Rega - Nd9 Moving Magnet Cartridge

A boron rod cantilever borrowed from the reference Aphelion 2 — Rega’s highest-performing moving magnet ever.

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.

Rega’s own claim for the Nd9 is unambiguous: the highest-performing moving magnet cartridge the company has ever produced. It takes the Nd7’s fine line monocrystalline nude diamond and moves it onto a boron rod cantilever taken from the reference Aphelion 2 moving coil.

Boron is the point. It is extremely stiff and extremely light, which means the cantilever transmits groove information to the generator faster and with less of its own character than an aluminium tube can manage. On the Nd9 the cantilever material is listed in Rega’s specification table rather than buried in the feature list, which is a fair indication of how central it is.

It is offered factory-fitted on the Planar 8 and identified by an amber window. Note that Rega’s wording on the fixing is blunter here than on the other Nd models: three-point fixing, for Rega tonearms only.

Features

• Boron rod cantilever, taken from the reference Aphelion 2 moving coil
• Fine line nude monocrystalline diamond — 3µm minor radius, 30µm vertical
• Rega’s highest-performing moving magnet cartridge to date
• Factory-fit option on the 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
• Amber 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
• Cantilever: Boron rod. Rega bases both the cantilever and the stylus profile on the reference Aphelion 2, and this is the only Nd model where cantilever material appears in the specification table
• 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: Amber
• 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
• Fixing Note: Rega’s specification for this model reads “3 point fixing (for Rega tonearms only)” — stronger wording than the other Nd pages
• 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