Rega’s turntables, side by side. Here is the RS Edition between the standard Planar 3 and the Planar 6 and their specifications, showing what your money buys at each step.

The RS Edition is what happens when Rega takes the Planar 3 and adds the two upgrades most owners eventually buy anyway, then goes further on the part nobody can upgrade afterwards. The plinth is new, and it is the stiffest Rega has built at this level. The Neo Mk2 power supply, an optional extra on the standard deck, is included and individually matched to the motor in each turntable. The Nd5 cartridge is fitted as standard. The result is a deck that sits closer to the Planar 6 in ability than its position in the range suggests, and one that needs nothing added.

Brief product overview

A two-speed belt-drive turntable built on the Planar 3 platform with three significant departures from it. The plinth uses a new aluminium metal skin HPL laminate, a dark brushed metallic finish edged in high gloss black, and is the most rigid plinth Rega has produced at Planar 3 level; Rega’s double brace system is retained, mounted between the tonearm base and the main hub bearing to form a stressed beam that resists resonance while keeping mass low. The Neo Mk2 power supply is supplied as standard and custom-matched to each deck, with the motor vibration circuit hand-tuned to that individual motor, giving electronic speed change and improved speed stability. The 24V low-noise motor drives the sub-platter through Rega’s Reference EBLT belt rather than the Advanced belt used on the standard deck. The hand-assembled RB330 tonearm is carried over, with its mass-redistributed arm tube, high-precision bearings, bias assembly, 100g balance weight and low-capacitance phono cable, and it arrives fitted with Rega’s Nd5 moving-magnet cartridge, which uses coils wound in-house with 38-micron wire, an optimised pole gap, an N55 neodymium magnet and a nude elliptical diamond on an aluminium cantilever. A smoked dust cover is supplied.

How it sounds

The RS Edition takes the qualities that make a Planar 3 worth owning, the drive, the timing, the sense that music is going somewhere, and adds noticeably more precision and quiet. The stiffer plinth is the least visible change and arguably the most important: less energy is absorbed and returned to the record, so the background is blacker and low-level detail survives intact. The hand-matched Neo Mk2 tightens speed stability, which shows up as firmer pitch and better-defined leading edges rather than as anything obviously dramatic. And the Nd5, with its nude elliptical stylus and finely wound coils, traces the groove more accurately than any cartridge normally fitted at this level, giving a wider soundstage and better separation. Together they lift the deck well clear of a standard Planar 3 and into genuinely serious territory.

What we’d partner it with

The RS Edition has no phono stage, so the amplifier needs one. The Rega Elex Mk4 is a natural match at this level: 72 watts into 8 ohms and 90 into 6, with a moving-magnet phono stage using two-stage RIAA equalisation and a DAC built on a discrete line-driver output stage. The Brio Mk7 is the more affordable route and shares much of the same character, while the Elicit Mk5 is the step up if you want more power and an Aethos-derived preamplifier stage. As a Rega turntable, the deck earths through its phono lead, so there is no separate ground wire to attach.

For speakers, the Wharfedale Linton suits a system of this calibre well: a three-way standmount with an 8-inch woven Kevlar bass driver, 90dB sensitive at 6 ohms and rated to 200 watts, which gives real scale and weight. It dips to around 3.5 ohms in the bass, so it prefers an amplifier with headroom. Floorstanders and stand-mounts from Fyne Audio, Dali, Mission and Elac work equally well.

Because the Neo Mk2 is included, the usual Planar 3 upgrade path is already taken care of; what remains is a better phono stage, and Rega’s Fono MM Mk5 is the obvious candidate if you want to go beyond the amplifier’s internal one.

On cabling, use a well-made speaker cable of appropriate gauge for the run; AudioQuest and Chord are the cable brands we stock.

Who shouldn’t buy it

If you do not want the Neo power supply or the Nd5 cartridge, the standard Planar 3 costs considerably less and can be specified with the Nd3 or no cartridge at all. If you want the next genuine step in turntable engineering rather than a better-specified Planar 3, the Planar 6 uses a lighter, stiffer Tancast plinth and a different platter, and is the more significant change. And if your amplifier has no phono stage, budget for one, as this deck has none.

The RS Edition arrives with the Nd5 fitted and aligned, so setup means fitting the sub-platter, belt and platter, sliding on the counterweight and balancing the arm, then setting tracking force and bias. Level the deck on a solid, isolated surface away from the speakers. The Neo Mk2 is matched to this particular turntable, so keep the two together and use the supply that came with it; speed changes electronically at the touch of a button rather than by moving the belt. Connect the deck to a moving-magnet phono input; as a Rega turntable it earths through the phono lead. The Wharfedale Linton is large and heavy and sounds best on its matching stands, clear of the rear wall.