Ania MC Cartridge

The Ania was inspired by the success of the Apheta 2 and Aphelion MC cartridges. Using the same exceptionally complex hand wound micro coil found in the rest of the range, the Ania is housed in a unique PPS highly rigid body, ensuring accurate construction and Rega's three point fixing method ensuring optimum connection to the headshell and automatic setting for overhang. The new body is protected by a CAD designed, clear rigid cover to protect the internal fine wires, making handling whilst fitting, safe and risk free. The Ania features a super high-powered, neodymium magnet and a coil meticulously hand wound on to an iron cross. This miniature assembly allows us greater freedom to track the vinyl groove ensuring even more detail is extracted from the vinyl.

Welcome to the world of moving coils
Rega’s Moving Coil cartridge design is unique in its approach to achieving an ultra-low mass generator which is undamped (no tie wire) using a unique rhomboid pivot for the cantilever powered by a purpose designed, exclusive to Rega, Neodymium magnet system. This type of design requires a zero-tolerance engineered cartridge body which is Rega’s area of expertise and with the Apheta 3 and Aphelion 2 products these bodies are machined from one piece of the highest quality aluminium. This is a difficult and expensive process requiring all of Rega’s years of experience to achieve. In particular, the “zero” tolerancing of the body is required in the alignment and dimension of the pivot pad mounting hole and the magnet mechanism mounting hole relationship.

 When Rega decided to produce a Moving Coil cartridge at half the cost of the Apheta 3, the special aluminium body could not be used, it was simply too expensive. The solution lay in an unusual polymer/glass combination called Polyphenylene Sulphide (PPS-Fortron). With 40% glass, this material could be moulded and would solve the cost problem. The special attributes of this material are its hardness and stability in shape and dimension post moulding, both critical for the performance of Ania. Now came the challenge. Rega designed and prototyped using SLA systems in just a few months, proving the validity of the design direction. Now they had to design a production mould tool capable of extreme accuracy and long life. PPS is a difficult polymer to mould and requires special attention to how the mould tool operates. Couple this to an almost unmouldable complex shape of the Ania body and a very considerable challenge faced the Rega engineers and the toolmakers chosen.

The toolmakers are of the highest technical skill level, using the most accurate Swiss EDM CNC machines, their regular customers being the military and medical industries, routinely working down to a micron (one thousandth of a millimetre). To achieve this intricate body shape required the most complex high pressure injection mould tool that Rega has ever designed.

The tool has eight major parts, four of which must move in perfect synchronicity with each other to achieve each cartridge body. The design and manufacture of this “work of art” took an entire year to produce and was made exclusively by the most senior toolmaker requiring all his lifetime of artisanal experience.

Combine this special PPS body with its high specification stainless steel inserts, a unique rhomboid pivot system, a tried and tested high performance, diamond tipped elliptical stylus cantilever with low mass moving coil generator assembly and you have new market leading musicality, performance, speed, clarity, and detail as never before at this price.

• Iron micro cross assembly
• One of the worlds smallest MC generators
• Cutting edge high power Neodymium magnets
• Elliptical profile stylus
• Aluminium cantilver
• Coil constructed from 0.018 mm fine wire
• Lifetime warranty against manufacture defects

• Tracking Pressure:  1.75 - 2.00g
• Input load impedance:  100 ohm
• Output impedance:  10 ohms
• Nominal output voltage:  350μV
• Channel Balance:  ≥ 20μV
• Separation:  ≥ -29dB
• Mass:  6g

Load settings for adjustable MC stages

• Impedance:  100ohm
• Capacitance:  1000pF
• Gain setting:  High ('On' position for Rega phono stages)