Going even further than the Osiris integrated amplifier, British manufacturer Rega has added the Solis power amplifier and Mercury preamplifier to its Reference series.
MERCURY
A modern preamplifier, the Mercury not only has a significant number of analogue inputs (1 x XLR; 4 x RCA; 1 x Rec In; 1 x Rec Out), but also almost as many digital inputs (2 x coax S/PDIF; 2 x optical; 1 x USB-B; 2 triggers). With a symmetrical structure after a large power transformer, this new preamplifier allows the signal to be output to an amplifier via a pair of RCA terminals and a pair of XLR terminals.
Its internal amplification circuit operates almost entirely in class A. For the critical parts, in addition to a current that is extensively filtered by multiple capacitors, very low-noise Linear Systems FET transistors are used in quadruple differential input stages; a topology that has already been proven with the Aura MC phono preamplifier.
As with the Osiris, volume control is provided by an APLS Blue Velvet RK27 module, based on a discrete, common-base symmetrical driver circuit. High-quality relays and polypropylene capacitors are used throughout the signal path. On the front panel, a 6.33 mm headphone jack completes this device, whose digital-to-analogue conversion is handled by two Wolfson DAC chips in parallel, capable of reading files up to 192 kHz/24-bit PCM and DSD64 (including DoP), which is more than enough to decode many current sampling rates.
SOLIS
Purely symmetrical, the Solis delivers a comfortable 168 W per channel into 8 Ω, doubling to 305 W into 4 Ω.
Power is supplied by two low-noise 330VA toroidal transformers, which use fully bonded core material to reduce mechanical noise when operating with high levels of mains distortion. These transformers are paired with 40,000µF Rega K-Power filter capacitors per channel. All power supplies use fast recovery rectifier diodes, and the input and low-level control stages are powered by a regulated symmetrical power supply, which provides a fully stabilized, low-noise voltage.
The common-base voltage amplification stage is differential-controlled, low distortion, high linearity and wide bandwidth. Twelve Sanken 130-watt 15-amp high-frequency multi-emitter output transistors (six per channel) are implemented in a high-current ‘triple’ output stage, allowing the Solis to potentially drive even very difficult speaker systems.
The cascaded differential input amplifier uses two low-noise current generators, referenced by LEDs. The open- and closed-loop feedback levels and gain bandwidth product components are carefully optimized. Nichicon audio capacitors are used in critical bypass and decoupling positions. To achieve this, electrolytic capacitors have been bypassed with polyester capacitors, and non-inductive HTR resistors have been added to the output stage.
The price of £13,900 for the pair, or £6,950 for each unit in the UK, translates to a European price of 18 990 €, or 9 495 € per unit.
21/11/2025
