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Product of the Year 2025, Best Turntable £300-£500 – What Hi-Fi? Magazine
Golden Groovy Award - theaudiophileman.com
Best Budget Record Player 2024 - What Hi-Fi?
Recommended Component 2023 – Stereophile
Five Stars – techradar.com
What Hi-Fi? Awards 2021 Winner
The Most User-Friendly Rega Turntable to Date
The new Planar 1 is the most user-friendly Rega turntable to date. If you are looking to get back into vinyl and want serious performance that will last you a lifetime, then look no further than the Planar 1.
Every single aspect of the Planar 1 has been meticulously designed to improve performance. For the first time, the Planar 1 is now running a 24-volt, low noise, synchronous motor to reduce vibration transfer combined with Rega's brand new RB110 tonearm fitted with Rega's bespoke zero play bearings. Only sharing the drive belt, sub platter, and dust cover with the outgoing RP1, the Planar 1 is truly a new turntable for 2016.
Award-Winning Performance
The Planar 1 received an award from What Hi-Fi? magazine, recognizing it as Product of the Year, Best Turntable £300-£500 for 2025.
According to the review, "Another year, another win for the stellar Rega Planar 1 which continues to offer the best sound and value you will find on a turntable at this price."
"Even as an entry-level turntable, this is the kind of player that could feasibly be the last of your system’s components you’d feel necessary to upgrade."
"The Best Budget Turntable… In The World… Ever?"
"Rega Planar 1: The Best Budget Turntable… In The World… Ever?" asks Paul Rigby, theaudiophileman.com, as he bestows a Golden Groovy Award upon the Planar 1.
"The Planar 1 sets itself up as the standard which every other budget turntable seeks to emulate. From the installation to the final play, the Rega Planar 1 is not just outstanding, it has actually changed the nature of the market at this level. On this basis, I have no choice but to award it the highest rating I have in my armoury, the ultra-rare Golden Groovy. I have details of almost 250 products reviewed on this site. This is only the fourth time that I’ve awarded such a rating. That’s how good this turntable is…"
"The Planar 1's Delivery is Spellbinding"
"The Planar 1's delivery is spellbinding and well beyond what you might expect from an 'entry-level' turntable," reports What Hi-Fi?, which named the Planar 1 its Best Budget Record Player 2024. "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."
"Recommended Component" Honors
Stereophile honored the Rega Planar 1 with Carbon cartridge by awarding it the magazine's coveted Recommend Component status for 2023.
According to Stereophile, "Compared to the P1, the RP1 delivered more drive, better focus, and was the more confident, purposeful, and authoritative player. 'Rega's RP1 looks good, is easy to set up, and plays records like it means it,' said SM. AD shared SM's enthusiasm: 'It's not just that I can't imagine $445 buying more happiness; I can't imagine so modest an investment in money and effort buying more music.' The RP1 Performance Pack Upgrade was easy to install and resulted in a bigger soundstage, deeper silences, and greater resolution of low-level detail, said SM. 'A no-brainer,' agreed AD."
"Probably the finest test of any product is how long we use it once having already come to our conclusion," notes England's What Hi-fi? magazine, which honored the Planar 1 with its Best Turntable Under £500 Award and as an Awards 2021 winner. "In this case, the Planar 1 is still playing and proving it can turn its hand to Dmitri Shostakovich as adeptly as it does Toots and the Maytals or Charlie Parker."
"Even as an entry-level turntable, this is the kind of player that could feasibly be the last of your system’s components you’d feel necessary to upgrade," concludes What Hi-fi?.
New RB110 Tonearm Offers Plug-and-Play Set-up
The Planar's RB110 tonearm is built with the new Rega-designed, bespoke, zero play bearings with ultra-low friction performance, new bias assembly, and integrated arm clip. The automatic bias adjustment negates the need for the user to set bias, making this the most plug-and-play turntable that Rega has ever manufactured.
Thanks to the ingenious preset bias force feature, the Planar 1 sets up in seconds after unpacking. Simply slide the balance weight onto the rear of the tonearm as far as it will go, remove the stylus guard, and start spinning your favorite vinyl.
Another tonearm feature is a new ergonomically redesigned and stiffer headshell for improved usability and appearance – plus a new 111g plug-and-play balance weight.
"The Best Affordable Turntable You Can Get"
Calling the Planar 1, "The best affordable turntable you can get," Simon Lucas in his February 22, 2024 review for techradar.com gives it a top rating of Five Stars.
"The soundstage it describes, for example, is open, well-defined and easy to understand. It locks individual elements of a recording securely, and it allows each contributor to a recording all the breathing space they need in order to express themselves. Yet it manages to do this without letting anything sound remote, or estranged, or in any way dislocated. Recordings are delivered with a unity and a coherence that makes the word ‘performance’ entirely appropriate."
Includes Rega Carbon Cartridge
Rega designed the Planar 1 so that it's ready to go right out of the box. There's no cartridge to buy or specify. Included and pre-mounted is Rega's great-sounding Carbon moving magnet cartridge, supplied as standard.
Beautiful New Thermoset Plinth
The Planar 1 boasts a brand new Thermoset gloss-laminated plinth with vastly improved appearance and a new ergonomically positioned on/off switch located on the underside. Two stunning plinth finishes are available: gloss black and gloss white. Either one will look fantastic in your listening room or living room. Supporting the plinth, new improved feet increase stability and reduce vibration transfer.
A Brand New Platter, Too
A new Planar model deserves a new platter, and that's exactly what the Planar 1 gets with this innovative 23mm-thick (0.9"-thick), higher mass, phenolic platter with improved flywheel effect for improved speed stability. The re-designed brass main bearing, offering improved fit and removing stress on the bearing itself whilst minimizing the transfer of potential energy.
Spinning the platter comes another huge goodie. The Planar 1 is the first entry level Rega turntable ever to use a 24-volt synchronous AC motor along with a new motor PCB and aluminum pulley offering low noise and better speed stability. A new motor cover tray provides integrated cooling.
"Best Entry-Level"
Posting in the r/turntables forum at reddit.com, happy Planar 1 owner runningsquids sums up his experience with this turntable. "The P1 is fantastic! It’s one of the best things you can get as an entry-way to turntables & mine hasn’t failed me in the years I’ve had it."
