2021 Product of the Year Awards: Turntables of the Year

Rega P6 

$1595; $1995 w/Exact mm; $2195 w/Ania mc; $2495 with Ania Pro mc

Currently celebrating its 48th year, the UK’s Rega Research has long been one of our top choices for high-value LP playback. Falling right in the center of Rega’s current lineup, the P6 utilizes many technologies found in the upper-end RP10: an ultra-lightweight, yet extremely rigid plinth composed of a polyurethane foam core sandwiched between layers of high-pressure laminate, and featuring Rega’s “double-brace” technology. Also significant is the new sub-platter. Fabricated from a single piece of machined aluminum on which the glass platter sits, this is a serious step up from the injection-molded plastic sub-platters found on earlier mid-level Rega models. As reviewed by WG, and outfitted with Rega’s outboard Neo power supply and Ania cartridge, the sound of the P6 provides extra degrees of bass depth, weight, and tonal richness previously only heard from Rega’s upper-end models, without trading off any of Rega’s classic musical agility. While the P6 may not deliver the ultimate punch, detail, or transporting emotional thrills of the very finest turntables, these are hardly the design goals here. Like all the best audio gear, the P6 compels us to play record after record, to revisit music we love, and explore music we have yet to discover. 

Brinkmann Audio Taurus

$14,990 ($19,990, package includes 10.5 tonearm; $20,290 package includes 12.1 tonearm) 

At one time a top salesperson at Goodwins High End (and other exalted ultra-high-end emporia), TAS reviewer Allan Moulton has had plenty of experience with big, fancy, expensive turntables. Can he definitively tell you that none of them is better than the Brinkmann Taurus? No, he cannot. Can he say that the Taurus is the best turntable you can buy at any price? Come on—you know the answer to that. What he can tell you is that the direct-drive Brinkmann manages to combine ergonomic, aesthetic, and functional excellence with outstanding sonics in a way that few others can. A clear step above the finest $10k–$20k ’tables AM has heard, the Taurus is unquestionably a reference-level product. One of the few components AM’s reviewed about which he has no reservations, the Brinkmann Audio Taurus is this year’s TAS Turntable of the Year Award winner.