OK, I know it has been a good deal more than 2 months since I have last updated the Picture of the Month page here. Between the Holidays and WCES, I have not had the time to get things updated. Even though I have pictures from 2000 CES ready to go, I still have a few pictures form my trip to the UK back in September that I really want to show you. Part of this trip was spent visiting the folks at Rega Research who were just terrific hosts and wonderful people. Here are some pictures from the factory tour portion of my trip with some insights as to how Rega turntables are made.

Rega has always walked to their own beat. While I didn't get a picture of some of the RED loudspeakers which I saw at one of their production facilities, I did grab this picture above of the colors one can get the ubiquitous Rega Planar 3 turntable finished in. For only a $50 up-charge, you can get your Planar 3 in any one of these dazzling colors shown. We actually have a White Planar 3 on display, which I must say looks absolutely smashing.

Some of you may be aware that the Rega Planar turntable plinths are not solid wood as you can see in the sample shown above. The plinth shown here is used in the Rega Planar 9 turntable, and is shown with the bottom laminate covering uninstalled . You can quite clearly see where, in certain areas, the plinths wood has been removed. All this is done in an effort to tune the plinth's mechanical resonance characteristics for optimal performance. Some of the cut-outs are functional of course. The square cut-out is where the Planar 9's motor is mounted, and the round holes are for mounting the bearing and the Planar 9's RB-900 tonearm.

The whole line of Rega RB series of tonearms is based on the same rigid aluminum casting. Such castings are not inexpensive (I was told during the tour that the arm casting mold was recently refurbished at a cost of well over $25,000), but Rega's long term outlook and production of many arms has allowed them to produce a high quality arm at a very affordable price. The picture above shows a raw casting before any of excess parts of the mold have been removed and any finishing has occurred. Factors such as bearing quality, counterweight design, mounting system, tonearm leads, and finish determine whether an arm becomes a RB-250, RB-300, RB-600, or a RB-900. The picture below shows one of the tonearm assembly stations where we received a demonstration of how Rega tonearms are put together. I must say the care and the skill that is involved in grading the bearings and assembling the arms is very impressive.

Related Picture Of The Month Pages
November/December 1999 (UK HiFi Trip)