Rega - Nd7 Moving Magnet Cartridge

Where the Nd range gets serious: the same fine line profile Rega uses on its flagship moving coils.

Every Nd cartridge shares the same generator. Rega spent ten years developing it and has a patent pending: an ultra-high-powered neodymium magnet, a new generator geometry Rega describes as having perfect symmetry for accurate channel balance, an optimised pole gap for linearity and crosstalk, and miniaturised parallel coils wound in-house from 38-micron wire at just 1275 turns, which gives a low-inductance, low-impedance generator and improved high-frequency response. Output is 5 to 6mV, tracking force is a fixed 1.75g, and the body is injection-moulded glass-filled PPS. What changes as you climb the range is the diamond and the cantilever — nothing else.

The Nd7 carries Rega’s most advanced fine line nude diamond, cut from monocrystalline manmade diamond — and Rega states plainly that it is the same profile used on the Apheta 3 and Aphelion 2 moving coils at several times the price. The minor radius is just 3 microns viewed from above, and 30 microns in the vertical viewed from the front.

That tiny contact area is the whole argument: a narrow tip responds immediately to very small modulations in the groove wall, where a larger radius averages over them. Note also the change in diamond material — the Nd3 and Nd5 use polycrystalline diamond, the Nd7 and Nd9 use monocrystalline, which is a genuine manufacturer-stated differentiator rather than marketing.

It is offered factory-fitted on the Planar 6 and Planar 8, and wears a yellow window.

Features

• Fine line nude monocrystalline diamond — the same profile as the Apheta 3 and Aphelion 2 moving coils
• Minor radius 3µm viewed from the top, 30µm in the vertical from the front
• Monocrystalline rather than polycrystalline diamond
• Aluminium cantilever
• Factory-fit option on the Planar 6 and Planar 8
• Neodymium magnet generator, patent pending, developed over ten years
• Miniaturised parallel coils wound in-house from 38-micron wire at 1275 turns
• Injection-moulded glass-filled PPS body — lightweight and highly rigid
• 5 – 6mV output at a fixed 1.75g tracking force
• Rega three-point fixing — sets overhang automatically on a Rega tonearm
• Yellow window for identification at a glance
• 100% recyclable packaging; Lifetime Limited Warranty

Specifications

• Type: Moving magnet cartridge
• Output Voltage: 5 – 6mV nominal. Note Rega publishes a range rather than a single figure and states no measurement condition, so it is not directly comparable with other makers’ 1kHz / 5cm per second figures
• Stylus: Fine line nude diamond, monocrystalline manmade. Minor radius 3µm viewed from the top; 30µm in the vertical viewed from the front. Rega states this is the same profile used on the Apheta 3 and Aphelion 2
• Cantilever: Aluminium, per Rega’s feature list
• Magnet: Neodymium
• Coils: Miniaturised parallel coils, wound in house from 38-micron wire at 1275 turns
• Body: Injection-moulded glass-filled polyphenylene sulphide (PPS)
• Tracking Force: 1.75g — a single figure, not a range
• Fixing: Rega three-point fixing. The cartridge has the two conventional rear holes plus a third at the front, and Rega is explicit that the front third fixing is for use on Rega tonearms only. Fitted to a Rega arm this bolts the cartridge rigidly into a fixed position and, in Rega’s words, automatically sets overhang — no sliding adjustment and no protractor required. On a non-Rega arm the two rear fixings are conventionally spaced and are what would be used, but Rega publishes no compatibility statement for other tonearms and we are not going to make one on its behalf. Ask us if you are unsure about your arm
• Window Colour: Yellow
• Stylus Replacement: Rega does not offer a user-replaceable stylus for the Nd range and sells no replacement part for it. That is the verifiable position — Rega has never actually said the stylus cannot be replaced, so we would rather state what is documented than guess
• Mounting Guidance: Rega’s own guidance is worth passing on. It recommends a dealer fit the cartridge; it says to use only the supplied 90-degree allen key, which is designed to reduce the risk of overtightening; and it warns that incorrect mounting hardware will destroy the internal wires. One point catches people out regularly: the three-point spacer in the box is there for packing purposes only and must not be used to mount the cartridge
• Origin: Made in England. Rega Research Ltd, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
• Warranty: Lifetime Limited Warranty against confirmed manufacturing defects. It expressly excludes wear and tear and parts considered consumable — so a worn stylus is not a warranty claim — and Rega states that unauthorised modification or failure to follow its guidelines may invalidate it
• Not Published: Stylus tip radius (except on the fine line profile); input load impedance and capacitance; cartridge weight; frequency response; channel separation and channel balance as figures — Rega claims both qualitatively but never quantifies them; compliance; output impedance; inductance; and whether the stylus is user-replaceable, on which Rega is silent
• Note: Rega never actually states that Nd stands for neodymium — it is the chemical symbol and the derivation is obvious, but we are reporting it as evident rather than as a Rega quotation. Rega’s own claim, with its hedges intact, is that the Nd range is patent pending and that the company believes it to be a world first moving magnet using ultra-high-powered neodymium magnets