Rega Dudes

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

They all need the bloody wadding taking out Dave

[southall-1998]

My body is full of wadding.

I'm warm and lush, but rude if removed

S.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

But you will sound more musical

[_D_S_J_R_]

They all need the bloody wadding taking out Dave

What wadding? The boxes are hollow. Cabinet walls have thick bitumen pads glued to them and the foam is glued to that. The 5/9's have other issues IMO, mainly because they were finally 'voiced' to sound a bit like the larger LS5/8's!

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

OK take out the foam, same thing.

[Daniel Quinn]

FFS , OK take out the foam, same thing.

There you go , editorially fixed that for you

[kimangelis]

Does Rega need defending.. Is it under attack as a brand or a concept? I think not....

It has however survived the extremes of the 80's, the excesses of the 90's, the frugality of the 00's, the in-fighting of the last five years... and with an envious reputation intact.

People who own Rega rarely move away to other genres without spending a Banker's Bonus (noun) on some esoteric hardware that needs to be in direct sunlight, be mounted upon platinum supports, and will only give it's best if you talk nicely to it.

Rega just gets on with doing a very good job, has a realisable and recognisable upgrade path, offers a three-year guarantee on it's electronics and the company is an all-round jolly good egg....

Will that do? ... or are you just talking

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

That is the point. I cannot think of one product they make that is unique or special or leads the field. All much of a muchness. I have serious doubts over their ears ever since they sold a good arm made in Japan and then replaced it with a bad arm made in the UK, telling people how much better it was. They got Joe to teach them how to build speakers, and they nearly ferked it up by changing them. None of their amplifier series sound the same or even similar as they hire different designers. Like pissing into the wind till they find something that sounds good. By doing this *obviously* they created some good product some bad product and some mediocre product. AND that is the point companies that know what they want are consistent, even if consistently bad

Though they are still better than most of their competition.

[alfafan123]

After my first hamfisted attempt at posting on this thread (not sure where it went!?) I have to say that much as it pains me to admit it (I don't want to be seen to be creeping too soon!) the Doc makes some good points that ring true with my experience of Rega products.

I could never figure out why all the mags were saying the RB series arms were so good. IMHO the RB300 I had sounded a bit dull and grey. I use a vintage Grace G707 arm on my LP12 which I think sounds way better with better dynamics and wider tonal palette. However IMHO and compared to their peers Rega achieve a lot with a little and despite the commercial pressures of the modern day have stayed pretty true to their values so to my mind Rega deserve credit even if they are being forced to be a bit more commercial just to survive in these difficult times.

Now I understand what my LS3/5a clones are good at (voice) I realise that my old Rega R3s and RS3s were dynamic and reasonably efficient and pretty good for the money. Hmmmm..one step forward two steps back!

Rega may not make the best gear (although I would argue that their RP1 in its new price category is the best) their gear is not a rip off unlike some I could think of

I agree with Brit re the Brio R being the best you can get under £500. For me Rega's strengths lie in their inexpensive gear. Oh and another thing the service support I have had from Rega is just fantastic.

Still HFS has wetted my appetite to hear an NVA amp with some decent speakers e.g. Royds so that is on my to do list. Such a shame Joe Ackroyd couldn't be persuaded into a swan song?

Thanks for the education even if the delivery can on occasion be a bit blunt.I am getting used to it!


Chris

[kimangelis]

I tried a Rega Brio amp between swapping between a AP10P and getting the NVA pre-power combo I have now. I found the Brio amp bland and very lack-lustre, even when compared to the much cheaper AP10P.

Don't know about their speakers, never will either.

Had a Rega Planar with (I think) a Japanese arm back in the 80's and found it both great value for money and took a lot of beating without resorting to the afore-mentioned Bankers Bonus.

I think their Apollo-R CD player is great as I do their Brio DAC, and once more yes they can be beaten, but to my ears not without paying (again) a Bankers Bonus.

I read once about Porsche.... Yes Ferrari's may look prettier, a Maserati may out-perform both, Aston Martin are quintessentially English, and a Dodge Viper is quite simply a hooligan on wheels....

However, Porsche consistently make a performance car that is reliable, very usable, and are very good in all areas... if not the best, and for a fraction of the cost of the others. I feel the same way about Rega front-end electronics.