Rega Aethos & Planar 8 & Aria & PMC Twenty5 21i Package

Rega Aethos

Key Features:

- 125 W RMS both channels are driven into the rated load of 8 Ω
156 W RMS both channels driven into 6 Ω - 
- Strictly Analogue -
- No Dedicated Phonostage -
- No DAC -
- Dedicated Headphone Output - 

Rega AETHOS Stereo Amplifier (In-Depth)

The brand new, highly anticipated, Rega Aethos Stereo Amplifier. With a brand new custom design case, it makes the Aethos look very slick, to us there are some similarities coming from the Rega Osiris but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that as we loved the design of that too. Packing a punch with four 160W 16 Amp output transistors per channel which deliver 156 Watts per channel into 6Ω. The Aethos is a dual-mono design using a custom wound toroidal transformer and regulated supplies for the sensitive amplification and driver stages. When it comes to the pre-amplifier part of the Aethos, it uses class-A, discrete circuity throughout the amp. When Rega started putting the Aethos into production, they built it with one intention in mind, to deliver music as faithfully as possible. There's no doubt in our mind that Rega has built this to the highest standard they possibly could to ensure the listener years upon years of musical excellence.

Rega's Design Innovation

All of Rega's time, effort and money have gone into perfecting the circuity and construction into the Aethos, utilising the highest specification of components throughout. As part of the unique design, Rega has included some useful features such as the switchable direct input and preamplifier output, to enable the new Aethos amplifier to be used in a wide array of custom systems. The headphone socket has been integrated such that the speaker switching is performed by the output mute relay to not obstruct the signal path and completely deteriorate the sound quality given out. This sort of subtle engineering has been embedded around the Aethos in other departments, credit, where it's due, to get an amplifier sounding this good for the price range its set in, is truly remarkable. It's been a long, anticipated wait, but we can safely say it's been worth it.

As stated before, Rega has taken some design concepts from the multi-award-winning and hugely successful Elex-R and Elicit-R and rocketed the performance to another level of excellence and beyond with a 125watt dual-mono design with features such as a fully discrete FET based line amplifier, polypropylene capacitors throughout the signal path, k-Power reservoir capacitors, power amplifier regulated supply and a high current output stage comprising of four 160w Sanken output transistors per channel. I feel like Rega has set the Aethos is a very sweet spot for the market, it will definitely give other manufacturers a run for their money. If you loved the sound and warmth from the other amplifiers Rega have produced, i.e the Elicit, you will feel right at home, but obviously you will be gaining huge sound benefits from upgrading.

The Volume Control and Line Amplifier Technology 

The Aethos uses a high performance combined feedback and passive volume control plus line amplifier, this sort of technology was originally developed for the Rega Elex-R, as you would expect, as time goes on improvements and tweaks have been made, in this case, improvements have been made to the volume control and line amplifier stages in the Aethos with the use of discrete FET input operational amplifiers using the Linear Systems LSK389 FET and the highly spoken about RK23 (known as the 'Blue Velvet') potentiometer As well as keeping tracking irregularities to a minimum, this method also reduces noise and input overload as the control will only ‘use’ the required gain to amplify the signal. This form of volume control is normally only found in professional broadcast environments where accurate low noise control of levels is required.

The Power Amplifier Technology 

Let's get into the real power of this, the power amplifier used in the Aethos is an improved higher power version of the power amplifier that is found in the Elicit-R and Elex-R. The output amplifier used in the Aethos was originated after heavy amounts of extensive research by Rega's very intelligent engineers with the intention to develop a low source impedance emitter follower Class-A driver stage. The technical and sonic improvement gained by the use of low impedance driver is well known, in this case, it features high standing currents in the driver stage when using standard transistor configurations. Due to the nature of the Rega power amplifier circuit we are able to run two complete output stages in parallel, this includes the output transistors, bias network and pre diver transistor this is instead of paralleling just the output transistors as normally found. This ensures the 125-watt output is achieved with complete ease.

Instructions for the Aethos can be found on the following link Aethos Instructions

"Best Turntable Over £2000" - What HiFi 2019 

Key Features

Ultra-lightweight design
Triple-layer glass platter
24v Low noise motor
Neo PSU Power Supply
High-quality RB880 Tonearm
Increased rigidity plinth

Rega Planar 8

The Rega Planar 8 was engineered to retrieve as much information and detail from the vinyl surface as possible. Rega has used the most technologically advanced materials and engineering solutions built around a supremely lightweight plinth to ensure the greatest level of performance. The Planar 8 is supplied with the new RB880 tonearm and a Neo PSU comes as standard which will offer you an electronic speed change. Another neat feature of the Planar 8 is that too has an advanced anti-vibration control and user adjustable electronic fine speed adjustment to ensure complete control and accuracy over the motor. The outer frame from the older model, Rega RP8, has been removed and replaced with a new stylish, removable, single piece dustcover, overall reducing the overall mass of the turntable. The Rega Planar 8 has to option of coming fitted with either the Ania MC, Apheta 2 MC cartridge or Apheta 3 MC By ordering with the turntable you can get any of these at a reduced price making it well worth considering. We are also able to fit a variety of other cartridges if you have another preference. 

Ultra Lightweight Plinth

The Planar 8 is Rega's second turntable to be constructed using their newest ultra-lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam which is essentially a material developed for the aerospace industry. What Rega has done is placed this material between two layers of high-pressure laminate, the perk of using this is that it is very thin and extremely rigid. A bit like the Rega PR10, the Planar 8 has followed those exact footsteps, making it 30% lighter than the previous RP, increasing the overall rigidity of the previous model.

RB880 tonearm

To compensate such a masterpiece, you will need a pretty solid tonearm; this is where the new RB880 comes into play with an improved vertical bearing assembly constructed using aluminium and stainless-steel, low mass assembly with vastly improved stability and rigidity. The RB880 is using Rega's advanced preloaded zero tolerance bearing assembly which can be adjusted to less than 1000th of a mm, this will enable friction-free movement and zero levels of unwanted play. When it comes to the RB880, it comes terminated with a re-designed low capacitance phono cable, which comes standard on the higher end of the Rega turntables and these are also locking phono plugs to ensure the best possible connection.

Hub Bearing Assembly

The new Planar 8 uses a new low mass central bearing assembly which is a processed with a single piece of machined aluminium sub-platter and hardened tool steel spindle will run inside a custom-made brass housing which is then very cleverly mounted within the chassis of the Planar 8. The whole principle around this newly designed bearing assembly is to completely eradicate unwanted generated energy being transferred or stored in the plinth

Triple Layer Glass Platter

The Planar 8 uses a super flywheel effect three pieces laminated glass platter. The result of a collaboration with a British glass engineering company. This brand new platter is constructed using pure Pilkington glass pieces of different densities. The platter is designed to be slightly heavier on the far edge, to increase the flywheel effect to achieve a constant rotational speed, without adding too much mass to the overall turntable or adding stress to the motor and bearing. 

Neo PSU

The Planar 8 is powered by Rega's award-winning Neo PSU. The Neo uses the same digital signal processor seen in the RP10 Power Supply, built upon a high-stability crystal. This DSP generator is used to achieve precise and stable power, allowing your turntable platter to rotate at the perfect speed. The Neo PSU is completely unaffected by any changes in mains voltage and conditions, allowing for smooth playback 24/7. The Neo PSU is the ideal power supply for use with this incredible turntable, allowing for the perfect playback of your favourite music. 

Rega Aria

Rega's new Aria Mk3 makes noticeable improvements to almost every aspect of their now discontinued award-winning Aria Mk2 Phono Stage. This Mk3 version of the Aria phono stage is housed in Rega's custom enclosure, designed to match their new styling seen in the Planar 10 PSU & Aethos Amplifier.

The Aria is a quality phono stage/pre-amplifier, designed and engineered in the UK by prestigious and well-regarded hifi manufacturer 'Rega'. It's a fully adjustable unit that will offer superior performance when combined with both MM and MC cartridges. The Moving Magnet input makes use of low-noise, bipolar input transistors that are configured as a compound pair. The Moving Coil aspect of the phonostage uses parallel connected, low noise FETs (which stands for Field Effect Transistors), these are also configured as a compound pair. 

 PMC Twenty5 21i Bookshelf Speakers

Key Facts:

- Uses PMC's Advanced Line Technology -
- 140mm Long-Throw G-Weave Cone: LF -
- 19mm Twenty5i SONOMEX Driver: HF -
- Cast Alloy Chasis -
- Recommended Amp Power - 30 -150W -

The PMC Twenty5 21i - To kick start off this fantastic series, the Twenty5 21i is the smallest and most compact speaker in this new range, as always when you see a small speaker around this price point, you will certainly not be left disappointed when it comes to sound, the sound from this speaker is something you'd expect out of a much larger cabinet speaker; this is all thanks to PMC's Advanced Transmission Line Technology. The Twenty5 21i is perfect for those small-to-medium listening environments where space is at a premium, but still giving you that detailed bass, fantastic mids and very fragile highs with maximum musicality. Placements of these speakers are entirely down to yourself, you can either have them mounted or placed on some stands. Nevertheless, this speaker will offer you maximum flexibility for placement and not only that, but they will also look the part in any sort of environments; this comes in numerous finishes which you can check out above.

We touched upon PMC's ATL (Advanced Transmission Line) technology, to get some context on what this is, it's a technology that uses sophisticated cabinet construction, proprietary drive units, and patented absorption materials and techniques. The benefits you get from this is rather substantial compared to the relatively simple sealed and ported designs currently available elsewhere.