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Other green Grade components will be used as and when available such as platters and tonearms with cosmetic faults. And to be clear, you’ll enjoy it. The Planar 1 Plus is slightly different in configuration to other Rega turntables but its DNA is pure Rega and it shows the moment that it gets to grips with any time signature. The truly awesome Heaven/Hell by Chvrches - seemingly written for a film montage to mind blowing to exist yet - lets the Planar 1 Plus show why, even at this relatively sane level, there’s a certain something to vinyl replay that gets to you. You can listen to the same album on Tidal via the Star’s own (formidable) internal decoding and it is brilliant but there’s a vibrancy and rhythmic energy to the Rega that gets under the skin after a while. It’s not better in any technical sense but it’s utterly compelling on an emotional level. The source of your hi-fi system, be it a streamer, CD player or record player is a crucial component; as the saying goes, 'rubbish in, rubbish out'. Through the Rega, Fitzgerald’s vocal delivery was fractured. This from the smoothest vocal delivery in the business. Her voice sounded worried. It was as if something truly horrible was going to happen after the session and she was fretting about it during her performance. She sounded positively tense.
The brass was rather harsh in tone too. The muted trumpets, especially during crescendos, were thin, raspy and aggressive while the cymbals had a static infected quality.Mixing convenience with quality is something that we’ve seen across many categories. It’s hard but not impossible and items as diverse as LG’s WebOS to ATC’s formidable HTS speakers are fine examples of equipment that is easy to live with but makes no significant demands of their owner. The Rega Planar 1 Plus has to be added to this happy group of products. Put simply, setting up a record player does not get more straightforward or hassle free than this. Everything that Rega knows about the business of straightforward vinyl replay is in this turntable. Similarly, make sure you read up on the sonic characteristics of all your components – even five-star products benefit from the right partnering. Perhaps the most convenient feature is the built-in MM Phono stage (based on the Rega Fono Mini). This means you can connect the turntable directly to any amplifier or system with standard phono inputs, reducing the need for additional components and simplifying your setup. The Rega Planar 1 Plus is a belt driven unsuspended turntable. Given this is what Rega is known for, this should not be terribly surprising. The design itself - as the name suggests - is also closely related to the Planar 1 which has been on the market for a little while and represents the entry point to Rega turntable ownership. As such, this is standard design practise from the company and closely related to an existing model. Why then, are we devoting a review to it? The real attraction here is the dynamic sound. The Planar 1's delivery is spellbinding and well beyond what you might expect from an 'entry-level' turntable, surpassing that of the cheaper Audio Technica and Sony turntables also on this list. Rega’s forensic attention to detail results in a roomy, spacious presentation, while voices sound superb and rich. The Planar 1 delivers a combination of clarity and accuracy that's almost unparalleled at this entry-level price, providing an exciting and engaging experience no matter what you throw at it.
For Rega this is a non profit initiative designed to use parts and save them from being disposed off. The rebirth of Technics has spawned another fantastic turntable. While we love the high-end SL-1000R model (so much so that we use it as part of our reference testing system), the SL-1500C is much more affordable, and it's also one of the best record players we've heard at around a grand that includes a built-in phono stage.
Tonearm
Taken as a whole? From the Plus, as I say above, the song sounded like the record label had added a touch of compression to the recording. The reason for these negatives? Again, easy. Point the finger directly at the built-in phono amplifier. Frankly, the much cheaper Rega RP1/Cambridge combination left the Plus in its sonic wake. Once primed for action, the Planar 2 delivers punchy basslines, room-filling scale impressive attention to detail and rhythmic subtlety. There's no built-in phono stage, so it needs to hook up to a stereo amplifier that has one, or you can always buy a separate one. If that's within your budget, you'll find that the Planar 2 delivers a clear step-in performance from the Planar 1 – and at a very competitive price. The USB ripping feature remains, so you can digitise your vinyl collection is CD quality WAV files up to 16-bit/44.1kHz and 48kHz. If you're after a well-executed design that's well-built, easy to set up and sounds great for the money, the AT-LP5x is worthy of a spot on your shortlist.
On the flipside, having separate power supplies is where the extra authority and muscle comes from with the Planar 1 and Fono set-up. The synchronous motor, with its low noise and vibration, plays a key role in enhancing the turntable's sound quality. Its combination of high torque and low vibration maintains speed consistency, ensuring that your records sound as good as they possibly can.Actually, the cymbals offered a perfect metaphor for the Plus’ problem so they deserve further exploration. While concentrating, you could hear supreme quality from the cymbals. The cymbals sounded sublime. Large, expansive, dynamically stretched and reaching upwards, forever upwards. You could really hear the larger nature of these big pieces of metal. The sheer scaling detail from the Rega was stupendous. The problem was the blanket of noise that covered all of this beauty, it turned the cymbals into something foreign. ‘Pretend cymbals’, if you will. And this is the thing with the Plus, you could hear the quality behind the noise. The noise was like a fence, you wanted to peer over the top of it to get to the great sound quality behind. You could hear the Planar 1 trying, even at this point, to be the best. And it was actually heartbreaking. Speaking as a dedicated audiophile, it was actually upsetting to hear what Rega has done to this beautiful turntable. The What Hi-Fi?team has more than 100 years of collective experience in reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics – and that includes plenty of record players. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of expert reviewers do all our in-house testing. This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency across all products.We always ensure we spend plenty of time with each turntable, setting them up correctly, trying them with different partnering electronics, in different positions and playing various records and music genres. Rega asked themselves, how do we make the most successful turntable we have ever made sound better, be even easier to use and be more accessible to a wider audience? The answer was simple; Rega engineers added a custom designed, high quality, moving magnet phono stage based around the multi-award winning What Hi-Fi? 5 Star Fono Mini.
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