Rega Apollo & Saturn Buyers Beware... - Page 2

Two Apollos and one Saturn, here.

I've never had a problem with any of them. They work perfectly, sound wonderful and just keep on truckin'.

One of my Apollos was bought within the first month of their release.

Then again, I don't fiddle around with the remote much and skip songs, back track or what ever. I usually just put the disc in, walk away and go about my business, give the player time to read the disc and prepare to play. I always wait at least 45 seconds to two minutes, before grabbing the remote and hitting play.

In the past I've come across some people who were impatient and started hitting buttons on the remote, in an attempt to hurry along the process.

That could cause the player to become overwhelmed with too many commands and lock up.

There was definitely a problem with some skipping during playback of songs, with some players. But from what I understand, those issues were in fact addressed and corrected by Rega.

Just want to say that I have never had a read error on my Apollo with an original disc, but I have had an error here and there with some discs I have burned. Thing is though I burn all my discs at x48 Which is obviously above the x8 stated in the manual so one would expect an occasional error. even so I can think of tops 2 discs which this occured with.

I bought this player back in '06 used on Agon so it is a pretty early example, it seems maybe the newer versions may be having this problem more than older ones?

That being said I do agree Rega should step up for all the reasons noted by Gradofan2.

My 1.5 year Apollo very infrequenty (< once a month) has to be reset by switching it of and on again because it does not respond to commands. Furthermore I hate it how you have to put in the disc, then wait, then press play. It is an annoyance every time, but all is forgiven once the music starts, it is so, so eh, musical?!
And because of that it'll stay here untill it is utterly dead or I win the lottery (and I might very well buy a Saturn then).

This was my experience too. The player would do strange things, then work ok for awhile and then do stuff like not stop or skip tracks or not initialize. And Rega says to unplug and sit for awhile to reset. It works for a bit and the bugs always come back. I guess it is'nt so easy to replicate the Sony/Phillips Redbook. In order to design their own cd operating system, apparently Rega gave some computer software people (an outside anonymous firm) the Phillips Redbook and essentially said "rewrite this". Maybe this new system sounds good, too bad it doesnt work well for practical use.

I power down my Apollos and Saturn every third night (I don't unplug) and I don't have any problems whatsoever. I do that just to power it down for two nights a week and power them back up in the morning. It only takes the players roughly an hour to an hour and a half of playing time, to get back to sounding as good as it did the day before. I suppose you can call that "warming up".


The one Apollo and Saturn get a lot of playing time. A lot. I work from home and both players are typically on and/or playing through out the day.

Sometimes I'll favor one player over the other and play that all day long and even for a few hours after dinner; so my kids could boogie around the living room. They never let me down or fail to perform.


Your comments are rather inaccurate and unfair, when you choose your words as all emcompassing testament of these players and the platform they use.

It's only been a small percentage of players that have had on-going problems. Most of the problems were corrected. Really no different than any other manufactor's bugs that effect a small percentage of their components. it happens to even the best of them.

Rega does say the class A output requires a warm up period. But Why should you have to unplug or turn off a cd player for it to work reliably? You say my statement about the players faulty operations is inaccurate- go back and read the thread. Skullguise, Robert, Scottdm, Dura and myself (stereoguy) had variuos read, skip, remote issues with the machines. Orkney, dogteal, Nmytree and yotacowboy reported no prbblems. That's not a "small percentage". This coupled with a steady stream of them on audiogon for a long while, which seems odd for players that sound so great, well Make of that what you may. As some others here state it would be nice if Rega fessed up. A credit towards another Rega product for those that had lemon players would'nt hurt either.

Let's be rational, here.

This thread....this website is hardly representitve of all Apollo and Saturn owners.

Rega has sold several thousands of both the Apollo and Saturn. You're (we) are seeing just a small, miniscule percentage of the owners.


In fact, you or anyone who gets stuck with a "lemon player" bought on the used market, the issue should be taken up with the person you bought it from.

Call them up.....contact them and request that they contact Rega for the purpose of Rega honoring that person's warranty. It's not a difficult thing to do and will only take a few minutes.

What ever Rega instructs that person to do (the one you bought the player from), you follow those instructions and send it where they instructed. That person (the original buyer) could get a brand new player for you, if in fact the component is a "lemon", as you claim it to be; and can not be repaired.

