Rega

DescriptionThe new Saturn MK3 is re-housed in our very latest case designed to match the rest of the Rega range. The Saturn MK3 CD-DAC player offers complete flexibility and integration into any audio system. Essentially two products in one, the Saturn MK3 houses an independent DAC circuit and a high specification CD transport. Both sections are fully remote controllable via the supplied Solaris remote handset.Digital masteredYou will find plenty of connectivity options, up to and including 24bit-192 kHz. The Saturn MK3 has two optical inputs, two Co-Axial inputs, a fully asynchronous USB and an added ‘direct’ digital output from the CD playback section. This ensures the Saturn MK3 integrates perfectly into any system and provides the perfect partner for the forthcoming Rega Elicit MK5 integrated amplifier.Key Features Dual Wolfson WM8742 DAC's USB 192 kHz - 24 bits asynchronous Enhanced output amplifier circuit Enhanced digital power supplies Redeveloped analogue & digital outputs Solaris system remote included Lifetime warranty against manufacture defectsCDP FeaturesThe Saturn MK3 uses our proven digital to analogue converter and analogue output amplifier technology coupled with a pair of Wolfson WM8742 digital to analogue converter ICs. The Saturn MK3 utilises our own CD section power supply which was a result of the research & development of our reference CD player along with the improved microcontroller and display drivers.TechnologyThe Saturn MK3 uses a high stability master clock and high capacity power supply in the CD circuitry, high performance PLL digital interface receiver, isolated digital inputs and high performance power supply architecture in the DAC circuitry. Signal switching between the CD and DAC functions are performed in the digital to analogue converter stage. The signal path of the CD section in CD mode is kept to a minimum.USB 192KHZ-24BITS AsynchronousThe DAC USB input has been improved with asynchronous operation at sample rates of 44.1 to 192 kHz with a bit rate of up to 24 bits. The USB input has the same galvanic isolation as used in the Rega DAC-R. The USB uses dedicated drivers in the computer, enabling full ASIO operation, thus eliminating signal degradation caused by generic windows based drivers.Saturn MK3 XMOS USB Driver V2.15.0Before you can use the USB function of the Saturn MK3 you must first download the Rega USB Windows driver and install it on your PC. Access via the downloads section on this web page. Follow the instruction for installation. Once installed, USB will be ready to use. This driver is not required for MAC OS.PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR SYSTEM IS CONFIGURED CORRECTLY TO OUTPUT HIGH RESOLUTION FILES WITHIN YOUR CHOSEN AUDIO/MEDIA PLAYBACK SOFTWARE.If your PC does not default to the connected USB audio device you must select the XMOS AUDIO DEVICE FROM THE DROP DOWN LIST.

Rega’s flagship CD player, the Isis,is a product manufactured to the highest achievable quality inside and out including Rega's own unique CD technology, genuine black chrome lid and front facia and a custom solid anodised aluminium case weighing in at a notable 19kg! We hope you enjoy this very special CD player; we have spent a very long time creating it, drawing on our many years of experience in specialist hi-fi manufacturing.Technology behind the design of the IsisOne important design goal was to take the current output, with no internal amplification within the D to A converter, and convert this to an analogue voltage, using discrete class  A  operational amplifiers and filters.This circuit can then be optimised for sonic performance. (With most CD players the use of standard operational integrated circuits locks you into the sound of those particular integrated circuits, thus narrowing the scope for improvement). The class A current to voltage conversion amplifier, evolved out of the development of the first stage of the Rega Ios MC amplifier.It shares identical demands of low noise, high drive capability and gain bandwidth required of the voltage to current amplifier. Careful choice has been made for every component in the digital and the analogue signal path to ensure the integrity of the signal.The analogue and digital sections are bonded together using a substantial ground plane. It was found during the development of the player that adoption of RF ground plane techniques aided the sonic quality and therefore was included in the final design.Careful design of the PCB's ensures isolation of not just the digital and analogue sections, but also the motor, display and user interface processor.All sonically critical electrolytic capacitors have been by-passed with polypropylene or polyester film capacitors. In addition to this, large value electrolytic capacitors have also been by-passed with audio grade electrolytic capacitors.Power supply impedances in the digital to analogue converter are kept very low by the use of solid polymer capacitors. All power supplies utilise custom Rega K-Power smoothing capacitors, along with fast diodes which have been used throughout in power supply rectification.The Isis uses enhanced and optimised control code for the control of the CD processor and user display.This speeds up the initialisation process by means of a tighter control interface between the user micro and CD processor.Analogue sectionThe analogue section employs two Burr Brown PCM1794 digital to analogue converters, running in a parallel dual mono mode, driving a high performance discrete class A current to voltage amplifier.This combination generates an exceptionally wide dynamic range, low distortion, and linear signal. This drives an enhanced discrete Class A output amplifier. The circuit is fully balanced from the digital to analogue converters to the