The New Rega Planar 6RS Edition
The Rega Planar 6 RS Edition costs £2,000. What you are paying for is the Planar 6 platform — Tancast 8 plinth, dual-layer float glass platter, Neo PSU — fitted with the RB880 tonearm and Nd9 cartridge from the Planar 8. Both components come from a turntable that ordinarily costs considerably more. The RS Edition combines them on a platform that is wholly capable of showing what they can do.
What Makes It Different from the Standard Planar 6
The standard Rega Planar 6 (from £1,280) uses the RB330 tonearm and does not include a cartridge at the base price. The RS Edition replaces the RB330 with the RB880 — bearing assembly adjusted to zero tolerance, less than one-thousandth of a millimetre — and fits the Nd9: a boron cantilever, hand-wound generator with 38-micron wire. The Neo PSU, which regulates power to the 24V synchronous motor for precise speed control, is included as standard on both. The Tancast 8 platform is the same. What the RS Edition reveals is how much further that platform can go when its highest-capability components are in place.
How It Sounds
Composure is the defining quality. The RS Edition does not impress with brute detail or exaggerated high frequencies — it impresses by making records feel properly heard. Timing is assured without sounding mechanical. The stereo image is stable and three-dimensional. Low-level detail — the decay of notes into silence, the texture of a bowed string, the room behind a voice — emerges from a quiet background in a way that makes the music feel more complete. These are not incremental improvements. They are the kind of changes that make you reach for records you thought you already knew.
Where It Fits in the Range
Below it: the Rega Planar 3 RS Edition (£1,099) — a strong complete package on the Planar 3 platform, with a different capability ceiling. Above it: the Rega Naia (£10,500), the flagship, with RB Titanium arm and graphene carbon fibre construction. The Planar 6 RS Edition sits between them in a price gap that does not normally exist — Planar 8 components at a Planar 6 price.
Phono Stage
The Nd9 is a moving magnet cartridge. No phono stage is included with the turntable. At this level, phono stage quality matters — the Nd9 is resolving enough to show the difference clearly.
Entry option: Rega Fono MM MK5 (£230) — will work well and is a coherent starting point. Better option: Rega AOS MC Phono Stage (£1,500) — a significant step up that also supports MC cartridges, future-proofing the system. We are happy to advise based on your existing equipment.
Availability
The Planar 6 RS Edition is a special build — hand-assembled at Rega’s Southend-on-Sea factory in limited quantities. It is not a standard production item. Stock is limited and will not automatically be restocked once sold. Contact us to confirm availability before ordering.
Hear It in Norwich
The Planar 6 RS Edition is on demonstration at Martins Hi-Fi, 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY. Call 01603 627010 or email info@martinshifi.co.uk to arrange a listening session. Open six days a week.
Shop the Rega Planar 6 RS Edition — or browse the full Rega range at Martins Hi-Fi.
