Rega Planar 6 RS, Tsakiridis Theseus and Apertura Sensa Vinyl System

A record player, a valve amplifier and a pair of slim French towers are the entire chain in this demonstration. The Rega Planar 6 RS Edition plays through its factory-fitted Nd9 moving-magnet cartridge straight into the phono input of the Tsakiridis Theseus, a Greek single-ended valve integrated, which drives Apertura Sensa floorstanders from Stentor SAS. There is no separate phono stage, preamplifier or digital front end.

The system at a glance

Three boxes and one pair of speakers make up the whole setup, sized for a living room or a modest study. The emphasis is wholly on vinyl, although the amplifier keeps three line inputs and a USB DAC input in reserve. The Planar 6 RS sells for GBP 2,000 in the UK and the Theseus for about EUR 2,190 in Greece, so this is a mid-priced chain for a listener who wants valves and records with very little hardware.

Why these components work together

The Nd9 gives 5 to 6 mV, a level that suits a conventional MM input without any step-up, and the Theseus provides exactly that, with a valve phono stage built on two 12AX7 tubes. Two 12AU7 drivers feed a pair of EL34 output valves in Class A, and the owner can fit tubes up to the KT170 for more headroom. A handmade 400 W power transformer and handmade output transformers with eight-layer windings sit behind them, with input switching done by signal relays. Being a low-power single-ended design, the amplifier wants an easy, reasonably efficient load. The Sensa is rated at 87 dB at 2.83 V with an 8 ohm nominal impedance, so it asks for modest current, and its 16 cm woven polypropylene mid/woofer hands over to a 25 mm dome tweeter at 3.8 kHz. On the source side, the Planar 6 RS uses the RB880 tonearm usually found on the Planar 8, mounted on a Tancast 8 foam core plinth with a brushed aluminium skin. A 24 V motor, hand-tuned to its own Neo MK2 supply, drives the sub-platter through two Reference EBLT belts on a CNC twin pulley.

How it sounds

With a high-output cartridge feeding a valve phono stage directly, the path from groove to output tubes stays short, and small-group jazz and vocal records come through with steady pitch and well-separated instruments. The Sensa's bass reflex enclosure reaches a quoted 40 Hz, so bass is firm and proportionate rather than room-filling.

Considering a similar setup

Watch speaker efficiency first, as a low-power single-ended amplifier runs out of headroom quickly with less sensitive or lower-impedance speakers in a larger room. Within these brands, Rega offers the Planar 6 RS with an Ania moving-coil cartridge, which would need an MC phono stage, and Apertura's SWING is the smaller speaker option.