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REGA RP8 TURNTABLE
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The Rega RP8 has just received a brilliant review in Tone Audio. Here are just a few snippets from the review:
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My Rega journey began with the Planar 3 in 1982, and somehow over thirty years later, I have the feeling it’s not over. Roy Gandy and his crew are a clever group, and as long as they keep refining their turntables, there will be new vinyl adventures from this fine British company. I’m very happy to award the RP8/Apheta combination one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2013.
Freddie Hubbard’s Coronet bleats out of the left channel, completely occupying the left half of the listening room, with the proper height and spatial relationships – is both beguiling and convincing. The drum kit is miked equally hard right, with Hancock on piano, gently floating in the middle, with Ron Carter’s bass keeping the bass on track, yet dissolved into the stereo image.
The MoFi version of Aimee Mann’s Lost In Space underscores the improvements on two levels. This densely layered record needs a first rate analog rig to lay bare all the intriguing textures and spatial cues, which the RP8 aces. Perhaps even more intriguing is the LF performance of the RP8 – it’s very close to that of the P9. If you haven’t experienced the P9, it’s not like the rest of the Rega range. It possesses incredible weight and body. The RP8 has a similar weighty feel, you almost don’t expect this kind of locked in bass response to come from a table that is the opposite of some of todays massive record players.
That machined aluminum subplatter pays another big dividend; much better pitch stability, and consequently revealing more low level detail. Where Mann’s delicate voice wavers ever so slightly during “Guys Like Me” on the RP6, it is rock solid when switching to the RP8. This doesn’t mean the RP6 is rubbish, you don’t notice the difference as easily until you play it right next to the RP8, and let’s face it, the RP8 costs twice as much.
The biggest surprise comes in a side-by-side comparison with the P9. While the $5,000 P9 still has more LF weight and an even dreamier, more defined high end, the RP8 closes the gap tremendously, leaving this reviewer to wonder what Rega has on the horizon with the RP10. An urge to spin the recent remaster of Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Illustrates the huge soundstage the Apheta is capable, with synthesizers and special effects everywhere. Moving up to the P9 offers an even bigger soundfield, yet pace and timing are equally enticing with both decks, yet the P9 takes the lead, with the opening, distorted bass line of “Mongoloid,” offering more grunt and more texture.
It wouldn’t be an audiophile review without some female vocals, eh? The Low + Dirty Three In the Fishtank 7 LP seemed the perfect place to start, with it’s dreamy, ethereal vocals, fading way off into the distance of the soundstage on the opening track, “I Hear…Goodnight,” with Mimi Parkers gentle brushwork on the drums so faint, it would be lost on a budget rig. This record also clearly illustrates the ease by which the Rega combo handles the violin – exquisite.
JEFF DORGAY – TONE AUDIO
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE REGA RP8 CLICK HERE
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