Went to my local audio retailer today. Went to listen to the Rega Saturn....didn't have one....Had the Apollo....What happened next, I couldn't believe...The player wouldn't read any discs. I don't think the dealer new that there was a problem, but it makes me think that the quality of the Rega gear is questionable.

What........? Rega, junk?!

I know that it has a laser assembly quite vulnerable - IMO, like all toploaders - but with a pair of Wolfson DACs and transistor analogue filters and output buffers - no op-amps here, the power supply based on a large toroidal transformer and Rega's usual solid construction, calling this a junk is a rather strong statment, don't you think?

All that technology is great, but if it breaks on you 6 months down the road...then you're really out of some cash and you'll be deprived of your cd player. Based on reputation, I was very surprised. To me, soild construction is questionable if you go to your dealer and it is suddenly kaput. I am thinking about trying another dealer, but they sure as hell better take it back for an exchange as long as its under warranty.

Oh! I know what you mean...it must be quite frustrating spend a lot of money in a great cdp and then something wrong happens....

Did you try to contact Rega in UK about that problem?

One of our dealers is pretty big on Rega and thinks the Appolo is a great CDP for the price. Haven't heard him complain too much about the Rega gear for quality and he complains a lot when he gets returns from name brands.

Any CDP can get confused if some dust gets on the lens. Calgary is sometimes like a dust bowl.

The Regas are considered nice cd players.

My guess is it either was injured as it is a display model, or it's one of the few that has an early breakdown.

I don't know what the average is, but I'm sure very few, if any companies have a 100% no-problem rate with their gear. A few are bound to fail.

But I wouldn't expect it to be many.

This was just shocking to me. I could hardly believe that equipment so raved about performed so poorly. It didn't read any discs. We tried three. At any rate, I hadn't been to this audio museum it over three years. Funnily enough, the same speakers were in the same place. Could be that the upkeep has been poor. Things did seem to be dusty. This is really disturbing considering this guy sells Wilsons.

Lets be reasonable. I can understand feeling apprehensive about dropping alot of cash, and seeing a machine fail prematurely. But go to the net, and if there are not a ton of reports about dying Apollos then dont get too worked up about it. Certain comapnies like Micromega had huge issues with their machines, and its easy to find that info out on the net.

If helps you rest a bit easier, buy an extended warranty. Or bargain one into the price. Also check and see if there is a local service center for Rega.

AFAIK Rega has a fine reputation, and builds a good machine. But as others have said, no comapny is defect free.

Regards
Mister Pig

PS. look at my Maytag dishwasher. Has broken down about every 12 to 16 months. Extended warranty is now running out, and its being serviced as we speak. Electronic controls ar dead. This is a POS.

Brand new Mercedes-Benz automobiles have reportedly broken down on a few occasions.

Are they junk?

I don't know...when they became daimler-chrysler, I lost all interest.....heard that the quality went down.

Seriously, i'm going to give it another shot.

This reminds me a film i saw yesterday - for the tenth time - Armageddon; when the Russian astronaut says to the female American astronaut: “American components, Russian components they are all made in Taiwan". ....

Very true. But to continue with the auto analogy, Hondas and Subarus assembled in the US are just as good as those assembled in Japan. It's how they were designed and engineered, and the quality of the parts, that makes the difference.

Same with audio components. If a piece of gear is designed properly and has good quality parts, I don't think it matters all that much where it's put together.