Appearance, and the high end mags rav about the sound

Cheap critical parts.

I can't say that it sounds bad, but I also can't say that there's anything special about the sound either. I think that folks that rav about the sound are somewhat swayed by it's unusual appearance.

My main complaints are about the cheap parts that comprise some critical areas. The lid is junky and poorly manufactured and ends up being a source of strange rotational noises that eminate from the Planet as it plays a disc. I ended up having to replace the Planet type lid with a Jupiter one just because I couldn't silence the scraping rotational noises associated with the plastic puck. The Jupitier lid is a bit better but still contributes to noise due to weak precision tolerances. The magnet wasn't mounted perpendicular to the axis of the spinner so it wobbled wheen a disc was played and again made rotational noises. The Jupiter lid arrangement looks better and more expensive than the plastic setup of the Planet.

Also, the lid arrangement has a random damping function that is merely grease in the pivot points of the lid. Seems like an expensive player could do a bit better than this, especially the Jupiter. Sometimes the lid falls fast and sometimes it comes down slow. Must be a function of how warm or cold the unit or room is.

The rubberized buttons on the newer version of the Planet and Jupiter are very nice looking but are poorly implemented. My forward arrow button seems to be too deep in the facia so it's very hard to acctuate and sometimes even sticks. The backwards arrow seems to be mounted correctly and behaves alright. I've noticed the same poor attention to quality on some other units, but on the few Planet 2000's I've seen the problem seems to have been fixed.

Cheap power button! It even sounds cheap when you puch it. All these cheap tactile cues just make the unit less of a joy to use and own.

The Rega remote works well and feels pretty good. However, it should come with the unit, as half of the unit's functions are only accessible through the remote.

The unit sounds fine, but nothing earth moving. Weird rotational noises and overall cheap tactile impression make it less desireable. The quality control, design, and manufacturing choices make this unit a poorer possession than it could be.

Similar Products Used:

Quad 77, Meridian 200, Sony X7ESD

Warm,detailed, revealing, enjoyable sound
Breathes new life into old recordings

plastic front panel, poor tracking on less than perfect discs.

My systems front end used to consist of a Rega Planar2 Ttable and a Rotel 971 cdp. I found myself listening to the turntable more often and one day suddenely realised i had ceased to listen to the Rotel altogether.The Rotel 971 is a fine cd player (esp with HDCD's) but it just didn't have the appeal of my viynl source.
Recently I had the opportunity to trade up to the Planet 2000. It sounded very different to the Rotel in the shop demo, being more warmer and less clinical. My unit suffered from a distinct lack of detail and suddenely after about 3 days of almost cont useage seemed to 'snap' into place-suddenely as if someone had removed the grilles from my Mission 780's. The planet sings with my older CD's compared to the 971. The player is very open with abundant detail. I was however slightly disappointed when playing HDCD's (lacks attack) i honestly believe the Rotel has the edge when playin these encoded discs (undoubtedly because of the HDCD filter the Rotel employs). However I have 2 HDCD discs and 200 std CD's.
I now listen to my CD player far more than my turntable as the Rega appears to have most of the warmth of analog combined with the precision of CD. Heartily reccomended.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel 971

Top load design,clarity,bass,detail. Good CD transport

tracking, a little untidy in the top end

Compared to my original luxman cd player which was 10 years old. The Planet was brighter sounding,with much better detail and bass. Really the only thing I did not like was that it seemed a little rough in the top end. Later I purchased the McCormack DNA 0.5 amp. The combination really worked. Another big improvment that I suggest to every owner is to try the Nordost Blue
Heaven interconnect with the Rega. This combo really produces a nice smooth rich,detailed sound. There might be better CD players out there, but the Rega has given me many hours of enjoyment.This to me after all is the best thing I can say about any component.

Similar Products Used:

luxman,rotel,denon

presents the music in a manner that is not fatiguing.

Has trouble reading some disks (including my copy of "A Love Supreme", exposed laser lens and flip-up lid could easily be damaged by the sticky fingers of a 2-year old

Paid a great price for the unit, as it was the last in stock prior to the store getting its first Planet 2000 players. Heard it first in a friend's all-Rega system and was very impressed with the sound, especially since he hadn't spent much time setting up the system. In my system (Systemdek IIX turntable/arm with Grado Gold Prestige MM cartridge, Rotel RX-950 AX receiver, Acoustic Energy Aegis 1 speakers, NHT SWP2Si sub-woofer) the Rega is pleasant enough but the Systemdek beats the pants off it, even when playing only moderately-well recorded vinyl. But, for the money I'm happy, especially since my Rotel player was a lemon that ultimately had to be shot and put out of its misery. The Arcam equipment is very good indeed, but a little pricier than the Rega I purchased.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RCD-950, middle of the road Arcam

BUILD,SOUND,OVERALL PERFORMANCE

BAD DISPLAY

This review is on the rega planet.this is one of the best sounding CD player I have heard at any price .in the under $1000 range nothing can touch the unit, it has great slam in the bass excellent mids and airy highs, it sounds like a high end British CD player and it is.my only concerns is the display and the loading door, I have owned 4 planets in the past 2 years all have performed flawlessly, but 3 of them had display lights burnt out or not working also the loading door should be handled with care and the CD should never be pushed down on the spindle.if you are looking for a great CD player in the $1000 range buy a rega planet ,(they can be found used on the audio boards for $450-$550 range)I have not heard the new rega planet 2000,but I am sure it will be a great CD player,this unit is highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

MICROMEGA STAGE3, STAGE6, DYNACO CDV2,OTHERS

Appearance, and the high end mags rav about the sound

Cheap critical parts.

