Nice to see you my friends. This time our knowledge and listening effort have been concentrated on the new Rega production in the field of solid-state integrated amplifiers, the Mira 3, a national preview, and upon the new -even if not brand new - CD player: the Planet 2000. It's been decided to go under a combined test in order to try the potential of the mono-brand system, that is enjoying new appreciation and glory in these days. We also decided to propose both devices individually, for a better communication to our readers, even those not interested in buying the twin set but one unit only. It will sound strange to someone but I've always been appreciating Rega's digital players more than the analog ones. This may depend on the fact that I find the work carried out on the Planet series, from its original version to date, really noticeable and innovating. On the contrary of what happened with analog products, the Planet Series has immediately distinguished itself for the high innovation contents. Die-cast chassis, top loading, extreme quality in D/A sections, have made of the Planet a little champion of price / know-how ratio.

What positively impresses me in Rega is the ability to constantly update their products even in a field - the digital one - that is evolving at a weird pace. In order to get this result it is common to early pension off some devices, always promoting new products to keep pace with the time being. Rega, instead, chose to update their machines always keeping an eye on the customer, who doesn't like to see his "digital conversion chip" go obsolete in the turning of a few weeks. If one adds the really affordable budget needed to purchase this gear, they turn out to be true best buys! Here, I have said it!

The listening rooms

The first listening room, my personal one, has been projected and acoustically treated in a discrete way. Acoustical corrections, in fact, are carried out by furniture that has been specifically laid. The outcome is a small, rectangular-shaped room like many you can find in urban flats. The room bears full-loaded bookshelves on side walls to avoid sound coloring and soundstage tilts, and a sofa in front of the two speakers stands that also covers the wall, helping defeat the harmful primary reflections. Behind the speakers there's sound-absorbing and sound-reflecting stuff, uniformly laid to improve soundstage depth while lessening room resonance. On the floor there's a fine Caucasian carpet, working as an equalizer and primary-reflections absorber as well. Last, the wall behind the listening spot is a reflecting one, like it often happens in recording studios.

The whole system has obviously been tuned up through exhausting listening sessions. The other listening room is slightly larger, treated with carpets, canvas pictures and Tube Traps, following the same philosophy, and is used as an alternative to the usual listening room since it allows to test the equipment in a larger volume and with wider walls.

The only conceptual difference is in the fact that the rear wall is treated with closed - cells pyramidal polyurethane composite. Listening in different rooms (or with different equipment), helps the reviewer figure out different tasks for the same gear, clearing out the mistakes possibly generated by one's usual set-up. Too often machines are given a slating just because they have been tested in an insufficient, approximate or even wrong way under the environmental point of view.

The reference system

It would be better to talk about reference systems since the Regas under test have been matched with partners very different from each other in order to test more than one kind of set-up. As digital sources I have used a heavily tweaked Marantz CD 67 and a Rotel 541 CD. Analog sources vary from the Pro-ject 2.9 wood with its factory tone arm, to the Thorens TD 124 with SME 3009 tonearm, to Thorens TD 160 with stock tonearm. Cartridges: a Sumiko Pearl and a Shure N 97 xE, both MMs. Coming to the amp set, I used a Pro-ject phono pre, the Phono box, a DIY tube phono pre, the "Lo Scherzo", a DIY tube amp, a Galactron Mk 2060 amp, a "mini pre" pre, an AM-Audio A-50 power amp. Speakers: Sonus Faber Concertino Home, original B&W 801 and Opera 1.5 AV. Solid Steel shelf. Cables: Van Den Hul speaker cables and interconnects, Cablerìe d'Eupen power cords, Monster Cable interconnects.

