Rega Naia & Aphelion 2 Cartridge - Chromey and Haden investigate
/Many years ago, Rega was famed for their upper end budget record spinners, the classic Planar 2 and Planar 3, utilising the classic RB300 and RB250 tonearms, sold by the tens of thousands. Not to mention the production of improved and refined models continue to this very day.
As the company has grown, so has the choice of turntables offered. The budget Planar 1 offers audiophiles on a budget a real taste of high fidelity sound far in advance of any single competitor for the money. Moving up, the Planar 6, 8 and 10 really offer serious and significant upgrade paths, technology developed for the higher-end decks has filtered down and found it's way in to the more budget models.
Roy Gandy - Co Founder and OWNER rega
In 2009 Rega started work on making the absolute best turntable they could produce. The result was the Naiad. An extremely limited edition run of turntables, available only to those that Rega felt worthy. However, to make Naiad remotely affordable, Rega had to order parts in quantities of 50, this set the figure for the maximum number of Naiad Rega would ever be able to manufacture, each one painstakingly assembled by hand by a team of their most highly skilled team, including Rega’s CEO, Phil Freeman. To this date, Rega has now made and sold more than 30 Naiad at a cost of £29,999 each.
Rega have chosen to close the gap between the performance offered by the exclusive Naiad model, and the excellent Planar 10. Enter the Naia…
At first glance, you might mistake the new reference Naia model for the older Planar 10 model. The black chassis, white ceramic platter, and polished aluminium arm tube give similar styling clues... But in truth, the only 'common' part is Rega's highly developed 24V motor, every other part is a substantial upgrade from the already sublime Planar 10.
CHROMEY AND THE REGA NAIA
Rega was the first company to sell a modern injection die cast tonearm, in the form of the original 1980s RB300 (and lesser sibling, RB250). This arm not only won awards for its sonic abilities, but industry design awards for its innovation. The arm fitted to the Naia is a true reference. Similar to the arm fitted to the Planar 10, it features a low-mass polished one-piece aluminium arm tube, dubbed the RB-Titanium, above a mere number, the Titanium references the core of the arm, which, as you may have worked out, is machined from titanium. Rega can proudly boast this is the most rigid and most accurate sound reproducing tone arm they have produced.
The black chassis is based on the well used Rega theory of two rigid 'skins' filled with a light weight material, and then utilising a matching pair of braces to link the energy flowing through the deck. In order to achieve the ultimate balance between low mass and extreme rigidity, Rega has pioneered the use of graphene impregnated carbon and a Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core specifically for the Naia. Both super light and super rigid. In addition, the braces themselves are now made out of super rigid ceramic. Even the chassis feet have had much of their mass removed in a unique and bespoke manner, all upgrades from the Planar 10. Rega argue a high mass plinth system cannot help but to store some energy, and therefore 'smear' the detailed sounds recovered by the superb RB Titanium arm.
not sure you are going to go fast enough to leave orbit chromey!! Worth a shot i guess (pardon the pun)
You can see the concave in the platter above.
One of the standout visuals on the Planar 10 is the ceramic platter. The Naia ceramic platter is slightly deeper than the 10, but also has had more thought to it's design, the underside is concave, with rather than a 'lip' of mass at the periphery, as within the 10, the Naia gently smooths from thin at the centre to thick at the edge. The platter is much more inert, introducing less of its own sonic character.
Over the years, much has been made about the main bearing quality, and all Rega decks made feature a super quality main bearing. The Naia really pushes established manufacturing technology. In Rega's own words: “The Naia uses a custom aluminium sub-platter with a spindle and central bearing manufactured from ZTA (zirconium toughened alumina). ZTA was formerly developed for use in much larger machines used in the paper industry. The resistance against abrasion was much higher than alumina oxide, which makes it the perfect material to construct a central bearing assembly from. Exceptionally complex to make, production is similar to other oxide ceramics. Starting life as a powder preparation with spray drying, the piece is formed in an isostatic press (which applies pressure in all directions to create even density). The piece is then turned in a green state (before firing) then fired at 1600 °C for 3 days before grinding the bottom flange and bore and then final honing to match the spindle diameter. The spindle and bearing are then kept together as a set to guarantee the perfect fit.” All this assures unhindered platter revolution and absolute stability, and near perfect sound..
As mentioned earlier, the 24V motor is about the only significant assembly carried over from the Planar 10. A revised pulley sees no less than three drive belts, (as per the Naiad) to counter any belt slippage, linking to the precision sub platter. As per the Planar 10, a powerful power-supply and speed control drives the motor, but with the Naia, the motors drive waveform is derived through digital signal processing techniques, which further reduce any possibility of motor noise being imparted upon the refined sound.
chromey is at aphelion (for you astronomers)
Rega can supply the new Naia factory set-up with the Aphelion 2 cartridge, and as a set to listen to, as you would expect, it is a serious performer. The first thing that stands out is the openness and directness of sound. The deck liberates tunes from your vinyl collection. Each record played with such detail and fluidity. Pitch stable and solid, but open and lifelike reproduction. The deck is also incredibly quiet. Between tracks there is an almost deathly silence, the deck adds no mechanical noise. No rumble or noises from the motor or drive system. The turntable does its absolute best to disappear from the sound, and leaves you with just the music, with a lack of 'colour' to the sound. A sound that is defined by the records themselves, and not the deck.
As a range topping deck, featuring cutting edge technology, the Naia sets new heights in sonic fidelity from Rega. Ready for your own choice of cartridge from £9,999*, or complete with the Aphelion 2 for £12,499. On audition now at your local Audio T store.
Come along and speak to Munir, Dave, James and Haden for further information on the Rega Naia and Aphelion combo.
Thanks for reading
Haden, James, Munir & Dave - Audio T Manchester
Come along and speak to Munir, Dave and James at the store to arrange a demonstration.
If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…
Rega can be found at the following Audio T stores -
*All prices, credit terms and interest rates quoted are correct at the time of going to press but may be subject to change. E&OE
