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At £136, this sits a touch below the £147 median and safely inside the normal used range, so it reads as a fair buy rather than a bargain-bin score. It is not cheap enough to call a standout deal, but it is priced sensibly for a Rega phono stage if the unit is clean and working properly.
The FONO is well liked for doing the essentials right: low-noise gain, tidy rhythm, and an easy match with many moving-magnet setups. The main upside here is simple value — a respected, plug-and-play phono stage without paying new-retail money. If the seller can confirm it powers up cleanly and includes the PSU and any original box, this is an easy listen-for-the-money purchase.
Independent perspective — not a price guarantee. Always verify condition, accessories and provenance before purchase.
Rega Research, founded in 1973 in Essex, England, by Roy Gandy and Tony Relph, emerged from Gandy's lifelong passion for vinyl playback. A Ford engineer and music enthusiast, Gandy built his first turntable, the Planet, in his spare time, blending the founders' surnames to create the Rega name. From humble beginnings in a derelict mill, the company quickly gained traction with early models like the Planar 2 and Planar 3, establishing its heritage as a British hi-fi pioneer dedicated to precision engineering and hand-assembly.
Rega specializes in turntables and tonearms, its cornerstone products, but has expanded into a full ecosystem including cartridges, integrated amplifiers like the Elicit and Brio, phono stages such as the Fono, and speakers like the Ela series. While early efforts included loudspeakers and electronics from the 1980s onward, the brand prioritizes vinyl-centric components over headphones, DACs, or cables, all designed in-house for musical fidelity using specialist materials and tight tolerances.
Rega holds a revered position in the high-end hi-fi market as a niche boutique icon, prized by audiophiles for affordable, lifetime-quality performance that emphasizes music over gimmicks. Globally exported to over 50 countries from its Essex facility employing more than 150, it remains a symbol of British ingenuity, with turntables like the Planar series securing enduring loyalty among vinyl revivalists.
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