Me too.
I was very happy with the Planar 8 as well. Itâs a great deck and as you say, fantastic value. I happened to have some spare cash from selling other stuff so bought the 10, partly for aesthetic reasons. I just love the look of the white ceramic platter and the polished aluminium arm, and the power supply looks much nicer than the Neo and dispenses with the horrid little wallwart. That probably sounds a bit shallow.
I was using an Exact on the 8, which I swapped to the 10 and while there was an improvement it wasnât that massive. My dealer spoke to Rega about the 10/Exact match and Rega responded that the Apheta and Aria would let the real benefits of the 10 show. I was initially resistant, as I wanted to keep using the SN3âs phono stage, but partly as it was giving an annoying hum I decided to try my dealerâs Apheta and Fono MC, which fixed the hum problem. So I bit the bullet and bought the Apheta and Aria and just as Rega said they work beautifully with the 10. The metal body of the Apheta matches the RB3000 arm perfectly and it all seems of a piece.
It certainly sounds lovely and Iâm really pleased with it. Itâs not cheap, at about ÂŁ5,500 for deck, arm, cartridge and phono stage, but is a real bargain in terms of how it performs.
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Iâve had an active system for over 20 years. Originally a 52 with NAP135s into SBLs. 52 changed to a 552. 135s changed to NAP300s. SBLs to S600s, DR replacements, 552 to S1, CDS2 to NDS, NDS to ND555 etc etc.
As all those running active systems will tell you, I really like the sound they make compared to passive systems.
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Hi HH
Was the Aria much of an improvement over the internal phono and did you compare to any others.
Thanks
Iâm afraid I canât answer that; the SN3 has an MM stage, so when I tried the Apheta, which is MC, an external stage was automatically required. I didnât try alternatives to the Aria because there is so much positive comment about its compatibility with the Apheta - they are literally made for each other - that there seemed little point. I also wanted something that matched the P10 power supply visually, in order to keep everything as neat as possible.
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Hello Haim,
Lovely listening space you have there. After a âjourneyâ and somewhat of a learning curve, we built what is a very nice listening space as well as a lovely room with a view. Surprisingly the room sounds great to me, maybe a bit too lively but enjoyable nonetheless. Something that we have to look forward to retiring to in about 4 years or so.
Regards,
Mark
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Beautiful place.
Hi Graham
Very cooln tidy setup 
. Have you considered moving your amps further up on the left stack and out of a likely influence of the huge Trafo in the basement of the S1?
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I was wondering what prompted you to move from the P8 to the P10. Is the diffence that big for the price difference? I have the P8 with the Dynavector XX2.
The 10/Apheta is certainly a lot better than the 8/Exact, but of course both elements have changed. In the context of your excellent system the 10 would be a much better fit, and there is supposedly a 12 in the pipeline. An advantage of a Rega cartridge is that you donât need to add a spacer to raise the arm. Most cartridges seem to be a few mm taller, which may affect their performance if they have something like a Shibata stylus profile.
MMM⌠Thanks HH I will see if I can audition the 10 with the Apheta although if there is a 12 on the horizonâŚ!
Or go completely wild and get a Naiad! The 12 has been rumoured for ages and is even referred to in the instructions for the smaller wall bracket, but if and when it will appear is anyoneâs guess. The 10 is certainly very good and quite a few use them in a 552 based system quite happily. You get a lot of performance for the money and it does look very lovely.
Fantastic views!
OK nice to have you remember. I am not quite sure about making a visit to you. Where were you living at that time?
Old age = fading memories. Sorry
Geoff
Mark,
Lovely room and quite some view which is always worth at least three Hi Fi upgrades. Enjoy the new room.
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Hello Haim,
Itâs not so new. It was finished in 2014⌠How time flies⌠We have been lucky with the room upgrades though 
. They put all the overhead cables underground and put in a large transformer nearby but not visible to us, so a good mains upgrade . The family, job, house and other things have been a real priority in life and as you say a good room that works well is an upgrade in itself. It already provides a pleasurable musical listening environment with a decent system, which I put together with my serviced chrome bumper amps. To keep things in moderation there is usually work in the garden and nice local hiking trails.
Best Regards,
Mark
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After much messing about have decided this is the office/study system. Just waiting for the desk and the tidy cables.
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Hi Graham
I fully understand your preference for going active. Iâm running active systems more than 30 years now. I started with an active Linn system with Isobarik speakers, than changed to a full active Naim system with NBLs and in March 2020 the NBLs were replaced by Kudos Titan 808.
I wouldnât swap to a passiv system, even if I get a NAP 500DR.
I guess this is a âsort ofâ system picâŚas you can see I have really pulled the stops out for the holidays with my bachelor Christmas decorations.
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Thanks