Rega P1 Turntable

Ever proud of it’s reputation as a defender of high quality sounds at great prices, Rega is delighted to announce it’s new progeny, the P1 turntable. The first new addition to the Planar range of turntables for a some time.

Featuring a completely new tonearm the RB100, this entry-level model comes ready-fitted with a cartridge, proving once more that you don’t need loads of dosh to afford a cracking record player. For over 30 years, Rega has been the first name on everyone's lips when it comes to turntables. With the new P1, Rega quality is now available at the lowest price ever.

Features a brand new Rega RB100 tonearm with high quality main bearing, sub-platter assembly and stabilised MDF platter for excellent speed stability using a 12v AC synchronous motor with belt drive.

With an Ortofon OM5e moving magnet cartridge you get Rega sound quality at an unrivalled price!

Rega P1 Stereophile Review by Art Dudley, May, 2007
Conclusions
Although I'd worked in a hi-fi shop for a number of years before 1980, that was the year of my initiation (footnote 3) into perfectionist audio. That was when I bought—from an honest-to-goodness audio salon—a Rega Planar 2 record player. Then as now, the seriousness of a record player was gauged by its lack of frills, and the Planar 2 was nothing if not serious. In making it, Rega disconcerned themselves with gimmicks, and pared their product down to what was needed to make recorded music sound convincing and real.

As they have here—with one key difference: The Rega P1 marks the first time in my experience that a designer whose work sometimes ranks with the very best you can buy, has created an audio component this affordable. And by affordable I don't mean relatively affordable, as with our favorite entry-level Koetsus, entry-level Wilsons, and even entry-level Linns. I mean affordable as in cheap, as in sane, as in reachable by anyone with a job.

The all-English-made Rega P1 also marks the first time in recent memory that a high-tech company hasn't resorted to outsourcing in order to bring to market a high-quality, very-high-value product. Kudos to Roy Gandy for his ingenuity in doing so, and for keeping Rega's work among Rega's people.

Consider: A brand-new SME Model 30 record player costs approximately $35,000 when equipped with its companion Series V tonearm. I've never had one in my system, but I suppose that the 30 is at least pretty good, and that buying one would be an effective way of making yourself happy. Then again, you could use the same amount of money to buy a hundred or so Rega P1s and give them to a hundred or so friends whose music-buying habits could benefit from the motivational equivalent of a good, swift kick in the ass. That would probably bring lots of happiness into the world as well. Very strongly recommended.