balanced analogue XLR outputs.The analogue stage has its own dedicated 50VA mains transformer which ensures galvanic isolation between the digital and analogue sections of the player. You will find 10 separate power supply regulators are used in the analogue circuit and each individual amplifier stage has its own dedicated low noise voltage reference.Digital sectionThe digital section is blue printed and selected, with major improvements to the mechanism, optical amplifier, DSP core, PLL, master clock & motor power supplies. Another 10 separate power supply regulators are used in the digital circuit.The motor, user interface processor & display also have their own power supply. The digital stage also has its own 50VA transformer again ensuring galvanic isolation. The mechanism is graded and matched to the servo circuits, to ensure the servo and optical amplifiers are working at their optimum point, improving error correction and playability.The headroom of the optical amplifier has been improved by 10% by increasing the voltage in the power supply. Features:DigitalThis revolutionary player has been five years in design. Rega, together with its design partners have pioneered a highly advanced servo controller that uses the latest signal processing techniques to ensure that the raw data that is recovered from the disc is of the very highest quality.Because our fully digital servo can use highly advanced algorithms, the laser spot is kept in the optimum position for data recovery in terms of focus, size and tracking.Extra Error CorrectionPrevious chip-sets always made compromises on error correction. Formerly it was possible to have good jog resistance or better musical performance.The Rega chip-set allows optimum musical performance and optimised jog /vibration resistance.Super-stable phase lock loopThe entire IC is clocked via a very special PLL of our own design. This allows better CD data recovery as well as a big improvement in the quality of the data delivered to the DAC.Low noise digital designIn the design of our CPU IC, we went to great lengths to ensure that the data and address bus noise was kept to an absolute minimum. This ensures the ground and signal connections to the DAC are as 'clean' as is possible.USB InputAllowing direct connection to a laptop or PC via a USB A-B lead to stream internet radio, MP3 or WMA files directly from your computer via the high quality Isis internal DAC.The USB input uses an isolated double-clocked USB interface, which permits the digital to analogue stage to be used with a computer USB interface and its own regulated power supply.The USB benefits once again from galvanic isolation from the main circuitry of the Isis player which eliminates the flow of earth currents between the CD and host computer, and eliminate computer power supply noise.Disc AnalysisThe Isis will analyse each disc on an individual basis. During the initialising period (rather like the engine management system on a modern car which optimises the engine settings to temperature, fuel quality etc.), the Isis will adjust itself to each disc in order to give optimal trouble free reading.For this reason the Isis will often play discs with marks or scratches that other players cannot read.We hope that you enjoy this product as much as we have enjoyed creating it. Specifications:Discrete Class A operational amplifiers and filtersOptimised for sonic performanceLow noise, high drive capability and gain bandwidthCareful design of the PCB’sMP3 and WMA media capabilitiesAudio grade electrolytic capacitorsSolid Polymer capacitorsRega ‘K Power’ smoothing capacitorsEnhanced and optimised control codeTwo Burr Brown PCM 1794 digital to analogue converters, running in parallel dual mono modeHigh performance discrete Class A current to voltage amplifierWide dynamic range, low distortion10 separate power supply regulators are used in both the analogue and digital circuits50 VA transformerThe mechanism is graded and matched to the servo circuitsRega custom designed and CNC machined aluminium case workHigh quality anodised finishAesthetic black chrome facia and lidCNC machined matching remote controlDimensions W 434mm x D 350mm x H 112mmDimension needed to operate  W 434mm x D 350mm x H 200mmWeight 19Kg

Rega's now legendary head electronics engineer Terry Bateman spent 10 years researching the concept of a CD player using valves in the output amplifier. Valves have been widely used in musical instrument and recording amplification from the 1950's to the present day, therefore it made great sense to develop a valve based CD player to match that of the signal chain found in such applications.This approach kept the circuit straightforward. This is mainly because musical instrument amplification is not excessively hindered by some of the folklore surrounding certain aspects of valve audio design. He took the approach of combining the technical and sonic attributes of valves in a differential instrumentation amplifier circuit driven from differential output DAC with a passive LC filter.DesignThe valve Isis shares the same digital and USB sections as found in the solid state version, however, the analogue stage is valve based with passive filtering. This stage uses two military specification triple mica 5814A (ECC82/12AU7) triodes being driven by the revolutionary Wolfson WM8741 ultra high performance digital to analogue converter.The output buffer and transformer driver stage uses two ECC88 (6DJ8/6922) triodes. This, like its solid-state stable mate, is of an un-orthodox design. The design goal with this player was to keep away from the normal design approach of "let’s run it through a valve to make it sound warm", but take advantage of industrial valve circuits to make an articulate and competent valve based CD player. Careful choice