Rega P1

By Michael Wong

June 2007

Rega P1 turntable. $675

Back in the late 1970s/ early 80s when the British Empire ruled the shelves of many a hi-fi shop, there were three distinct steps to attaining good vinyl playback.

The novice started off with the (bestowed honorary UK citizenship by the UK hi-fi press) Dual 505 turntable. A step up from entry level was the venerable Rega Planar 3. The final upgrade and audio nirvana, was the mighty Linn Sondek LP12.

Thirty years later, Dual has long bitten the dust. Linn’s analogue supremacy has been surpassed 634 times. Rega, with the P2 and P3 have retained their position as better than entry level but less than the best.

Tradition

In Rega tradition, the entry-level P1 has a solid plinth with a good quality AC motor and a high quality main bearing. Despite being their most affordable offering, the P1 is still completely built in the UK. Production costs have been contained by using a cheaper MDF platter instead of the traditional Rega glass platter and a new low cost tone arm, model RB100.

The RB100 replaces the one-piece arm tube of the familiar RB250/300 arms with a simplified arm tube, fitted with a plastic headshell and plastic counterweight stub.As with other Rega arms there is no provision for azimuth adjustment or altering VTA without adding spacers. A modest Ortofon OM5e high output moving magnet cartridge completes this turn-key package.

Fit and finish are good. The plinth and lid are nicely made. The MDF platter looks a little nasty compared to the glass platters of old, while the felt mat is flimsier than with other Rega turntables.

Setup is so easy even a complete analogue novice can have the P1 out of the box and running in 10-15 minutes by following the simple setup instructions. That will get you about 90% of the P1’s potential performance.

With the basic out-of-the-box quick setup, the P1 sounded good. This is no giant killer but it gave a good taste of the qualities that keep vinyl spinners enamoured with an “obsolete” technology.

The sound was a little rough at the extremes but the midrange was relatively unmolested and music had a good sense of rhythm and pace. Soundstaging was good with a nice wide stage, stage depth, although image specificity was a little vague. Detail and dynamics were fine. There was a sense of liveliness and ease of reproduction that made for hours of enjoyable listening.

Advanced setup

Next was to perform what Rega calls an “advanced setup”, for use when fitting other cartridges or in this case, checking the accuracy of the factory setup.

Using a DB Systems protractor showed the factory cartridge alignment to be close enough to leave well alone. Vertical Tracking Force was measured with a digital stylus gauge. With the counterweight wound all the way as per the quick setup, VTF was 2.0g +/- 0.2g, variation due to the imprecision of the counterweight arrangement. VTF was re-set to 1.75g, with a similar adjustment made to the anti-skate setting.

With a little attention to detail the sound of the P1 was markedly improved. There’s still curtailment at the frequency extremes but the highs are more natural. The improved stereo separation, dimensionality and sense of palpability lifted the P1’s performance a few notches. The Rega covers it’s deficiencies well, putting the fun back into music.

When the stylus requires replacing – or even beforehand for a performance lift – the stylus can be upgraded to a superior model in the OM range. An OM10 stylus ($60) or OM20 stylus ($125) is a cheap and simple plug-in upgrade that will pay firm dividends.

A great entry

The Rega P1 makes a great entry into the turn-key turntable market dominated by the cheaper Projects. For someone new to vinyl or is happy with an easy to use, basic turntable at a fair price, the Rega is a winner.

For your nearest Rega dealer

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