Details have been circulating about Rega’s eagerly awaited uber turntable the Naiad. Produced to coincide with the company’s 40th anniversary Naiad will initially be limited to 40 serial numbered models to be sold by lottery today (July 1st). This despite the fact that thus far there are no photographs available of the finished article, because it hasn’t actually been finished. I’m told that this hasn’ stopped the first ten orders arriving in Southend by 9.30 this morning.
What we do know is that it has a skeletal shaped, foam filled carbon fibre chassis with double ceramic braces for maximum stiffness and minimum weight. It has a titanium bearing housing and the same material in the main beam for the tonearm plus a world’s first in the shape of a Zirconia spindle and bearing housing for the platter.
The platter on the prototype I saw last year was made of moulded ceramic aluminium with a thick outer rim for peripheral weighting. This hasn’t been confirmed but the images show a white platter which suggests that it may still be the case.
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It not only doesn’t look like a Rega, even though it’s the ultimate incarnation of Roy Gandy’s ideas about turntable design, but the £30,000 price is quite unlike anything the company has previously made. Mind you that’s only 5k north of what you can pay for an LP12 these days!
