British hi-fi brand Rega's released an entry-level turntable with two things I can get behind: a seriously minimalist design and a price point that's about half what you pay for the starter model from its popular Planar range.
Rega, which has been around for half a century assembling gear by hand at this point, has been working on the Replay turntable for the last three years. The result is a unique skeletal design for the plinth instead of the usual rectangular approach, and a simple machine that only takes a minute to set up and begin enjoying.
The Replay's compact dimensions are ideal for folks who are just getting into hi-fi and haven't yet cleared out their entire living room to make space for gear.
Rega says you can expect "highly detailed, dynamic performance" out of the Replay, and you won't need to bother with balancing the arm or mess with complex connections. That said, it doesn't feature its own phono stage, so you'll have to plug it into a suitably equipped amplifier via RCA outputs before you can hear your favorite vinyls.
This is a manual belt-drive turntable that'll play 33 RPM and 45 RPM records. It shares a bunch of features from the brand's ~US$600 Planar 1, like the 24-V low-noise motor and the phenolic resin platter.
The aluminum tonearm, which comes with a plug-and-play balance weight for quick setup, and the Carbon moving magnet cartridge that's aligned for high performance from the factory, are also common between these models, and they're both made by Rega itself.
If you're just getting into vinyl, this could make for a good first turntable – provided you're okay bringing an amp into the mix. You're also foregoing the convenience of wireless connectivity, but that could get you to spend more time in the analog world.
We've seen a few minimalist turntables with low-profile plinths recently, and the Replay is up there with the barely-there models we've come across this year. It's also designed to be accessible to newbies, and is fairly affordable as far as turntables from established brands go.
The Replay's priced at £259 in the UK, and is listed at US$395 from US-based retailer TurntableLab. You can pre-order it there, and expect yours to ship this December.
See more specs on Rega's site.
Source: Rega
