About The Rega Ania MC Phono Cartridge
The design of Rega's Ania moving coil cartridge was inspired by the success of the Apheta & Apherion MC cartridges and uses trickle down technology to give you a large chunk of the performance for a very slim amount of money. Big grins all 'round.
The Ania is a high-quality Moving Coil (MC) cartridge which is completely manufactured by hand by Rega's highly skilled in-house production team. Rega values musicality and natural tonality over sterile, hyper-detailed presentation.
Using the same exceptionally complex hand wound micro coil found in the Apheta and Aphelion MC cartridges, the Ania is housed in a unique PPS highly rigid body, ensuring accurate construction and Rega's three point fixing method ensuring optimum connection to the headshell and automatic setting for overhang. The new body is protected by a CAD designed, clear rigid cover to protect the internal fine wires, making handling whilst fitting, safe and risk free.The Ania features a super high-powered, neodymium magnet and a coil meticulously hand wound on to an iron cross. This miniature assembly allows greater freedom to track the vinyl groove ensuring even more detail is extracted from the vinyl.
All of these features combine to deliver a balanced and dynamic performance that will engage you with your vinyl like never before.The Ania is the perfect partner for the Planar 3, Planar 6 or RP8 turntables. Factory fitted options for some models are available Please see the links below.
A Unique Design: Rega's Moving Coil cartridge design is unique in its approach to achieving an ultra-low mass generator which is undamped (no tie wire) using a unique rhomboid pivot for the cantilever powered by a purpose designed, exclusive to Rega, Neodymium magnet system. This type of design requires a zero-tolerance engineered cartridge body which is Rega's area of expertise and with the Apheta 2 and Aphelion products these bodies are machined from one piece of the highest quality aluminium. This is a difficult and expensive process requiring all of Rega's forty plus years of experience to achieve. In particular, the "zero" tolerancing of the body is required in the alignment and dimension of the pivot pad mounting hole and the magnet mechanism mounting hole relationship.
When Rega decided to produce a Moving Coil cartridge at half the cost of the Apheta 2, the special aluminium body could not be used, it was simply too expensive. The solution lay in an unusual polymer/glass combination called Polyphenylene Sulphide (PPS-Fortron). With 40% glass, this material could be moulded and would solve the cost problem. The special attributes of this material are its hardness and stability in shape and dimension post moulding, both critical for the performance of Ania.
The Design Challenge: Rega designed and prototyped using SLA systems in just a few months, proving the validity of the design direction. Then they had to design a production mould tool capable of extreme accuracy and long life. PPS is a difficult polymer to mould and requires special attention to how the mould tool operates. Couple this to an almost unmouldable complex shape of the Ania body and a very considerable challenge faced the Rega engineers and the toolmakers chosen. The toolmakers are of the highest technical skill level, using the most accurate Swiss EDM CNC machines, their regular customers being the military and medical industries, routinely working down to a micron (one thousandth of a millimetre). To achieve this intricate body shape required the most complex high pressure injection mould tool that Rega has ever designed. The tool has eight major parts, four of which must move in perfect synchronicity with each other to achieve each cartridge body. The design and manufacture of this "work of art" took an entire year to produce and was made exclusively by the most senior toolmaker requiring all his lifetime of artisanal experience.
Combine this special PPS body with its high specification stainless steel inserts, a unique rhomboid pivot system, a tried and tested high performance, diamond tipped elliptical stylus cantilever with low mass moving coil generator assembly and you have new market leading musicality, performance, speed, clarity, and detail as never before at this price.
Technology: Unlike 99% of existing Moving Coil Phono Cartridges available today that are all still based on 50+ year old technology, the Ania includes many advancements. Firstly, this cartridge contains no tie wire or foam damper. Conventional MC cartridges utilise a steel suspension system (tie wire) that creates a high-amplitude H.F. resonance (normally around 8-12kHz). Such resonance is really unacceptable and usually damped by a rudimentary piece of foam rubber. However, the foam rubber deteriorates with age and cannot prevent the complete structure from vibrating and "ringing." The specifics and adjustment of the tie wire and damping determine whether the cartridge is under-damped (bright) or over-damped (warm and bass heavy). A happy medium between the two is rarely achieved. Such issues encouraged Rega to pursue a new direction inspired by modern materials and the basic laws of magnetism. The Ania contains neither a tie wire nor a foam damper! Very impressive.
Coil Windings: Rega have designed and developed their own coil winding machine. This allows them to manufacture coils in a completely new and innovative way.
The Cantilever – Diamond Tip: The Apheta has an expensive non-removable tapered aluminium cantilever, fitted with an "Elliptical" diamond tip. This tip fits into the record groove precisely, allowing more information to be gleaned from the records. The result is super clear high frequency combined with firm tight bass.
Packing – More for the Cartridge: Rega has not tried to create a false impression of product expense by using elaborate packaging. By using the simplest and most inexpensive cartridge carton possible, yet still avoiding transit damage, Rega spends more on the cartridge itself - ensuring better value.
Assembly – Hand Crafted: Due to the design and extremely high tolerances of Rega cartridges, the assembly methods are more akin to watch making than to a mass production assembly line. Every cartridge is hand built. The highly skilled operatives use little more than tweezers and microscopes. Each cartridge is then adjusted and tested twice during a 24-hour period. Such methods are expensive and time consuming but Rega feels the result is worth it. We know you will too!
Our Take
In Australia, we believe we can boast more knowledge about vinyl than probably any other store and even more so with Rega. How so? Firstly, our founder can remember when records were only mono and when the first stereo albums his father brought home had table-tennis and train effects going from left to right speakers. That was about 1958 and the family were in the business professionally from 1963. That alone is over 50 years! Secondly, one of our current staff has worked for the Rega distributor at a senior level and has travelled to Rega in the UK on several occasions, even staying in Roy Gandy's home. He is still a Rega fanatic! So if you really want to know about Rega, then don't hesitate to contact us here at Audio Trends. We can also fit the Ania to a Rega tonearm and ensure that the correct torque is applied and that the tracking weight is set to the recommended amount.
Main Features & Specifications
- Design: Moving Coil Cartridge
- Tracking Pressure: Between 1.75 and 2.0 grams
- Innovative & Unique Iron Cross And Coil Assembly
- Generator: One of the world's smallest MC generators
- Magnet: Cutting-edge neodymium magnet
- Wire: High-specification fine wire
- Stylus: Elliptical Diamond
- Fixing: Rega 3 Point
- Input Load Impedance: 100 Ohms
- Output Impedance: 10 Ohms
- Output Voltage: 350uV
- Channel Balance: ≥ 20μV
- Separation: ≥ -29dB
- Built: Hand Made In England
- Manufacturers Warranty: 3 Years
Note: Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice. E&OE