Rega's flagship Mercury and Solis pre/power amplifiers are finally a reality and promise "no-compromise" audio performance

Rega's new flagship preamplifier and power amplifier have been an open secret: the brand has been showing off the new Mercury and Solis products at trade shows over the last year – we caught our first glimpse of them at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show at the start of the year.

At long last, Rega has confirmed that these top-of-the-range pre/power amplifiers are finally ready: the Mercury Pre-amplifier and Solis Power amplifier are now shipping to UK retailers.

They cost £6950 each, and can be bought as a pair for £13,900.

The Mercury and Solis are "the culmination of almost four decades of Rega electronics engineering experience in solid-state amplifier development" and are designed to deliver no-compromise audio performance. Every element of the amplifiers' design has been chosen to deliver the purest audio performance.

The Mercury preamp has been engineered to deliver an ultra-low noise floor, which results in "exceptional dynamic range" and subtler details to be revealed. Rega says that while the origin of this circuit can be traced back to the first Rega Elicit amplifier from the 1990s, this current preamplifier features the "most electronically complex product" it has made.

The Mercury uses a discrete, fully symmetrical amplifier circuit and ensures the preamp performs "with the minimum of distortion."

Elements of the circuit design have been derived from other components in Rega's current range, such as the use of the same volume control as the Osiris integrated amp, and the use of the post-DAC analogue filter stages from the Saturn CD player to ensure the signal path from the DAC to the preamp's output is entirely symmetrical.

This 'reference' preamp boasts ample connectivity: five RCA line level inputs, a set of record input/output connections, a pair of pre-out RCA, and a pair of balanced XLR inputs. Digital connectivity includes two coaxial and two optical inputs, and an asynchronous USB type B input.

There is also a discrete headphone amplifier stage, with a 6.3mm headphone socket on the front panel.

The Mercury preamp uses Wolfson DACs for the digital inputs, which are capable of handling up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM and DSD64 files. Rega acknowledges that the Wolfson DACs being used are of an older vintage, but says that they are chosen for their "engineering and sonic capabilities," with the brand stating it still offers the best sound performance.

There is no phono stage integrated here; the Mercury is designed to be used with the Rega's flagship standalone Aura MC phono stage, which in itself is recommended to be paired with the top-level Rega Naia turntable.

The matching Solis power amplifier also has a fully symmetrical discrete circuitry and promises to drive even the most demanding of speakers, with minimum distortion. Rega says its engineering team has "spent the last four years obsessively developing and fine-tuning the circuit to create the most engaging and accurate performance."

Inside are two low-noise, custom-designed 330VA toroidal transformers, along with twelve (six per channel) 130-watt 15A high frequency output transistors – resplendent in Rega's signature green colour. The Solis outputs a claimed 168W per channel into 8 ohms, which extends to 305W into 4 ohms.

It has balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA for connecting to the Mercury preamp or even the Rega Aethos integrated.

Designed and hand-built in England, both amps are housed in minimal-looking CNC-machined aluminium casings with extensive protection circuit throughout, with IPS LCD displays and ample heatsinks (on the power amp).

The Rega Mercury and Solis amplifiers are available in a single black finish only. We're expecting review samples to arrive in our test rooms soon, so stay tuned for a full review in due course.

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