has been made for every component in the digital and the analogue signal path to ensure the integrity of the signal.Careful design of the PCB's ensures isolation of not just the digital and analogue sections, but also the motor, display and user interface processor. All sonically critical electrolytic capacitors have been by-passed with polypropylene or polyester film capacitors.In addition to this, large value electrolytic capacitors have also been by-passed with audio grade electrolytic capacitors. Power supply impedances in the digital to analogue converter are kept very low by the use of solid polymer capacitors. All power supplies utilise custom Rega K-Power smoothing capacitors, and fast diodes have been used throughout in power supply rectification.The Isis uses enhanced and optimised control code for the control of the CD processor and user display; this will speed up the initialisation process by means of a tighter control interface between the user micro and CD processor.TechnologyThe differential output of the digital to analogue converter drives a valve differential (operational) amplifier, with a very modest amount of feedback to stabilise the operating conditions. The 5814A based differential amplifier, with a solid-state current generator in its tail, takes full advantage of the differential output from the digital to analogue converter.This is followed by a passive Butterworth second order LC filter. Finally, this signal is buffered using a low anode resistance ECC88 triode to drive the output and balancing transformer.In design it was felt that unnecessarily high levels of THD would unduly overwhelm the qualities of the digital stage of the Isis. The overall THD is typically 0.06% being prominently even order, where the 2nd harmonic predominates. This will give the sonic dynamics of the valves without dominating the sonic qualities of the digital section.After many hours of tube rolling we found the 5814A differential amplifier position was best on the grounds of micro-phonics, reliable operation and sonic qualities. Both the HT & LT power supplies are fully regulated and use the same power supply parts as used in the solid state Isis. Like the solid-state analogue stage, the Valve Isis has its own dedicated 50VA mains transformer, ensuring galvanic isolation between the digital and analogue sections of the player.The Isis has an isolated balanced output, and in keeping with the spirit of the valve circuit topology we have opted to use a transformer in this position. This balancing transformer is made to the same exacting standards of that found in the Ios MC amplifier.We hope that you enjoy this product as much as we have enjoyed creating it.All these features amalgamate to create the supreme level of performance found in the Isis and provide a perfect partner for the Rega Osiris amplifier. Specifications:Laser SemiconductorWavelength 780nmDigital sampling frequency 44.1kHzPower Consumption 46wPhono Unbalanced 2.4V source impedance 600 OhmsXLR Balanced 2.4V source impedance 600 OhmsCo-Axial SPDIF 0.5V source impedance 75 OhmsToslink compatible outputUSB 16bit 44.1/48kHzTHD+Noise< 0.06%Frequency Response 30Hz - 20kHz +/-0.5dBRega custom designed and CNC machined aluminium case workHigh quality anodised finishAesthetic high gloss black facia and lidCNC machined matching remote controlDimensions  W 434mm x D 350mm x H 112mmDimension needed to operate  W 434mm x D 350mm x H 200mmWeight 19.5Kgs

The new Apollo CDP's uses the same electronic circuit found in the hugely successful Apollo-R CD player. Re-housed in our latest custom aluminium case to match the new styling of the Brio amplifier, the Apollo utilises Rega's own custom chipset and software offering a truly unique level of performance. Features:Analogue & digital outputsDevelopment of the analogue, digital and control domains ensured direct improvements of both analogue and digital outputs making the Apollo  a perfect partner for the Rega Brio amplifier and an ideal ‘CD format’ front-end for the Rega DAC. Compact case designThe Apollo is housed in our latest custom half-width case to match the Brio amplifier.The top loading mechanism offers ease of use and unrivaled reliability.Digital to analogue conversionThe output amplifier of the Apollo uses the high specification Wolfson WM8742 digital to analogue converter, the same integrated circuit found in the multi-award winning Rega DAC's.Power suppliesThe Apollo uses ‘digital’ power supplies feeding the CD processor, optical block and laser diode amplifier.This is achieved by using the same high performance, low noise power supplies found in the same location within the Rega reference CD player. This vastly improves the playability, error correction and the ‘inner core’ processing of the digital CD ‘spinner’ part of the Apollo.Output amplifierThe discrete output amplifier has a THD of 0.0025%, whilst at the same time improving the overall sound quality of the output amplifier.User interfaceThe user interface is controlled by using a dedicated display micro-processor, which eases the workload on the main control processors giving an improvement in the control code stability, usability and improved speed of initialisation of the disc being played.Dedicated CD mini system remote controlA new dedicated CD remote handset is supplied as standard which also has the advantage of Rega amplifier functionality. Specifications:High Specification Wolfson WM8742 DACAdvanced Output amplifier circuitAdvanced Digital power suppliesIntelligent user interfaceAdvanced Analogue & Digital outputsCD remote with amplifier functionalityDimensions W 220mm x D 342mm x H 90mmShelf  height required to operate CD lid fully extended is 170mmNB. Lid will operate comfortably within a shelf height of 150mm without fully extending.