Rega - Ania Moving Coil Cartridge

The entry to Rega’s hand-built moving coils — an elliptical stylus on an undamped rhomboid suspension.

All four Rega moving coils share a hand-wound micro coil built on an iron micro cross, a high-powered neodymium magnet, and an undamped suspension using Rega’s rhomboid pivot — no tie wire and no foam damper, which is unusual and very much a Rega signature. They also share their published electrical figures: 350µV output, 10Ω output impedance, 100Ω recommended load and separation better than −29dB. What separates them is the stylus, the cantilever and the body.

The Ania is where Rega’s moving coil range starts, and it is genuinely hand built: the micro coil is wound by hand from 0.018mm wire onto an iron micro cross. Rega pairs it with a super high-powered neodymium magnet and its own rhomboid pivot suspension, which dispenses with the tie wire and foam damper almost every other manufacturer uses.

The stylus is an elliptical profile on an aluminium cantilever, in a highly rigid PPS body with a 40% glass fill, and Rega supplies a CAD-designed clear rigid cover to protect it. Loading is straightforward: 100 ohms, and Rega actually publishes a full recommendation for adjustable stages — 100 ohms, 1000pF, high gain — which is more help than most cartridge makers give.

It is offered factory-fitted on the Planar 6 RS Edition.

Features

• Elliptical profile stylus on an aluminium cantilever
• Hand-wound micro coil from 0.018mm fine wire
• Highly rigid PPS body with 40% glass fill
• CAD-designed clear rigid protective cover
• Factory-fit option on the Planar 6 RS Edition
• Hand-wound micro coil on an iron micro cross
• High-powered neodymium magnet
• Undamped suspension using Rega’s rhomboid pivot — no tie wire, no foam damper
• 350µV output into a recommended 100Ω load
• Rega three-point fixing — sets overhang automatically on a Rega tonearm
• Made in England with a Lifetime Limited Warranty

Specifications

• Type: Moving coil cartridge
• Output Voltage: 350µV nominal
• Output Impedance: 10Ω
• Recommended Load Impedance: 100Ω
• Recommended Settings for Adjustable MC Stages: 100Ω impedance, 1000pF capacitance, high gain. On a Rega phono stage that means the gain switch in the On position. This is Rega’s own published recommendation for adjustable moving coil stages, which is more guidance than most manufacturers give
• Stylus: Elliptical profile. Rega does not state whether the diamond is nude or bonded on this model, unlike the cartridges above it which are explicitly nude
• Cantilever: Aluminium
• Coil: Hand-wound micro coil on an iron micro cross
• Magnet: High-powered neodymium
• Suspension: Undamped — no tie wire and no foam damping, using Rega’s unique rhomboid pivot for the cantilever
• Body: PPS (polyphenylene sulphide), highly rigid, with 40% glass fill
• Protective Cover: CAD-designed clear rigid cover
• Tracking Force: 1.75 – 2.00g
• Separation: Better than −29dB
• Channel Balance: Better than 20µV. Rega expresses this as a tolerance bound using a greater-than-or-equal sign, which reads backwards — a smaller deviation is better. We reproduce Rega’s own notation rather than reinterpreting it
• Weight: Not published. Rega gives 6g for the Ania Pro but publishes no figure for the Ania, and we have not borrowed it
• 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
• 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. Rega adds that the amplifier should always be switched off when connecting a cartridge, and recommends a Rega torque wrench for best results
• Servicing: Rega publishes no exchange or rebuild scheme on its own website, and no statement that there are no user-serviceable parts. In practice a rebuild or exchange is handled through the distributor via your dealer — talk to us rather than to a third-party retipper, since Rega’s warranty names unauthorised modification as an invalidating event
• 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: Frequency response; compliance; inductance; stylus tip radius. Rega publishes none of these for any of its moving coil cartridges