Rega must have had a rather successful High End Munich 2024, because we understand the folks at Ortofon, Sumiko, Grado Labs, and Audio-Technica were slightly surprised by this announcement from the British high-end manufacturer of turntables, amplifiers, CD players, loudspeakers, phono pre-amplifiers, and phono cartridges. The entry level phono cartridge market is definitely competitive, but there is no question that the market needed something new to shake it up. Enter the Rega Nd3. For only UK SSP £175.
Ortofon, Audio-Technica, Grado Labs, Nagaoka, Goldring, and Sumiko have owned this space for well over a decade but has there really been that much innovation? The Golding E3 and E4 consistently land on our “Editor’s Choice” list and who doesn’t love the Ortofon 2M Blue, Grado Prestige Series Blue3 or Sumiko Rainier?
But they have all started to feel somewhat dated.
Planar 2 and Planar 3 owners now have a new option and it will become the standard cartridge to ship with both turntables.
Rega Nd3
According to Rega, the Nd3 will offer between 5 and 6mV of output (which feels somewhat ambiguous) and requires 1.75 grams of tracking force. The headshell uses 3 points for attachment making it ideal for Rega’s own tonearms.
Each Nd3 is hand-made by Rega’s skilled technicians in the UK factory. The design uses brand new generator geometry with perfect symmetry to achieve highly accurate channel balance. The Nd3 also has an optimized pole gap for superior linearity and cross talk characteristics.
This new cartridge is created with miniaturized parallel coils which are wound in house utilising 38-micron wire with just 1275 turns.
This produces a low inductance, low impedance generator giving vastly improved high frequency response.
Nd Magnet technology
Often used in Moving Coil designs (including their own), Rega believe that the Nd3 is the first moving magnet to utilize a Neodymium (Nd) N55 magnet. This is the world’s most powerful commercially available magnet and is a crucial component that makes this unique design possible by delivering extra power than standard bar magnet designs.
Glass filled PPS body
The complete assembly is housed in a zero tolerance Injection moulded glass filled polyphenylene sulphide body (PPS) which is a lightweight and highly rigid material. A low mass body reduces stress on the tonearm bearings and aids free movement which is critical in accurate vinyl replay. This new body design was inspired by Rega’s existing range of MC cartridges.
Cantilever & stylus profile
The Nd3 aluminium cantilever is fitted with a precision elliptical stylus. This profile provides exceptional tracking accuracy and extracts great levels of detail from the vinyl surface.
Price & Availability
The Rega Nd3 will be available for £175 or factory-fitted to the Planar 2 (£599) & Planar 3 (£799) turntables.
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David W Pumphrey
May 19, 2024 at 12:05 am
There’s no such thing as adjusting the stylus pressure on a cartridge because it is impossible to measure the pressure in a record groove. You adjust the tracking force which tells you the amount of weight or force that is being placed on the record. It’s a common thing to see people talking about stylus pressure when they should be saying tracking force.