 PSU Custom Matched Advanced Power Supply

The PL10 PSU offers the ultimate in motor control stability, convenient electronic speed change, advanced anti-vibration control and user adjustable electronic fine speed adjustment to ensure total accuracy and control over the life of the motor. Housed in Rega’s latest custom designed case, the PL10 PSU is dedicated to running our 24v, low noise motor as quietly and as accurately as possible. The speed and control of the motor is achieved by using a new DSP (Digital Signal Processing) generator built upon a high stability crystal. This device will divide the accurate square wave from the crystal to the exact frequency required to turn the platter at the selected speed. The DSP core will also generate a near perfect sinusoidal waveform to power the motor. Factory set vibration removal and fine speed adjustments are then made to the power supply to tune each motor for optimal performance.

EBLT Drive Belts

For three years Rega has been researching and developing with chemists the use of a bespoke new rubber compound for drive belts. Using a specialised curing system, the new drive belt offers superior consistency of modulus (a constant representing the degree to which a substance has a particular property, especially elasticity). These new belts are manufactured on Rega designed, state of the art, super-accurate tools (inspired by working with the manufacturer of high-tech Formula 1 engine parts) which produce ‘perfectly round’ and ‘dimensionally accurate’ belts, critical for perfect speed stability.

Dust Cover

The outer frame of the previous model has now been removed and a new stylish, removable, single piece dustcover has been introduced further reducing the overall mass of the turntable.

Dimensions in mm: Turntable

(with dust cover fitted)
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Width: 420mm
Depth: 315mm
Height: 125mm
Weight: 4.7 Kg

Dimensions: P10 PSU

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Width: 218mm
Depth: 320mm
Height: 80mm
Weight: 3.00Kg

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