Rega P5 Turntable & Exact Phono Cartridge

All Gain, NO Pain—Analog Delight!

Twenty-five years ago, I made one of the most significant system upgrades I've experienced in audio. I replaced my sexy Philips 212 turntable and highly-regarded Denon 103D moving coil cartridge with a rather plain Rega Planar 2 table and Grace F9E moving-magnet cartridge. Coupled with original Quads and modest tube electronics, that system caused many a jaw to drop. After several years, I moved on to more costly components, but dollar-for-dollar, that Rega-based system gave me more sheer musical enjoyment than just about anything since. When I was asked to r e v i e w Rega's new P5 turntable system, I wondered if it, too, would produce a similar effect.

Well, this thoroughly designed system solution, including the P5 table, RB700 tonearm, and Rega Exact cartridge, is one of the most musical front-ends I've heard at anywhere near its modest price. By effectively dealing with "bad vibrations," the P5 lets the music shine through, producing a surprisingly engaging, and natural sounding result. The Rega P5 is as close to a "set it and forget it" analog front-end as you're likely to find, and its absence of "groove noise" is astonishing. I prefer its overall musicality to just about any digital system I have heard, as well as to several more expensive analog rigs.

Worry-Free Setup

Using the Rega P5 can be quite a liberating experience. Since selling my Rega Planar 2 years ago, I have admittedly become much more obsessive about things like c a r t r i d g e VTA, turntable suspensions and/or isolation, record cleaning, and more. However, Rega founder Roy Gandy's design takes most of the worry out of setting up and using an analog front-end. My P5 came with the cartridge already mounted on the arm, so all I needed to do was put on the glass platter and the tonearm counterweight, adjust the tracking force and anti-skate, and connect the power to the table. It takes minutes—just a little longer than the commercial break on late-night television. With this combo, there's no need to worry about fiddling with cartridge VTA, or with isolating the table with a mass-loaded stand (a light weight, but rigid, end table works great), or buying a record clamp (not recommended). Instead of my timeconsuming record cleaning regimen, Roy suggests putting a new record directly on the platter, closing the dustcover, and letting the music flow. It's as close to instant gratification with analog as you're likely to get.

Overcoming years of "programming," I listened to a stack of new jazz reissues on the P5 without cleaning them first. Do you know what? I was stunned at how much more I was drawn into the music with the P5 than with the digital players I've reviewed lately. The musical timbre of the saxophones of Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Paul Desmond, and Sonny Rollins all sounded life-like and natural. The record surfaces were eerily quiet. I went through one record after another with hardly a pause. Although I had planned on listening to just one track per record, I found myself listening to both sides of each album! It reminded me of the "good old days," when I would listen for hours on end with my Rega Planar 2, but the sound through this Rega was much more refined, with more detail, clarity, transient speed, bass extension, and so on.

Great Musicality

What's the secret to the Rega P5's outstanding musicality? Roy Gandy and his team at Rega have taken a systems approach to keep structural resonances from interfering with the vibration of the stylus wiggling in the record grove and blurring the transmission of musical information. They also obviously do a lot of listening. To dramatically reduce structural vibrations, there are as few joints as possible between the stylus tip and the P5's connection to the preamplifier. Additionally, the three-point mounting and flat top of Rega cartridges allow them to be rigidly affixed to the tonearm, and the new RB700 arm mounts to the plinth using a similar three-point arrangement. Roy believes these structural elements make far more of a sonic difference than small and "futile" VTA adjustments, and that a light-weight but rigid plinth that quickly dissipates energy is far preferable to a massive one that stores it. I hate to admit it, but he may be right.

Compared with my friend's Rega Planar 3, the P5 was quieter, had tighter and deeper bass, a more threedimensional soundstage, and better highs. Don't get me wrong, the entry level Rega table is quite the bargain, but the P5 is noticeably superior and well worth the additional cost. Although I didn't have the P5's predecessor, the Rega P25, on hand for comparison, the P5 offers several significant improvements to minimize or dissipate spurious vibrations still further, including a 24-volt motor, a smaller, lighter, and less resonant plinth, and an optional external power supply. Perhaps the biggest difference between them is the new RB700 tonearm. It offers higher quality bearings with tighter tolerances than the RB600, as well as the three-point arm mount, instead of the previous lug-nut solution, to increase rigidity and reduce unwanted stress on the plinth and related vibrations. With its high quality, hand-tuned bearings, the RB700 arm is quite impressive, reminding me of arms I've owned costing far more. Others might charge in excess of $1295 for an arm of this caliber, but Rega includes a great table, too, for that price.