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How long does the modern, Rega, ikea look have left?

J

Jazzyguy

pfm Member
I’m 42 years old, not too old by any means.. I don’t think. Am I the only one who is completely tired of the modern look of hifi and hifi furniture these days? I’m looking at Rega for just one example of MANY! The P10 looks like something the designers at Ikea threw up. I wanted a new new high end TT and was looking at Rega. I would have jumped head first towards an updated look of a P9. The new stuff I see these days, and since the 2005 or thereabouts era, is just awful and in my opinion... tired! Am I the only one who is just dying for all this to go away? I want the Linn LP12 days, Rega P25, P25 days, the days when when furniture was made out of actual wood rather than some sort of hardened glue/wood paste concoction that passes itself off as furniture. One day I would imagine we’ll get real world designs back.

Or am I just an old soul, lost?
 
I'm with you!
Fads and fashions in HiFi seem to be slow moving, even if the claimed reasoning is for materials that are acoustically superior.
The old silver vs black finish springs to mind. A few manufacturers offering both but generally a very slow tide from one to the other.
Then, of course, there are the cursed blue LED/laser beam beacons, capable of burning through retinas at 50 paces.
HiFi, IMHO, should either be designed to be as hidden as possible or complimentary to a home environment, where it often dominates a room. No wonder the ladies in our lives generally hate the things. Most HiFi furniture is indeed naff looking unless shooting up the price bracket, again seems to move in fads.
 
The question is though; would you be prepared to pay the much higher pricing that would be result of using much more expensive materials and production methods?
 
Manufacturers try to offer better technical solutions with lower production costs.
This is achieved by moving production to the east or by using cheaper or less materials.
Design choices such as eliminating turntable covers or speaker protection grilles are proof of this.
 
I understand your perspective on this but I don’t think it applies to Rega who have a history of form following function. Although Rega do have an element of Scandi Pine Scatter Cushion about them (a good thing in my book) they do have a history of lateral thinking with design and material use and this is what tends to dictate the look of their products. I don’t like the look of their current high end turntables and think the original Planar 2 with the Acos arm, the P25 and the P9 were the best looking turntables they made but I suspect the new ones outperform them.
 
So Rega have changed their top TT which previously had a wooden surround to a skeletal model without any surround but the LP12 is still available and there's the Project Classic TT which uses a wooden surround for the plinth at a lower price point.
Then of course there's always secondhand TTs available , Linns, Thorens and Regas with wooden surrounds and a multitude of aftermarket options available.
Inspire Audio maybe another option, they do a range of TTs, idler, belt and direct drive all available in wooden plinths.

The OP may also have noticed the reintroduction of Leak Audio, CDT & an amp/Dac with wooden sleeves, of course there's more high end offerings from Luxman, Leben and a few other high end models with either wooden sleeves or end cheeks.

I think there's probably a wider variety of high end hifi with a wider variety of finishes and styles available today than any time in the past 30 years and I think will see more retro styles become available.
 
Possibly more than most other manufacturers, Rega design their turntables to perform as well as possible first and foremost. How they end up looking is simply a byproduct of the engineering. Unfortunately, that seems to mean they end up looking rather underwhelming. At first glance, my RP10 doesn't really look much different from one of the much cheaper decks.

From an aesthetic and tactile perspective, yeah, I'd much rather have an LP12. Just a question of what your proprieties are.
 
We have been stuck in an Ikea minimalist world for a very long time. It is very unusual for two generations to like the same things, so perhaps this down to all the buying power being with the older generation
 
It is unfair to class Rega here IMO. The Planet, Planar 2 and Planar 3 were introduced in the early to mid 1970s as I recall and to my eyes reflect sharp ‘70s design. I’d put them alongside things like Gale 401s, JR149s, classic Quad, Transcriptors etc. They are an entirely different thing all of their own.
 
Jazzyguy said:
I’m 42 years old, not too old by any means.. I don’t think. Am I the only one who is completely tired of the modern look of hifi and hifi furniture these days? I’m looking at Rega for just one example of MANY! The P10 looks like something the designers at Ikea threw up. I wanted a new new high end TT and was looking at Rega. I would have jumped head first towards an updated look of a P9. The new stuff I see these days, and since the 2005 or thereabouts era, is just awful and in my opinion... tired! Am I the only one who is just dying for all this to go away? I want the Linn LP12 days, Rega P25, P25 days, the days when when furniture was made out of actual wood rather than some sort of hardened glue/wood paste concoction that passes itself off as furniture. One day I would imagine we’ll get real world designs back.

Or am I just an old soul, lost?
Click to expand...

I get the feeling with Rega, if they could have made something like the P8/P10 20-years ago, they would have but the materials/technology/investment was not there.

I loved my P9, really understated and smart design but Rega seem to be about performance first over 'frills', hence I guess why they moved away from the wood surround, as it did not add anything positive to the sound. The newer TTs seem to be selling as well as ever so they must be doing something right.

You could always buy a P25, P9 or LP12 instead.
 
Tony L said:
It is unfair to class Rega here IMO. The Planet, Planar 2 and Planar 3 were introduced in the early to mid 1970s as I recall and to my eyes reflect sharp ‘70s design. They are an entirely different thing all of their own.
Click to expand...

Again, the form simply followed the function. It just happened to end up looking really stylish.

It's hard to understand how good those decks looked back then as they are so familiar now and there have been many others that looked similar. It's also worth pointing out how timeless the design is because they still look essentially the same today.

It's not a 'look' and it will not go out of fashion, ever, because it is pure form following function. Only contrived artifacts date.
 
Mr Pig said:
It's hard to understand how good those decks looked back then as they are so familiar now and there have been many others that looked similar.
Click to expand...

I remember well! I very much wanted a Planar 3 to upgrade my first system, but the waiting list was crazy long at that point. A friend had the original wood-surround Planar 2 and it was a great deck. I’d actually love to have a mint, boxed original Planar 3 (either R200 arm, or factory SME-cut) stashed away as a spare turntable in case I get to the point I am no longer capable/arsed to fairly regularly service my TD-124. It is a real design classic and it would make a great retirement deck as it is just so simple.
 
I wonder whether the diminishing supply of high quality woods may be a factor as I think it is for high quality guitar production?
 
It’s their signature really. They made affordable decks like IKEA made affordable furniture. Still the same though the prices have risen.
 
Tony L said:
I remember well! I very much wanted a Planar 3 to upgrade my first system, but the waiting list was crazy long at that point. A friend had the original wood-surround Planar 2 and it was a great deck. I’d actually love to have a mint, boxed original Planar 3 (either R200 arm, or factory SME-cut) stashed away as a spare turntable in case I get to the point I am no longer capable/arsed to fairly regularly service my TD-124. It is a real design classic and it would make a great retirement deck as it is just so simple.
Click to expand...
Mate of mine just paired an original Planar 2 wood rimmed with a new arm upgrade with a matching teak A&R A60.
They look great together.
 
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