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Product of the Year 2025, Best Turntable £750-£1000 – What Hi-Fi? Magazine
Best Buy Award – the-ear.net
Exciting New Premium Edition of the Now-Legendary Planar 3
Hot on the heels of the acclaimed Planar 3 50th Anniversary Edition Turntable, Rega has announced an exciting new premium edition of that now-legendary Planar 3 package at an extremely competitive price.
The Rega Planar 3 RS Edition (Rega Special) is constructed using a brand-new aluminum metal skin HPL laminate, resulting in the stiffest Planar 3 plinth Rega has ever produced. This stunning dark brushed metallic plinth, edged in high gloss black, creates a stunning platform for your vinyl records.
Packed with Premium Features and Rega Technology
The RS Edition is packed with premium features and Rega technology. It includes a custom matched Neo MK2 PSU with each motor vibration circuit hand tuned to each individual motor. This low noise 24v motor drives the sub platter via Rega's Reference EBLT drive belt for ultimate accuracy in speed control.
The RS also comes with legendary handmade RB330 tonearm, and the tonearm is mounted and supplied with the all new, award-winning Nd5 moving magnet cartridge.
Award-Winning Performance
The Planar 3 RS received an award from What Hi-Fi? magazine, recognizing it as Product of the Year, Best Turntable £750-£1000 for 2025.
According to the review, it is "a fantastic turntable that builds and improves on the Planar 3's foundation in nearly every way."
"The Rega Planar 3 RS Edition is an elevated Planar 3, further refining an already excellent build and performance to deliver even more from your vinyl records and bring you closer to the music. It’s a beautifully designed turntable, too."
"A Stonkingly Good Turntable"
"The Planar 3 RS Edition is a stonkingly good turntable. One that does offer more than the Planar 3 that it’s based on, thanks to the power supply and plinth," reports Jason Kennedy, the-ear.net, May 12, 2024, handing the RS a Best Buy Award.
"It really does deliver the musical goods in a more engaging and enjoyable manner than the competition, what’s more you get build quality that few can compete with and a lifetime warranty. Add in the superb finish and extra savings provided by this package and you have a record player that anyone with a £1,000 budget would be nuts not to audition."
Optimizing an Iconic Turntable
Rega has pioneered the use of lightweight, ultra rigid plinths over many years. Its use of lightweight particulate core with a highly rigid phenolic resin skin became the foundations of the high level of performance achieved by the now iconic original Planar range.
The new Planar 3 RS Edition takes this design philosophy to the next level using a High Pressure Laminate, (HPL) usually reserved for the Planar 6, Planar 8, and Planar 10 models for increased rigidity. In addition, this premium HPL has a stunning brushed metal dark aluminum skin with a beautiful satin finish.
You will find this double brace system mounted specifically where the increased rigidity is required (for example, between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing) to form a structurally sound "stressed beam" assembly.
Prevents Energy Absorption and Unwanted Resonance
This complex plinth design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonance, 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 strategic use of braces instead of the complete skin allows double thickness phenolic resin in these key areas while providing further weight reduction to the plinth which directly addresses the issue of mass absorption and unwanted energy transmission.
Included Nd5 Neodynium Moving Magnet Cartridge
Included with the Planar 3 RS Edition is Rega's all new Nd5 moving magnet cartridge. Its revolutionary design was developed over 10 years of rigorous R&D and critical listening. The new Nd cartridges promise to deliver 'next level' performance from Moving Magnet (MM) technology.
The Nd5 cartridge is fitted with a perfect elliptical nude diamond. This is a true ellipse created by an elliptical grinding process made from a polycrystalline manmade diamond.
The design uses brand new generator geometry with perfect symmetry to achieve accurate channel balance. The Nd5 also has an optimized pole gap for superior linearity and cross talk characteristics. This provides a far wider soundstage than the previous models.
Miniaturized Parallel Coils
The new Nd5 cartridge is created with miniaturized parallel coils which are wound in house utilizing 38-micron wire with just 1275 turns. This produces a low inductance, low impedance generator giving vastly improved high frequency response. In keeping with Rega's commitment to sustainability, the Nd series is supplied in 100% recyclable packaging.
The Nd5 was recently reviewed by England's Hi-Fi Choice magazine, which honored the ND5 with the magazine's "Recommended" award. "It is abundantly clear that Rega has built a bit of a star turn here. The Nd5 is a dramatic improvement on its long-running forebears (Elys2 and Exact) and one of the very best designs available for £300 right now."
24v Low Noise Motor Assembly
The Planar 3 RS uses Rega's latest generation, 24-volt synchronous, low voltage precision motor and PCB assembly, fitted with a custom CNC machined aluminum pulley. The reduced vibration and more rigid mounting deliver superior drive from the new EBLT drive belts. Each motor is hand tuned to match its own custom Neo power supply before fitting to the turntable to optimize the anti-vibration circuit.
High-Stability Neo MK2 PSU with Electronic Speed Change
The Neo MK2 PSU offers a smooth power supply, an advanced anti-vibration circuit, and fine electronic speed adjustment. It uses the RP10 DSP (digital signal processing) generator built upon a high stability crystal. The DSP generator will divide the accurate signal from the crystal to the exact frequency required to turn the platter at the selected speed.
The DSP generator will also produce a near perfect sinusoidal waveform to drive the motor. This, along with an efficient drive amplifier, generates a 24-volt, AC-balanced signal of less than 0.15% distortion, which is completely unaffected by any changes in the mains/line voltage and conditions. This then drives the turntable's anti-vibration circuit, which is situated beneath the turntable.
Breakthrough RB330 Tonearm
Designed using the latest 3D CAD & CAM technology, the new RB330 is the culmination of more than 35 years of Rega tonearm design experience. A brand new bearing housing joins forces with Rega's latest tonearm tube, which was designed using intelligent redistribution of mass, ensuring that this arm will exhibit fewer points of possible resonance. Extreme stability with almost friction-free movement from the new high precision bearing assemblies will gather more information from your vinyl than ever before.
Features aplenty include a new bias assembly, a redesigned stiffer vertical bearing housing, an integrated arm clip, and an improved spring housing with easier to read numbers. The arm also boasts a new Rega-made low capacitance phono cable with Neutrik plugs, improved lower friction precision horizontal and vertical bearings, and a newly designed 100g (3.5 oz.) milled steel balance weight.
More Performance-Enhancing Features
Beginning with a brand new platter, the Planar 3 RS includes even more performance-enhancing features. A new float glass ‘Optiwhite’ 12mm-thick platter with polished provides improved accuracy along with stunning looks.
A new bearing housing uses a redesigned brass main hub central bearing, improved fit and construction reducing stress on the bearing itself. The redesigned sub platter offers improved accuracy and improved stiffness. Redesigned feet increase stability and reduce vibration transfer.
Also included is an attracted 'smoked' dust cover to help keep airborne dirt and grime off your RS between listening sessions.
EBLT Drive Belts
For three years Rega has been researching and developing with chemists the use of a new bespoke rubber compound for drive belts. Using a specialized 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 that produce 'perfectly round' and 'dimensionally accurate' belts, which are critical for perfect speed stability.