Records

As CDs I used, in random order: John Scofield, Works for me, Verve; Dave Matthews Band, Listener Supported, Rca; Scott Anderson, Steve Smith, Victor Wooten, Vital Tech, Tone Center; GentleGiant, Octopus, Vertigo; Banco del mutuo soccorso, Darwin, Virgin. With reference to LPs: Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Columbia; Jethro Tull Aqualung, Chrysalis; Genesis, Selling England by the pound, Carisma; Agnes Buen Garnak, Jan Garbarek, Rosensfole, Ecm; Bob Marley, Rastaman Vibration, Islands; Chick Corea, Return To Forever, Ecm.

Rega Planet 2000, Mira 3: build quality

The look of the new Regas is a sure eye-catcher; all the units regardless of their kind share the same slim front panel - except for the record player of course. The Planet 2000 bears a nice red-digits display at the center of its front panel; indications are as usual, there is also a matrix that reads the total tracks number. At its left we find the on / off switch, on the right four soft buttons for the basic machine control: play, stop, and track search. The Rega logo and the model name are printed on the far left of the panel. On the back of the Planet, left to center, we find the RCA analog output connectors, the toslink and coaxial digital connectors, then the mains plug socket at the center of the panel.

The back of the Mira 3 is on the contrary rather crowded: from left we find the sources connectors including a record player one, with its grounding post right above the input row. Included are two analog recording outputs, two connector pairs for an external preamplifier and an output for an external power amplifier or an amplified subwoofer. Further right we find the speakers connectors, then the mains cord socket.

Buttons and connectors are the same quality of competitors, and a good feature is the opportunity to use the Mira 3 with external preamplifiers or power amps. These opportunities make of it an excellent device for bi-amping and multi-channel tasks, so versatility is out of question. The front panel of the Mira3 looks even more plain than the one of the Planet 2000, with the usual print work on left and an on / off switch that lights red when on. The central knob works both as input selector and volume control thanks to a switch that swaps functions upon touch - push it a second time and it's a one-decibel steps precise volume control once again. On the left of this knob we have a led-enlightened source list, on the right the two "mute" and "tape monitor" buttons.

Listening to the Planet 2000

I won't disguise that I liked the Planet2000 very much, in comparison to the first release I find that all the roughest defects have been smoothed over - like a kind of hardness in the low frequencies and a somehow limited extension in the highs. The credit is to be given to a number of factors: The re-designed power section, the updated converters, the case that - even if looking less original - has got tougher. The feet have been carefully studied. Maybe something more could have been done for the general solidity that is not at top standard - the cover doesn't look invulnerable -, but otherwise we might be talking about miracles in this price range. I wish to start from soundstage reproduction since it is the characteristic that most impressed me, very extended both in depth and width, it closely resembles vinyl, even if doesn't match it in terms of dynamics and detail. Compared to digital sources in the same (or higher) price range, the Rega flaunts a hard to close gap in all the parameters related to the stereo image. Flawless in its tonal balance, wide, extended, controlled, neutral without sounding vacuum. As I was saying in the opening the low frequency range is impressive for fullness, speed and guts. Digital electronics often have a high-frequency oriented balance; the Planet 2000 does not contradict this assumption but smoothes it over a bit in the direction of a non fatiguing, non annoying sheen. Dynamics offers moments of pure fun, for an immediately involving sound. Without going into complex psycho - acoustic theories, an outstanding dynamic is an absolute warranty of emotional participation and therefore of enjoyment of the sound message by the listener. A flat sound messages on the contrary gets the listener bored in a short while, makes all monotonous, helplessly shortens the listening sessions. In my opinion, the Planet 2000 is an absolute benchmark in its price range, with the ambition to worry even more costly CD players.

