Rega Planar 6 RS Edition: The Ultimate Planar 6

Rega has been one of our favorite turntable brands at Audio Advice for a long time. If you follow turntables at all, you probably know the Planar 3 is considered by many to be the best value in their lineup. Last year Rega gave it the RS treatment, RS standing for Rega Special, and it turned out to be one of the best turntable values we had ever seen. We honestly were not sure they could pull off the same trick at a higher price point. Now that we have spent time with the Planar 6 RS, we are happy to report they did it again.

Before we get into what makes the Planar 6 RS special, it helps to understand where the standard Planar 6 sits in the Rega family. It is a bit of a unique turntable because it bridges two different schools of Rega design. The Planar 1, 2, and 3 use a full plinth construction. The Planar 8, 10, and Naia use a skeletal design with their Tancast foam core. The Planar 6 is the point where one approach becomes the other, a full plinth turntable built on Tancast 8 foam that gives it some of the performance characteristics of the higher tier models while keeping the practical everyday form factor. It has been filling this role in the Rega lineup for nearly nine years, and it does it well.

The RS Edition takes this platform and asks a pretty simple question. What happens when you bolt on the tonearm and cartridge from the next tier up?

What Rega Has Been Building Since 1973

For those new to Rega, a little background is worth having. Since 1973 Rega has been building products in their Southend-on-Sea facility in the UK. What started as one man, Roy Gandy, has now grown to over 100 employees. They source about 85% of their raw materials from UK suppliers and have an obsession with manufacturing precision that shows up in everything they make. Tolerances, materials, and accuracy are taken very seriously here.

The proof is in the longevity. We still have customers bringing turntables into our stores that are 40 years old and just need a minor tuneup to keep going for another decade. That is not luck. That is what happens when a company genuinely cares about how things are put together.

What Do You Get in the Planar 6 RS?

Everything in the standard Planar 6 carries over. The Tancast 8 foam core plinth, the double brace technology that couples the tonearm mount to the main bearing for improved rigidity, the 24v synchronous low noise motor, the 16mm dual layer float glass clear platter, and the Neo MK2 PSU with electronic speed switching between 33 and 45 RPM. The Neo MK2 is good enough that Rega uses it on the Planar 8 as well, so it is no afterthought.

The dust cover is also included, and we want to call that out specifically. As you move up the Rega range the skeletal designs of the Planar 8, 10, and Naia do not have a full protective lid. If you have cats, kids, or simply live in the real world, a proper dust cover matters. The Planar 6 RS gives you serious performance without asking you to give up that practicality.

Now here is where it gets really interesting.

The Upgrades That Make This Special

The RB880 Tonearm

This is the headline change and it is a big one. The standard Planar 6 uses the same RB330 tonearm as the Planar 3. Rega adds a smarter counterweight to differentiate it, but the arm itself is the same. The Planar 6 RS skips right past the RB330 and fits the RB880, which normally lives on the Planar 8.

From the outside the two arms look nearly identical, which is classic Rega. The improvements are internal where they count. The RB880 has a precision engineered low mass vertical bearing assembly that reduces friction and improves tracking consistency. The lead out cable is also higher quality, which matters more than you might think when you are dealing with the very low voltages coming out of a phono cartridge. This is a genuine Planar 8 level tonearm on a Planar 6 body.

The Nd9 Cartridge

The second major upgrade is the cartridge, and this one deserves some real attention.

Rega spent over ten years developing their new ND series of moving magnet cartridges. These are the first moving magnet designs to use Neodymium magnets, and the engineering reflects everything Rega has learned across decades of cartridge development including their moving coil work. The Nd9 is the flagship of the range.

Each Nd9 is hand built by Rega technicians. It uses a fine line nude diamond stylus bonded to a boron cantilever, the same boron cantilever and stylus profile found in Rega's Aphelion 2, their reference moving coil cartridge. The minor radius of the diamond is just 3 microns, which gives it a very precise contact area in the groove and the ability to resolve fine detail that a less precise stylus shape simply cannot reach.

Now, a stylus this precise normally requires a lot of careful setup to perform correctly. Get the alignment even slightly wrong and a fine line stylus will sound sibilant and may mistrack. This is where Rega has done something really smart. Their higher end cartridges use a three point mounting system designed to work with their tonearms. Most phono cartridges mount with two screws that slide back and forth in the headshell, which means there is potential for both front to back movement and twisting. With Rega's third mounting point locked into the tonearm, the cartridge simply goes in one way. That is it. No guessing, no tweaking, no alignment gauge required. It is perfect from the moment you install it.

And because this is a Rega arm on a Rega turntable, the VTA is already set correctly for the average record height right out of the box. Rega then tests each fully assembled unit individually to confirm it meets their specifications before it ships. The result is that a cartridge which would normally demand serious setup expertise is essentially plug and play here.

Our Rega rep, with characteristic enthusiasm, has called the Nd9 possibly the best moving magnet cartridge in the world. We will let your ears be the judge of that. What we can say is that when a company spends a decade on something and fits it with components borrowed from their reference moving coil lineup, the results tend to get your attention.

One more thing worth pointing out. The Nd9 is a moving magnet cartridge. That means you do not need an expensive moving coil capable phono stage with high gain to use it. A good quality moving magnet phono stage costs considerably less than what a serious moving coil requires. That is real money saved in your total system budget.