Furthermore, Rega designs, builds and sells their products to be bought by customers through authorized dealers. Second-hand/priviously owned componenet sales, can't be their main focus. If you're an original component owner and bought through an authorized dealer; Rega will COMPLETELY support their product and do everything to satisfy the customer. Even replacing a defective unit, with a brand new unit.

But you're talking about second-hand/previously owned units. If you buy one second-hand, you know before-hand you are taking a risk; with the benefit being paying cost well below Retail/MSRP.

Rega has admitted there are some problems and have addressed most of them. I'm sure they will work to correct any currently unaddressed problems or future problems.

Rega will undoubetdly service the component for you, but you will have to pay for the work being done, because you are not the otriginal owner. That's reality.

No manufactor on this planet is going to issue anyone a credit towards another Rega product for those who purchased second-hand/used market and got stuck with a " lemon player ".

Essentially there are several issues at work, here.

If people (original owners) are selling Apollos and Saturns that are defective (and they know it is defective), rather than taking the issue up with Rega first and either getting it repaired or replaced with a new properly working unit; then, the original owner is a jerk and you just got ripped-off by him. Your anger should be with him (the original owner).

Any honest and rational seller will be willing to make a phone call or two to get the problem resolved and any required shipping. And if you (or anyone) indeed have a "lemon"; to get you a replacement player.

Just be polite and courteous when dealing with them or Rega distributors. Use your head.

Without a doubt this type of thread, with this type attitude achieves absolutely nothing in the way of getting these components repaired or replaced.

I guess warranty work could be done by proxy, I apprised my buyer of the issues and told my buyer to contact me if he wanted warranty service, but I believe he just dumped it back onto agon. On another note It is not unheard of for manufacturers to offer credit or restittution in these types of situations. GE did it for refridgerators that had faulty control boards, I think it was a 400 dollar credit towads another GE product. Sony came to peoples houses to install a new part in TV's. Denon provides firmware updates for certain DVD players. Something, anything would be nice.

Rega will fix the player/component. Contact your authorized Rega dealer/distributor and inform them of the problems the player is having.

Ask them if they are aware of your particular defect/malfunction. Ask them if they have a solution. Tell them you want it repaired.

If there is no known solution or repair option, request that they replace your player; because the malfunction/defect is based in the design, not in user abuse of the component.

They will do what ever they can to satisfy the customer who bought from an authorized dealer.

So I repeat, Rega is NOT shunning their responsibility and dishonoring their warranty.

Contact them. They will make it right.

For the record.....

GE, Sony and Denon are much larger corporations with a ton more resources.

You can't compare them with Rega. Rega is a much smaller operation .

As far as firmware updates, has anyone ......any of you contacted Rega to find out if they have any firmware updates?

Have any of you contacted Rega about any of this at all?

I see a lot of talking about Rega and a lot of shots be thrown at them, but what have any of you actually done to try and resolve your problems with your respective components?

Listen, I'm just trying to offer some advice and suggestions. Believe it or not, I am trying to help.

Dumping "lemon components" back onto audiogon and passing the buck accomplishes nothing and truely comes off as a bit dishonest.

Get in touch with your authorized Rega dealers/distributors and get the ball rolling. Whether you're the original owner and sold it to someone else, or whether you bought one second-hand; get in touch with the original owner who you bought it from (or the person he bought it from) and be polite.

Get in touch with Rega.

I'll even type slower for you....

HAVE YOU CONTACTED REGA ABOUT THIS ALLEGED "MANUFACTOR"S DEFECT" ?

If so, what was Rega's response and your response to their reponse?

That is what I think too Gradofan. They need to admit it and offer some real remedy. To Nmytree, no Rega has not offered any firmware updates, they continue to deny any major problems with Apollos and Saturns ("no more than their other products"), all they are doing is having people send for warranty service. while I have used their other products and there is no comparison. And by the way, mine was back for repair/replacement twice and the problems never went away. Another poster here had theirs back for repair too and it still did weird stuff too. Like Gradofan says it is a manufacturing defect probably in their new operating program.

There are quite a few Apollos on Audiogon, or were, most sold quite quickly...