Listening to the Mira 3

The Mira 3 is a truly muscular amplifier; it boasts its rated power with no significant hardening even at inurbane listening levels. Much depends on speakers efficiency of course, but the faithfully yours does not run wide rangers or pro speakers; the Mira 3 is capable of effortlessly driving normal bookshelves to their limits. Mind the volume leds: it's nice to have many of them, enlightened, circling the knob itself, but it gets dangerous for your ears unless you aren't in a large room - in that case have fun as much as you like. I wish to share with you my take on the frequency response of the machine, a parameter I spent some time upon. I'll explain myself: the Mira 3 is extremely neutral and accurate where this is needed. It performs clean and honest in all the parts of the frequency range, the soundstage - like in the Planet - sets the standard at this price level. The bass is quick and clean, but also energetic and involving, till it reaches the far low range where, at a certain point, it stops and doesn't deliver anymore. I liked this feature, even if it is caused by a possible fault. Why did I like a fault? Because it is not possible to achieve more at this price level, so the alternative would have been a less precise, less defined, but more extended bass. Would it have been better? I don't think so. I insist in saying that the tonal balance of the Mira 3 is praiseworthy, maybe it is slightly tipped towards high frequencies, but it remains inside the boundaries of the good listening. Of course, partnering it with speakers sharing this kind of balance could undermine the performance; therefore we suggest not combining them, but in all other situations the versatility of the Mira 3 has proved enormous. We tested it with small and tough speakers like the Sonus Faber Concertino Home or large and soft like the immortal original B&W 801 and in both cases it proved really thorough in sustaining - with no prevarication - the sonic character of the partner. Like I was saying at the beginning, I think the only drawback was the phono stage. It doesn't seem to be adequate to this outstanding amplifier, which goes really big with digital sources. The faults in this case look evident: lack of focus, grain, below-par soundstaging, in a word the phono stage is a bottleneck. To summon up, an excellent amplifier, muscular, dynamic, but also refined and fascinating, it doesn't lose its bottle even when facing exaggerated demands of power and driving ability. It's intended for the lovers of small ensembles and large symphonic orchestras as well.

Joint listening session

The two objects under test here have simply summed up their better features and smoothed the worst, and in a word this looks a true bull's eye to me. The match of the two Regas has proved to be best one tried in this test, even among those with higher breed partners, keeping well in mind the expenditure balance as well. To go into details, the Mira 3 overcomes or minimizes its limit in the bass range, the field where the Planet 2000 in fact shines above all its competitors. We therefore regard as absolutely reached the goal of Rega to make their gear sound well the one with each other. Beyond the peculiar characteristics of the machines, in fact, what comes out is the synergy among electronics. This kind of synergy is very difficult to reach through matching devices of different brands, at least for the difficulty of listening to different machines long enough at the dealer's.

Conclusions

LWe have several outcomes from this work. First of all, I'm glad to see that many brands are setting up complete systems that work in synergy. Once people would say that splitting research into many sectors would compromise overall quality, but nowadays - with digital circuits within everybody's reach - that is not true anymore. If on one side it is true that specialization carried in evident benefits in terms of development, the contrary is also true: the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. I'll explain this with an example. In the 80s, amid the boom of digital, the sharp and cold 16-bit format was partnered with transistor amps. Result: a crowd of audiophiles - many nowadays too - had to carry home "obsolete" tube amps, in order to limit as much as possible the faults of the (then out breaking) digital technology. Things haven't changed very much nowadays - the "vintage" in fact is still a success. All this panegyric just to say that, if when designing a CD player an engineer does so bearing in mind its production in the field of amplifiers, maybe it will be easier to have a balanced system as an outcome of the process. And vice versa. Rega spells it clear in its manuals, here is an abstract from that of the Rega Planet 2000: "The Planet CD player has a unique sound that harmonizes with the rest of our products and is in contrast to the tonal qualities of most players". So, I wish to calm down everybody about some possible subtle implications of this message. Well, I can't but suggest those who have to change their digital source and their amplifier to take into very serious consideration the Rega pair, that in my opinion will never make them cry over the money spent. Provided they are matched with a set of well characterized, not-too-low-budget speakers, one can also have fun with the bass range, considering the strength and the quality of the two devices. But, be careful with the high range, that on the contrary must be very controlled in order to limit as much as possible the annoying coldness of the digital formats. What can I say, we still are dealing with these problems with digital formats nowadays.

At this point, let's hope we can write about the new Rega multi channel gear in these pages as soon as possible… See ya…