I can't say that it sounds bad, but I also can't say that there's anything special about the sound either. I think that folks that rav about the sound are somewhat swayed by it's unusual appearance.

My main complaints are about the cheap parts that comprise some critical areas. The lid is junky and poorly manufactured and ends up being a source of strange rotational noises that eminate from the Planet as it plays a disc. I ended up having to replace the Planet type lid with a Jupiter one just because I couldn't silence the scraping rotational noises associated with the plastic puck. The Jupitier lid is a bit better but still contributes to noise due to weak precision tolerances. The magnet wasn't mounted perpendicular to the axis of the spinner so it wobbled wheen a disc was played and again made rotational noises. The Jupiter lid arrangement looks better and more expensive than the plastic setup of the Planet.

Also, the lid arrangement has a random damping function that is merely grease in the pivot points of the lid. Seems like an expensive player could do a bit better than this, especially the Jupiter. Sometimes the lid falls fast and sometimes it comes down slow. Must be a function of how warm or cold the unit or room is.

The rubberized buttons on the newer version of the Planet and Jupiter are very nice looking but are poorly implemented. My forward arrow button seems to be too deep in the facia so it's very hard to acctuate and sometimes even sticks. The backwards arrow seems to be mounted correctly and behaves alright. I've noticed the same poor attention to quality on some other units, but on the few Planet 2000's I've seen the problem seems to have been fixed.

Cheap power button! It even sounds cheap when you puch it. All these cheap tactile cues just make the unit less of a joy to use and own.

The Rega remote works well and feels pretty good. However, it should come with the unit, as half of the unit's functions are only accessible through the remote.

The unit sounds fine, but nothing earth moving. Weird rotational noises and overall cheap tactile impression make it less desireable. The quality control, design, and manufacturing choices make this unit a poorer possession than it could be.

Similar Products Used:

Quad 77, Meridian 200, Sony X7ESD

Let's start with price value and what you get for the dollar. Surely not a $3,000.00 unit but well worth the money and stands virtually alone in its price range. What people refer to as laid back sonic qualities, indicates that this CD player is very neutral in its sonic presentation. Most players emphasize certain frequencies which give the illusion of more transparency and detail. Other players emphasize the low end (good for Rap, Heavy Metal and R&B)but not much good for anything else. Rega Planet may not excel in its individual attributes, however, it does everything well enough that it merits serious auditioning!

As with any product, the review is going to be based on the associated equipment and cables as well as the source material. Poorly recorded material will not sound good no matter what it is played on. I recently redid my system and set up a home theater but wanted good audio quality as well. My system consists of B&W P-6s with a Phase Technology Octave 1.0 subwoofer. The subwoofer is crossed-over at 80 HZ by my Rotel RSP-980 Pre-Amp, and is powered by the (5 Channel) Rotel 985 Amp. The subwoofer will put out 240 Watts continuous and 800 Watts of peak power and will go below 20 HZ but is not a typical boom box video subwoofer. I use MIT Music Hose (MH-750) to connect the speakers and ED (Empirical Design of Herndon, VA - $295) connects to the Rega Planet. I also have two other CD players , another amp of very good (audiofile) quality, a separate bedroom system in addition to trying several other high-end CD players side by side to the Planet.
The first thing to be said about the Planet is its price in relation to the competition -outstanding. One can obtain better sound, but clearly at an investment much more than the $800 price of the Planet. I've listened to a wide variety of music on the Planet side by side with other players. This includes test CDs (including a subwoofer test disc), R&B, Vocals, Classical, new Chesky 24-bit CDs, Classic Rock, Jazz, Alternative, etc. The Planet was thus subjected to a total spectrum of tests both objective and subjective in comparison to comparably priced as well as players more than double its price. It has suberb imaging, decent depth, excellent dynamics, deep and honest bass. If one wants to spend a lot more money they may get a slightly better, deeper and wider sound stage. Clearly at this price point Rega has created an untouchable value. Highly recommended to those on a budget and not looking to build that system of absolute pure audiophile quality without any compromises (e.g. I heard a $15,000 CD transport that was clearly better than the Planet on everything and in several instances of sound qualities only marginally better).

I decided it was time for a front end upgrade, having lived with a cheap Japaneses player for 10 years. After auditioning a Marantz 63SE (no dynamics and rolled off highs), a Sony XA3SE (good bass, very poor tracking), CAL CDX2(not sure of the exact model, but not very impressive), I finally settled on the Rega. Appealing qualities for the Planet was lots of dynamics, good rhythm, fine soundstaging. The Planet isn't perfect; nothing is, especially CD players. I find the player very senstive to inteconnects, and will need to upgrade from my Monster Cable 850 (too screechy and thin). Anyone find a synergistic match between Planet and interconnect?

I dont know if there is life on other planets - this "Planet" seems lifeless. I much prefer NAD 514, Denon 1015 or even Marantz CD67SE!