Rega - Aethos Integrated Amplifier

125 watts a side from a dual mono design with four output transistors per channel — and no phono stage, which is the thing to know before you buy.

The Aethos is a serious amplifier and a deliberate change of direction from the models below it. It is a dual mono design with four 160-watt output transistors per channel and a fully discrete FET-based line amplifier, delivering 125 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms and 156 watts into 6. It weighs 17.5kg.

Now the part that matters most in a record shop, and that we would rather you heard from us than discovered at home: the Aethos has no phono stage. None. If you are moving up from an Elex or an Elicit you will lose your phono input and you will need an external stage — Rega’s own Fono MM Mk5 or Fono MC Mk4 being the obvious partners. It also has no DAC and no digital inputs, which the Elex and Elicit both have.

What you get instead is five line inputs plus a switchable Direct input, an integrated headphone socket, a preamp output at 840mV from a 100 ohm source, a record output at 219mV, and a remote. The argument for it is that removing the phono and digital circuitry leaves an amplifier doing one job with more of the budget spent on doing it.

Rega publishes no 4-ohm power figure for the Aethos, so a direct comparison against the Elicit Mk5 is not possible on published data — the Aethos is more powerful at 8 ohms, but the Elicit is the one with a published 4-ohm rating.

Features

• 125W RMS per channel into 8 Ω, 156W into 6 Ω
• Dual mono design with four 160W output transistors per channel
• Fully discrete FET-based line amplifier
• Five line inputs plus a switchable Direct input
• Integrated headphone output
• Preamp output at 840mV, record output at 219mV
• No phono stage and no DAC — an external phono stage is required for a turntable
• 17.5kg

Specifications

• Type: Integrated amplifier — no phono stage, no DAC
• Power Output: 125W RMS per channel into 8 Ω; 156W RMS into 6 Ω
• Power into 4 Ohms: Not published
• Topology: Dual mono, with four 160W output transistors per channel and a fully discrete FET-based line amplifier
• Line Inputs: Five, plus a switchable Direct input
• Phono Stage: None. This is the key practical point — a turntable needs an external phono stage. Rega’s Fono MM Mk5 and Fono MC Mk4 are the natural partners
• DAC: None. The Aethos has no digital inputs, unlike the Elex and Elicit below it
• Headphone Output: Yes, integrated
• Preamp Output: 840mV, output impedance 100 Ω
• Record Output: 219mV, output impedance 560 Ω
• Remote Control: Supplied
• Dimensions: 433 x 95 x 360 mm, including speaker terminals
• Weight: 17.5kg
• Origin: Made in England. Rega Research Ltd, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
• Warranty: Lifetime Limited Warranty against confirmed manufacturing defects. It excludes wear and tear and parts considered consumable, and Rega states that unauthorised modification or failure to follow its guidelines may invalidate it
• Not Published: Power into 4 ohms; THD; signal-to-noise ratio; power consumption
• Note: The Aethos produces more power into 8 ohms than the Elicit Mk5 (125W against 105W), but the Elicit has a published 4-ohm rating and the Aethos does not, so the two cannot be compared on how they handle a difficult load using Rega’s own data