While we got word of Rega's all-new Aphelion 2 moving coil cartridge at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show last month, the British brand has now officially announced it.
The Aphelion 2, which marks the 4th generation of Rega's MC cartridges, is much the same as the Aphelion 1 but uses the company's latest 'fine line type' diamond profile fitted to the Boron rod cantilever. This diamond profile was introduced on the Apheta 3 and Rega was so pleased with the performance that it's now come to this new flagship cartridge in fine-tuned form.
Aphelion 2 comprises a neodymium magnet and coil hand wound on an iron cross, and is housed within a single-piece, aluminium black anodised body that Rega says "is a difficult and expensive process requiring all of [its] forty-seven years of experience to achieve". Rega's cartridge design achieves a low-mass generator which is uniquely undamped by using a rhomboid pivot suspension pad for the cantilever, supposedly allowing the stylus greater freedom to track the vinyl groove.
It will now be supplied as standard on Rega's flagship turntable, the Naiad. And the Planar 10 with Aphelion 2 will be priced £6219 (a £529 saving over their combined individual prices). Separately, the Aphelion 2 costs £3149 – the same price as the outgoing Aphelion 1.
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