Among the plethora of exciting products at this year’s Bristol HiFi Show, Rega’s new System One – a turntable, amplifier and speakers for less than £1,000, perhaps attracted most attention.
The System One is set to be available in stores from early Spring, but Long Live Vinyl got an early look – and, as ever with Rega products, we were impressed.
You’ll probably already be familiar with the turntable element of the System One – Rega’s Planar One is a perennial favourite budget deck and winner in our 2019 Gear Of The Year Awards. Our review of the Planar One raved: “The RP1’s handsome aesthetics, minimalist plinth and simplified RB101 arm, coupled with a pleasingly straightforward setup left us asking, ‘How the hell do they make it so cheap?’. An emphatic winner.”
The other two parts of the chain are new products: the Rega io integrated amplifier with MM phono stage will have a very familiar look to fans of the supreme Brio phono stage and will retail separately at £379, boasting an ample 30 watts of power per channel, line inputs and a high quality headphone output.
The speakers are also new, albeit an update on an existing Rega design. The smart-looking Kytes will retail at £429 when bought separately. And completing the package you get for your £999 is a remote control and six metres of speaker cable.
Also catching our attention at the Bristol HiFi Show were products from Jern, Monitor Audio, Keith Monks, KEF, AVID HIFI, JBL, Harbeth and Linn. Pick up your copy of issue 37 for a full show report and your free 40-page Record Store Day 2020 guide.
