Rega Planar 6 RS

Viewed objectively, the Rega turntable range is one of the most comprehensive going. With seven models (Planars 1,2, 3, 6, 8, 10 and Naia) that can all be specified with different factory-fitted cartridge options, the company has a compelling option at pretty much every price point. 

The ‘pretty much’ is important here though. A gap at the £1000 level saw the Planar 3 receive a series of upgrades to become the Planar 3 RS and the result was sufficiently compelling that it received an ‘Exceptional’ badge from us. A similar gap at £2000 sees the Planar 6, the model up from the 3, receive the same treatment. 

The Planar 6 is interesting because it’s the crossover point between the more affordable plinth-type designs below it and the distinctive skeletal models above. This means it has a full-size plinth but it’s made out of the TanCast 8 foam used on the pricier decks - which means it’s stiffer and yet weighs less than half as much as a Planar 3 plinth. For the RS it is now covered in an aluminium high-pressure laminate in the manner of the Planar 3 RS.

From here though, the Planar 6 RS uses different parts to achieve RS status. The Neo PSU that is added to the Planar 3 RS is standard equipment on the Planar 6 (and indeed the more expensive Planar 8), so Rega has left it be. Instead, the motor pulley is now a twin-belt type with two of Rega’s special EBLT belts prefitted, meaning the RS spins up (slightly) faster and should be fractionally more pitch-stable. 

The biggest change for the RS is actually pretty hard to spot. The standard Planar 6 (and the Planar 3, for that matter) uses a tonearm called the RB330. The Planar 6 RS borrows a higher-spec arm called the RB880 from the Planar 8 - it looks almost identical but has higher-specification bearings, allowing for higher performance. This combination is only available on the RS - you cannot order a standard Planar 6 equipped this way.

Neither can you have the cartridge the RS comes with on a standard Planar 6. It’s called the Nd9, and it’s the top of the tree for Rega moving-magnet carts - which means it combines their unique neodymium-based magnet system with the incredibly stiff and light boron cantilever from their range-topping Aphelion 2 cartridge (which costs more on its own than an entire Planar 6). The result still looks and feels like a Planar 6 (a good thing, as I’ll come to) but it has specification comfortably in excess of the standard model while still saving a chunky £554 over a Planar 8 with the same arm and cartridge. 

Sound Quality 

When I reviewed the Planar 3 RS for this website, I found myself struggling slightly to convey exactly how it sounded. Weirdly, I don’t have any of the same struggles with the 6 RS. This is partly because I had the luxury of testing an Nd9 cartridge on the end of a Planar 10 before, which gives a degree of context as to what I hear with the Planar 6 RS as I can use the Nd9 as a starting point. What this shows beyond reasonable doubt is that the RS extracts a huge amount of the potential from the Nd9 - and this underpins a performance that delights me from pretty much the first side of the first record I play. 

The reason for this is simple enough. The Planar 6 RS does all the things a Rega turntable ‘should’ do. It is quite astonishingly articulate, which is something that manifests itself in high-tempo material in exactly the way you might expect - but is no less useful with more delicate material too. Any effect or nuance, no matter how small or transient, rises from silence to startling immediacy and back to nothing in a way that is so convincing, it’s only when you listen to something less astonishingly accomplished you realise how good it is. This is never a simple ‘reproduction’ of the music being played, it's a performance.

Don’t go thinking this speed has come at the expense of bass depth. There are turntables at the price of the Planar 6 RS that can match, or even slightly better, what it does - but only by fractions. The low end on offer here is something you feel as well as hear, but this never comes at the expense of the speed and articulation that makes the Planar 6 RS such an exciting listen. No less important is that the stereo image and soundstage on offer is exceptionally good. This is an area where Rega seems to be making small but positive steps even now (almost certainly down to the Nd cartridges), so the RS feels like a step forward over the standard Planar 6 in this regard. 

Like a fair few recent Rega designs, this does not serve a warm or cossetting sound. If you believe that vinyl is naturally and fundamentally ‘warm’ this is going to come as a bit of a shock to the system, but it contributes to the dynamism of the overall performance. The really clever bit of this is that while there is plenty of energy and detail on offer, it is very hard to make this tip over into a hard or forward sound.

There’s an added quality to what you hear from the Planar 6 RS which is almost certainly down to the presence of the full plinth. And while you could be blunt and describe it as ‘colouration’, the reality is that it gives the Planar 6 RS an unmistakably ‘Rega’ sound that will win many people over. 

Living with the Rega Planar 6 RS

About a decade ago, Rega cracked something that is both nigh-on unheard of for a turntable manufacturer and that it has maintained to this day. If you can set up the Planar 1, the simplest and most affordable Rega turntable, you have all the skills needed to set up a Naia, the most expensive and sophisticated turntable the company makes. It’s a tremendous achievement, and it means that putting the Planar 6 RS together is impressively straightforward. 

Once you have done so, you can revel in the practicality on offer. The Planar 6 RS is the last rung of the Rega ladder that has a complete, hinged lid. As someone who now shares a house with four cats, this is not something I take for granted. Like all Rega designs, the Planar 6 RS will do its best work with a bit of isolation underneath, either in the form of a platform or wall shelf - as it doesn’t weigh very much, this won’t be hard to achieve.

There’s something else, too. When the Planar 6 originally launched, it was only available in a grey finish that actually meant it was the dullest-looking plinthed Rega turntable. The white option launched a few years ago and improved matters, but the RS is the moment that the ugly ducking becomes a swan. 

The addition of that aluminium HP laminate means this is now my favourite Rega turntable in visual terms. There is something about the proportions of the full plinthed Rega decks that is completely and utterly perfect, and the 6 RS takes those proportions, puts them in a gorgeous finish, and uses those higher-spec parts to emphasise that it’s higher up the food chain. Very little else at the price feels as special as it does. 

Conclusion 

The Planar 6 RS is a completely logical bit of engineering that uses some of the impressive Rega parts inventory to hit a specific price point. But the thing is, it’s so much more than that. It looks, feels and, most importantly, sounds like something that is greater than the sum of those impressive parts. The result is a spectacular and deeply joyous bit of kit. 

Listening notes 

The Slow Readers Club The Joy of the Return
This is an album underpinned by restless energy, which the Rega excels at bringing to the forefront of your listening, all the time ensuring you are treated to the band’s impressive musicianship too.

Hot Chip In Our Heads 
An album that pounds its way through almost as many musical styles as it has tracks, giving the Planar 6 RS the chance to show off just how effortlessly unflappable it is across all of them. 

Eliza Shaddad The Woman You Want
One of the loveliest voices of any modern artist allows the Rega to demonstrate its masterful tonality and wonderful stereo imaging. Even these gentler tracks benefit from its startling dynamics too.

This is pretty simple, really. Do you want the best all-round turntable that £2000 will allow? If the answer to that is ‘yes’, you need a Planar 6 RS. That’s all there is to it.

A combination of the Rega with the magnificent Quad 33/303 and the Neat Petite Classic would be an awful long way to out and out musical bliss for a neatly sensible price