Rega

Rega was founded in 1973 by Roy Gandy and Tony Relph. Gandy was a music lover and engineer. He began by modifying other turntables because he felt convinced he could do a better job. It became quickly apparent that he could and before too long he went into business with the intention of designing a turntable from the ground up.

The Rega Planet turntable

The Planet was the first turntable Roy designed. It featured many of the hallmarks and design features that Rega turntables still use today. It had a rigid laminated plinth with a high quality bearing. It had compliant rubber feet and was belt driven. At that time the company did not have the finances to built their own tone-arm so a Japanese made Jelco arm was used.  The Planet soon gave way to the P3 and P2 turntables and both of these became the turntables to own if you wanted high performance at a sensible price. Perhaps this combination is at the heart of Rega products to this day.

In 1983 Rega began to manufacture a unique cast tone-arm that was far more rigid than the Jelco and featured a magnesium one-piece through bearing design. The RB-300 arm and subsequent incarnations of it enable even more information to recovered from the groove.