Rega Brio (2017) - hum from the receiver itself?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Quidjay, Jul 9, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Quidjay

    Quidjay Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Francisco
    So weird thing, that I didn't notice until I was going to flip a record on my turntable (the point being I don't know how long this was happening in this session), but I noticed an audible hum from the system (very much the same as a ground loop hum). While I had nothing playing, I fiddled with the volume knob, and the buzz stayed the same. Where it gets weirder is that the buzz was coming from the receiver itself and not my speakers. I then turned the whole thing off and back on again, and the hum was still there for a minute, and then it just disappeared, hasn't been back since.

    It's a little...disconcerting, and only happened that one time. Is this something known with these things? What could have caused it? I have at least 200 hours on this thing, and it's been the first and only time. I guess time will tell how persistent it is...
     
  2. Ric-Tic

    Ric-Tic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    I have a Rega Brio R and my experience is that it is prone to hum or buzzing. I moved quickly away from the Rega brand. I had some unfortunate contacts with the dealer and the Swedish importer. The dealer refused to take it in return as he saw no fault with it , basically the dealer saw it fit to rip the customer off for mere 300 USD. Currently I am considering using it as a boat anchor or some other suitable task. My apologies if Rega owners that may have other (positive) experiences with the brand. From my point of view QC in Rega products are appalling.
     
    Quidjay, punkmusick and patient_ot like this.
  3. Mintsauce

    Mintsauce Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Wales
    Just this item or have you had trouble with other Rega products? I’ve got a Brio R and the only slightly annoying thing is the noise you get when adjusting the volume remotely. Other than that it sounds great for the price. Every company has some duff products that get through.
     
    Quidjay and andybeau like this.
  4. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    IIRC the company knows these things are hummers. It's from the transformer inside, which is too close to the other components because of the case layout and cramped design. They cut down on this by rotating the noisiest part of the transformer away from the other components, but I guess some may slip through and have worse audible hum than others. Could've picked up one at a great price awhile back but promptly decided against it after reading about this.
     
    Ric-Tic and Quidjay like this.
  5. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    I had a Brio3, and it also hummed and made an annoying popping noise when powering on.
     
    patient_ot and Quidjay like this.
  6. KT88

    KT88 Senior Member

    That could be environmental and the fact that you turned it off and on just a coincidence that you associated with the noise. In other words, noise can come from other devices on the AC and can start and stop without interaction with amplifiers from the user.
    in my personal experience, and I have a lot, the Rega amplifiers have consistently been some of the very quietest on the market. In fact, my favorite amp to pair with the dreaded Klipsch La Scala loudspeakers has been the Rega Brio amps. Many people suggest tube amps for these, but they are all too noisy through them, and most SS stuff just sounds like crap through them. The little Rega amps have offered the warmest and most quiet sound through them.
    -Bill
     
  7. Ric-Tic

    Ric-Tic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    Apologies for steering this thread off topic. But if you ask me, Rega's QC is way past the occasional lemon or DOA-kit.

    A friend of my mine bought an entire Rega system about a year ago. Planar 3 turn table, Elicit amp, Dac-R, Apollo Cd-player and RS5 speakers. Today he has sold the lot. The Cd-player basically didn't work. It skipped tracks randomly, and if you were to fast on the remote changing tracks it stopped playing music.

    Regarding my Brio-R I took a chance on it, because my amp that I used at the time gave up on my. I thought Rega products couldn't be that bad. I was a bit weary about the brand due to many bad reviews AND many reviews that thought highly of the brand. Unfortunately, I got a lemon product and a another lemon for customer service. About the same time when I bought my Brio-R there was a another Swede asking for advice to solve his humming Brio-R on this forum.
     
    patient_ot likes this.
  8. 33na3rd

    33na3rd Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW Washington, USA
    DC on the AC line can make the transformer hum. I've had this happen every once and awhile in the past. It is certainly annoying when it does happen. There are devices to block DC on the AC line such as AVA's Humdinger.

    HumDinger DC Line Blocker

    I'm not saying that you do have this problem, just mentioning the possibility.
     
    unclefred, chervokas and Quidjay like this.
  9. Mintsauce

    Mintsauce Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Wales
    It’s a shame that you’ve had a bad experience with Rega, I’ve had no issues with any of my Rega gear, the Apollo R is a bit slow to initialise but works great apart from that. I also ran a Dac R and only moved away from it as I’m moving much further up the price scale (yggdrasil) They do seem to shift a lot of units, so maybe that’s why you see more feedback. Hope you’ve found something you're happy with. (It looks like the remote for your current amp costs nearly as much as a Brio R :p )
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2018
  10. Quidjay

    Quidjay Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I agree on how quiet this thing is, when it is quiet. I don't think I've ever had a component, using even the most basic of cables that's as whisper quiet as this receiver.
     
  11. frimleygreener

    frimleygreener "It 'a'int why...it just is"

    Location:
    united kingdom
    All I get from my Brio is punch and finesse(when required).
     
    Quidjay and Mintsauce like this.
  12. Catcher10

    Catcher10 I like records, and Prog...duh

    This has been a known issue with the Brio-R amp. I first heard it back in 2011 when auditioning int amps, even my dealer didn't know about it and we swapped in different i/c and power cords and still hummed. I never bought one, around same time they had issues with their CDP specifically the Apollo. For the amp is was not all inclusive as I read many users not experiencing any hum, but one report I read was it was designed that way by Rega, they knew it hummed, I don't recall the reason for the design.

    I suspect they would have fixed it by now as I have not read of other issues with humming. I love Rega speakers!!! Same visit I almost bought a set of RS7, amazing but I was looking for an amp. I now own Rega Rx5 speakers, new design and drivers from the RS series, excellent build, design and voicing.

    Hopefully you can fix your hum issue.
     
    Quidjay likes this.
  13. Ric-Tic

    Ric-Tic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    I suppose it is a brand that offer a bifurcated experience. I've read threads with interlocutors that have similar (different) experiences as ours.

    I did like the Dac-R though. Maybe a little bit too sweet sounding but very good. Yggdrasil and Dac-R are very different it their sound signature. What makes you go for the Yggdrasil? I have glanced at the Yggy, but in Europe, the brand Schiit is little bit too obscure. I have my sights on a Soekris 1421 which has reviewed well against the Yggdrasil at less than half the price.
     
    Mintsauce likes this.
  14. Mintsauce

    Mintsauce Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Wales
    Dac-R served me well and will go into my office setup. Bought the Yggy based on reviews as there’s no place to demo it here, I'm loving it, huge step forward and part of a system upgrade as I have some budget. I made some comments in the dedicated thread, going to un-hijack the thread here :)
     
    Ric-Tic likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine