Rega P1 Turntable
Ever proud of it’s reputation as a defender of high quality sounds at great prices, Rega is delighted to announce it’s new progeny, the P1 turntable.
The first new addition to the Planar range of turntables for some time, we hope you’ll agree it’s worth the wait.
The Rega P1 turntable has been designed
to effectively reproduce music whilst being
easy to use. Rega has omitted all the usual
gimmicks; concentrating the manufacturing
costs on the high quality and design necessary
to reproduce records accurately.
Using a manual speed change (for the odd
occasion you may want to play a 45 RPM
record) rather than an automatic mechanism,
eliminates speed inconsistencies
and possible damage to the drive belt. The
money Rega saved with this method is instead spent
on an expensive low vibration motor which
would normally be used on a turntable
costing two or three times the amount. The
simplistic design aspect of the Rega P1 coupled with the
use of extremely high quality components
ensure that your turntable should last for
many years.
The Rega P1 turntable features a completely new tonearm; the Rega RB100. This entry-level model comes ready-fitted with a cartridge, proving once more that you don’t need loads of dosh to afford a cracking record player.
For over 30 years, Rega has been the first name on everyone's lips when it comes to turntables. With the new P1, Rega quality is now available at the lowest price ever!
Quick set up (factory fitted cartridge only)
The Rega P1 turntable has been designed to be extremely simple to set-up and use.
Rega has designed the P1 turntable so that
correct tracking weight can be achieved by
simply moving the balance weight as close
to the pivot point as possible.
This will automatically set the arm to within
the recommended tracking range for the
factory fitted stylus. The Bias slider should be set to the same
figure as the tracking weight. Once this is done, your setup is complete and your ready to enjoy your favorite tunes!
New to turntables?
If you are new to turntables, or if you simply wish to spend more time enjoying good music rather than tinkering to make your music sound good, then a Rega turntable is a perfect choice.
With all new experiences comes a little learning curve. It is important that you are aware that a turntable is one of the very few audio devices that requires you to use a specific "Phono" input. This is because the audio signal from a turntable is very different from that of CD players, DVD players, Cable Boxes et cetera.
If you are using an older model preamplifier or receiver you may very well already have the proper "Phono" input required. If however, you have a newer modern piece preamp or receiver you'll likely be lacking a "Phono" input stage. If this is the case or if you simply wish to upgrade the preamp stage of your existing setup, you'll want to purchase along with your new turntable a phono preamp. We'd recommend the Rega Fono Mini as an excellent match for the Rega P1 turntable. If you would like to yield even better performance we'd invite you to also check out the Rega Fono MM.
In either phono preamp you choose, you should be aware that you will also need a set of audio interconnect cables that will connect your phono preamplifier to any input (except the "phono" input if exist) of your stereo's preamplifier or receiver. For this connection, may we suggest the also British made Chord Crimson or Chord Cobra 3 as excellent options.
The completely British-made Rega P1 turntable performance features:
· brand new Rega RB100 tonearm;
· high quality main bearing, sub-platter assembly and stabilised MDF platter for excellent speed stability;
· Ortofon OM5e moving magnet cartridge included and factory fitted;
· Rega sound quality at an unrivalled price.
About Rega
First Television...
A reasonably normal childhood was spent building electric guitars, flying model aeroplanes, playing the clarinet and breeding budgies. At fourteen, Roy's mum asked him if he wanted a television or a record player in the house. Roy begged for a record player. His mum bought a telly!
At eighteen years Roy built his first pair of loudspeakers in perfectly sealed cabinets. Not the first Rega product, but Roy was on his way. His interest in hi-fi evolved from a passion for music. 'Bliss' in those days was a live concert, a folk club, or any kind of record player.
Then a flat mate demonstrated his hi-fi system: Garrard SP25 turntable, Sonotone 9TA cartridge, Rogers HG88 amplifier and Wharfedale speakers. Roy realised his record player had room for improvement.
The first system...
A Colaro deck turned up on a rubbish dump and after much adaptation became Roy's first hi-fi record deck. When a friend gave him an old Connoisseur the Collaro went back to the rubbish dump, and the modification began again. This turntable was reviewed in hi-fi Sound in 1972, as part of a series called Casebook, which examined readers hi-fi systems. In the early seventies the turntable was seen as such an unimportant part of the system that the reviewer assumed the excellent results must be due to the speakers. These were impossible to miss huge concrete affairs housing Super 8 drive units - but could hardly account for the sound quality of the whole system. The reviewer was puzzled.
The first Rega - A star is born
Roy was now working for Ford as a technical editor but spent most of his free time installing friend's hi-fi equipment and building loudspeakers to sell. He became a part time retailer and found he had to spend a ridiculous amount of time repairing new turntables before his conscience and common sense would allow him to sell them to others! Out of frustration and a strong feeling he could do better, the Planet turntable was born. Roy and a partner registered "Rega" (Tony RElph, Roy GAndy). In 1973 and for a couple of years Roy stayed at ford and made turntables in the evening, helped by his partners: mum (who agreed to help out for two weeks and stayed for fifteen years!) and a succession of lads. The first turntables were sold through Cosmocord in the UK and a year later under the Rega name in West Germany, Denmark and France.
Roy was now able to leave Ford; he collected a redundancy check and promptly blew it on a factory in Rochford. Soon after the partner with Tony Relph split, Roy swapping his share of Rega. Terry Davies joined as Rega's financial administrator.
In 1975 the Rega Planar 2 was developed and quickly took its place in the market as the finest budget turntable. In June 1977 HI-FI News and Record Review announced the Planar 3 saying 'The complete unit is worth a look'! Rega's usual blaze of non-publicity.
By 1980 Rega employed thirteen staff, exported to twelve countries, had twenty UK dealers, and there were those dreaded 'waiting lists', mainly by eager customers shop-hopping!
In 1980 Roy found an old mill (Park Street) in a residential area in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. The building had been deserted for twenty years and judging by the rot seemed to have a millstream still running through it! Rega snapped it up for £30,000 and turned it into a compact but highly functional hi-fi factory, liberally painted bright green.
In 1983 after five years of dabbling, and two years of intensive development, the RB300 and RB250 Tonearms were produced. For ten years Rega had used Japanese and Danish manufactured arms on the turntables but after some searching Roy found a casting company prepared to work with him to develop an entirely new production method enabling the one-piece tube to be cast.
Rega won an international award for the RB300 casting, presented by Modern Metals 'awarded in open competition for excellence in the field of Aluminium Die Casting'. In their accompanying letter they wrote: 'we are still trying to figure out how you produce such a long cored hole so accurately'. This made up for never winning any prizes breeding budgies!
For five years Rega sold a cartridge, the R100, made to specification in Japan. This was followed by the RB100, which was designed and developed by Rega. However, the cartridge had inevitable design limitations as it was being manufactured by an outside company.
In March 1988 the Rega Bias and Rega Elys phono cartridges went into production in house, and sales exceeded 1000 in the first month, five times more than anticipated! The cartridges were a vital step on the way to a complete Rega system.
Completing the system...
In the summer of 1989 the Ela loudspeaker was introduced. Designed and developed at Rega, they were originally produced in Denmark but soon thereafter were manufactured in house.
In 1991, a period of dramatic expansion was heralded with the move into the world of electronics and the launch of two amplifiers, the Elex and the Elicit. The reason for producing these two amplifiers was simple; Rega was presented with a design it could not resist! Most importantly, the amplifiers fit into the company policy - which is to manufacture high quality, specialist hi-fi components that are reliable, consistent and sensibly priced. This development completed the Rega system.
A new factory was built in 1992 on the Temple Farm Industrial Estate in Southend-on-Sea under Roy's design and guidance to house the production of loudspeakers and amplifiers and to ensure room for further developments.
Since this time, Rega has introduced a whole new electronic equipment range together with an exciting new range of loudspeakers. It has been very difficult to improve on products like the original Planet CD player and Ela loudspeaker but we feel we have achieved this. You can find elsewhere on this website all the information you require on these exciting new products, many of which are already receiving critical acclaim in the worlds hi-fi press. A plethora of other new products are imminent or well into the design and development stage, including more loudspeakers and electronic products. The company now employs fifty-five people and continues to grow.
Roy continues to supply the direction for the company, specifically as a member of the design and development department and in the selection o
