The Rega AOS: Reference-Level MC Amplification, Without the Reference-Level Price

There's a moment when a record just locks you in — when the room disappears and the music takes over. Getting there consistently depends on every link in the chain, and one of the most critical — yet most overlooked — is the phono stage sitting between your cartridge and amplifier.

Rega's new AOS MC phono stage, available from Martins Hi-Fi from 1st March at £1,500, is designed to make sure that link is never the weak one.

Rooted in something special

The AOS draws its circuit design directly from Rega's Aura — their celebrated reference MC phono stage and one of the most respected in the business. That's not a marketing claim; the engineering philosophy, the signal-path discipline, and the sonic priorities of a reference-class component are all present here, just housed in a beautifully machined half-width aluminium enclosure that sits neatly in almost any system.

Analogue, all the way through

In an age where digital control circuitry creeps into everything, the AOS takes a different view. It's a fully analogue two-stage amplifier — no digital processing anywhere in the signal chain. The all-aluminium case screens the internals from RFI interference, and Rega's engineers have stripped out anything that doesn't earn its place. A self-adjusting servo compensates automatically for temperature variations, so performance stays consistent whether the unit has just warmed up or has been running all evening.

Built around your cartridge

Moving coil cartridges are precision instruments, and the AOS treats them as such. Matched, ultra-low noise FET transistors form the heart of the first stage, with no bias current flowing through the cartridge coil — preserving the delicate magnetic geometry that makes a good MC cartridge sound as it should. Resistive loading is adjustable from 70Ω to 400Ω, gain can be shifted by 6 dB, and the unit ships pre-set for Rega's own MC cartridge range while remaining flexible enough to partner a wide variety of third-party designs. RIAA accuracy is better than ±0.2 dB from 65 Hz to 70 kHz, with THD of just 0.03%.

Rega also back it with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects — a level of confidence in their own work that says quite a lot.

Hear it at Martins Hi-Fi

We've been helping music lovers build better systems from our Norwich showroom since 1968, and the AOS is available to audition at Ber Street from 1st March. If you're running a quality MC cartridge — or planning to — this is a phono stage well worth hearing. Get in touch to arrange a demonstration.

📍 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 3EY 📧 info@martinshifi.co.uk 📞 01603 627010 💬 WhatsApp: 07554 687137