What Hi-Fi?

Rega Naia/Aphelion 2

Turntable/cartridge

£12,499

The Naia is the best turntable Rega knows how to make. Its roots go back to 2009 when the company embarked on a research and development project that aimed to push its core engineering beliefs of low mass and high rigidity to the limits. No compromise was allowed, as this was a cost-no-object exercise that was never intended to be put on sale. That meant it could be designed purely for maximum performance using the most exotic materials and no regard to how it could actually be put into production. The result was the legendary Naiad turntable. But there was a problem; people wanted to buy it.

At first, Rega resisted the idea, but such was the interest that it was forced to put the Naiad into a limited production run of 50 units. These were handmade and so awkward to build that only three people in the factory were considered skilled enough to do it, including the CEO Phil Freeman, a watchmaker by trade. Its price? Yours for around £30,000.

Rega considers the

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