Twin Reference EBLT Drive Belts and CNC Pulley

The Planar 6 RS also gets the twin Reference EBLT drive belts and CNC machined twin drive pulley inherited from the Planar 8. This pulley is worth noting specifically. It has two slots for the belts and they are round rather than flat, which is part of what makes the belt drive system on this turntable so precise. Rega worked with a team of chemists to develop the EBLT belt material, then built their own cutting machine to manufacture them. Each belt is cryogenically frozen and barrelled to get it as perfectly round as possible. The Reference version gets an additional curing process. Better speed consistency is what you are buying here, and with a turntable that translates directly into that live, rhythmically convincing sound Rega is famous for.

The Aluminum Metal Skin Finish

Honestly, the standard Planar 6 is not the most striking looking turntable in the Rega range. The RS fixes that with a brushed aluminum metal skin HP laminate finish with matching edging. Beyond the looks, the aluminum skin adds another layer of rigidity to the plinth. It is the same approach used on the Planar 3 RS and it genuinely transforms the appearance. The Planar 6 RS is now one of the best looking turntables Rega makes.

Setup

Setup is super easy. One thing we noticed right away is that the platter is surprisingly heavy, actually heavier than the entire turntable and tonearm combined, which makes perfect sense when you understand Rega's design philosophy. Platter mass equals rotational stability equals speed consistency equals the sound you are paying for.

The Neo MK2 power supply cable is plenty long, which gives you real flexibility in where you place it in your rack.

Getting it going is basically three steps. Zero out the tonearm, then use the tonearm adjustment to set tracking force to the recommended 1.75 grams, then set the anti-skate to match. That is genuinely it. The three point cartridge mounting means alignment is handled at the factory. The VTA is set correctly for your records. Rega has taken what is normally one of the more fussy parts of turntable ownership and made it something anyone can do with confidence.

The Value Story

Let's look at what this actually costs versus the alternatives.

The Planar 6 RS is $3,195 including the RB880 tonearm and Nd9 cartridge.

If you bought a standard Planar 6 and an Nd9 separately, you would spend $1,925 for the turntable and $1,045 for the cartridge, totaling $2,970. So the RS costs $225 more than that combination, but that combination gives you the RB330 tonearm, not the RB880. The RS gives you the Planar 8 tonearm at no extra charge. To get that same RB880 and Nd9 pairing on a Planar 8, you are spending $4,200. The Planar 6 RS saves you $1,005 over that route and comes in a more practical form factor with a proper dust cover.

We should also be honest about how most people configure a Planar 6. The majority of our customers pair it with less expensive cartridges and keep the total package under $2,500. The RS is asking you to make a big jump in commitment. What you are getting for that is the best possible expression of what this platform can do, with components that belong on a considerably more expensive table.

If you want the RB880 and Nd9 combination and you value the practical advantages of a full plinth turntable with a dust cover, the Planar 6 RS is the only way to get there for anything close to this money.

How Does the Planar 6 RS Sound?

In a word, remarkable.

We put on a variety of records to get a full picture. Old rock and roll, Analog Productions 45 pressings including Dave Brubeck's Time Out, Elvis "Fever," and Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Wooden Ships," plus classical and jazz. It shines on everything.

The Nd9 does something that is genuinely hard to pull off. It is extremely detailed and resolving without ever sounding bright or forward. Some fine line stylus designs can sound a little sibilant or push the upper frequencies in a way that gets fatiguing over time. Not this one. It gets all the detail out and still has a warmth to it. Very detailed without any edge.

The Brubeck pressing was a real test. Time Out is all about timing and rhythm. The interplay between the musicians is the whole point of the record. On a turntable with any speed inconsistency or smearing in the presentation, something gets lost. On the Planar 6 RS it was completely locked in. You could hear exactly what those musicians were doing with each other. That is the RB880 and the Reference belts doing their job.

Bass punch is there, dynamic, and what we would call extremely tuneful. This is not one note bass. You can hear the difference between notes, which is what you want.

The stereo separation and imaging are fantastic. Instruments are clearly placed in the soundstage and you can hear the space around them. The soundstage is wide and convincing without ever feeling artificial or exaggerated.

But honestly, the most telling moment was putting on the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers. We just got into it. Foot tapping, not thinking about the equipment at all. That is what a great turntable is supposed to do.

It is also worth saying that this is a moving magnet cartridge delivering all of this. In fact it sounds a lot like a moving coil, super fast and detailed, with all those fine little nuances you do not normally hear with moving magnets. You do not need a high gain phono stage or a moving coil setup to get here. That matters for your overall system budget.

Overall Recommendation

The Planar 6 RS is a genuinely special turntable. Rega has taken the most practical and user-friendly form factor in their lineup, full plinth, dust cover, super easy setup, and loaded it with a Planar 8 tonearm and what may be one of the finest moving magnet cartridges ever made. The value math works, the engineering is real, and our time listening to it confirmed everything the spec sheet promised.

If you are serious about vinyl and want the best possible performance in a turntable you can actually live with every day, put the Planar 6 RS on your short list. We think it is one of the best values in high performance turntables available right now.

As always, Audio Advice has helped thousands of music lovers get the most out of their Rega turntables. When you purchase from us you get decades of experience behind you to help with setup, phono stage matching, and getting the best possible sound from your system. Come in and hear it for yourself, or reach out to our team at audioadvice.com.

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