Rega Elex-R Integrated Initial Review

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Rattlin' Bones, Sep 27, 2021.

  1. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    New Rega Elex-R unboxed and running for over a week. Let it burn in and warm up on my Lee Morgan playlist via Tidal for hours and hours (like 72+ hours initially), then other jazz via Tidal.

    Initially I'm impressed. I've tried several amps this summer and now into Fall; Rogue Sphinx, Parasound NewClassic power and pre, Cambridge. I wanted a Croft Integrated but none to be found and new wait list is now well into 2022.

    The Rega Elex-R dynamics sound better than Rogue or PS. It's pretty darn crystal clear, too. Bass is immediately more pronounced and natural sounding.

    Interesting to note the Rega plays at my listening volume at 9:00-10:00, and dial starts at 7:00 , which is about 20% volume? The PS components with a lot more power were at 50% for my max volume listening.

    The Rega is not a dead-quiet black background amp - at just over 55% volume you can hear noise floor streaming Tidal. That does bother me. And you can hear the floor of built-in TT at 0 volume; it must be pretty hot. Now, you cannot hear floor noise unless you put ear up to speaker. I just thought I should mention it.

    Put Pablo label Sarah Vaughan's "How Long Has This Been Going On" LP on TT today and gave it a listen. That's one of best engineered/recorded/mastered jazz LP's ever I think. The Rega makes it sound amazing. Peterson's piano the sustain the music is very clear and, well, musical. The best piano sounds I have ever heard from an album here at my house. Bass and guitar are well balanced, too.

    The Elex-R is exceeding my expectations so far. The Parasound is good (I never got along with the Rogue Sphinx) but I can hear things better with the Elex-R than the PS NewClassic; there is an air of clarity via Rega Elex-R but music is also rich. It's the opposite of clinical and fatiguing, while still delivering clarity.
     
  2. shug4476

    shug4476 Nullius In Verba

    Location:
    London
    Great review. It really is something special with vinyl in particular.
     
    bhazen likes this.
  3. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Nice review. I was going to ask about noise level as I had that issue with the Elicit I tried. The noise, and the fact it ran super hot was was a deal breaker for me.
     
    jonwoody likes this.
  4. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    55% of the volume knob is probably close to max power when running a typical digital source. Most volume controls don’t work in a linear fashion and amplifiers often have way more gain than necessary for the preamp section. I know if I run my Yamaha at over 50% for long durations it’ll go into protection mode, at least it does when operating as a stand-alone preamp. Most integrateds are at max gain somewhere between 50 and 75% knob rotation.

    Also, any integrated with a large transformer inside is going to exhibit some low-level noise. If it’s just a low-level hiss with your ear to the tweeter, it’s better than what many integrateds manage, especially at the price of the Elex-R. If you can’t hear it from your listening position then I’d try to forget about it and get on with enjoying the music. Very few amplifiers are absolutely dead quiet. Actually, I’ve only ever experienced one amp that can honestly be described that way.
     
  5. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Parasound NewClassic power is dead quiet. I could turn it up to 100% and hear nothing. Cambridge was same dead quiet.

     
  6. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    That’s pretty impressive. Even with a source connected and the source selected? Do the Parasound New Classics use switch-mode power supplies?
     
  7. ls35a

    ls35a Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, Idaho
    I like mine. I'm surprised how good the phono input is. Matches well with my Ultradeck.
     
  8. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Right. Connected to source like a preamp and preamp has a DAC connected to a CD player or streaming. No noise. Only noise was if using a phono pre some have a noise floor that's audible with ear next to speaker (my experience when gain 41+ I could hear noise. On the Elex-R internal phono pre the gain I think is 47 maybe so it's even hotter). But that's not coming from power amp.

     
  9. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    One artist's CD's that sounded just horrible on Rogue Sphinx was Allen Toussant. American Tunes and The Bright Mississippi. Unlistenable on Sphinx. Sparkle and beautiful music on Rega Elex-R.
     
    Roland Bart and timind like this.
  10. Art K

    Art K Retired but not tired!

    Location:
    Corvallis, Oregon
    Umm, The Bright Mississippi, what a great album.
     
  11. kyusslove

    kyusslove Active Member

    Location:
    Plymouth uk
    Went from a Rega Elex r to a Croft integrated.The Rega from new ,and from switch on,sounded nice.After it warmed up,found it dark sounding in the treble,and just ok realy.The croft,sounds better,more open,and with the tube change,one can brighten ,add or take away bass to suite.Used the Rega with Atc scm 11 v2,and Harbeth p3er.Mate got the Rega from me and loves it.Will be moving soon ,and have been looking at getting the Harbeth 30.2,but not sure the Croft will work the same as it does with the p3.But will try my set up first ,and maybe ,just keep the same.
     
    shug4476 likes this.
  12. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Congrats! What speakers are you using with the Elex?
     
  13. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    If the Croft had been available I would have bought it. I tried one previously and didn't get along with it, but in hindsight it was speakers not the Croft. They're backordered now well into 2022. Croft is a small entity so not many units are produced.

     
    kyusslove likes this.
  14. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Wharfedale Linton's.

    Funny thing is what I mentioned previously. With the Parasound power amp which is 150 watts into 8 ohms and 225 into 4 ohms, my ideal volume level was about 50% pushing the Linton's. I'm barely at 25% with the lower wattage Rega Elex-R. Same speakers.

     
  15. kyusslove

    kyusslove Active Member

    Location:
    Plymouth uk
    Had the same .Used a Primare a34.2 power amp with Atc scm 11 v2,but the Rega elex r drove them better,with less volume.Think it,s to do with current delivery .My old Sony ta f670es is the same.not much happens before 9 oclock on the volume,then it kicks in the mighty power.
     
    Echoes Myron likes this.
  16. Freedom Rider

    Freedom Rider Senior Member

    Location:
    Russia
    Rega amps are known for that - even the small IO has surprised many by its ability. I was considering getting it for my small room but there were reported issues with it that kinda scared me off a bit, like the hum/buzz.
     
  17. Hawkmoon

    Hawkmoon Eternal Champion, Master of the Universe

    Location:
    Surrey, UK
    Can you say more about the Rogue? I've read a lot of folks rave reviewing them
     
  18. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    The Rega Elex-R isn't s stone-cold-quiet amp, either. At higher volume setting with no music playing you can hear noise floor. But that's well beyond where I'd ever actually set volume. And it's with ear to speaker. From a few feet away you can't hear it. Using the internal phono-pre you can hear floor noise at very lowest volume level. I think the gain is 47 or something like that. The Parasound pair was dead quiet up to 100% volume. But when using the pre-amps internal phono the noise floor was noticeable at about 60% volume.

     
    Freedom Rider likes this.
  19. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Yeah I did not have the same experience as the Sphinx ravers. It was a distorted artificial sound. It did not sound natural. Fatiguing. The nail in coffin was listening to Allen Toussant. I thought the CD's were flawed. No it was the Sphinx. I'm not one to rave about a component just because I bought it and justify the purchase. My purchase of Sphinx was a mistake I just did not get along with it. Now I will also say that I also did not get along with a Croft integrated, either. I attribute that to the speakers I used at the time (old vintage Grafyx). Maybe the Sphinx sounds like crap with Linton's, but I doubt it. The Linton's are pretty easy speakers to make sound good IMHO.

     
  20. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    I bough the PS pair specifically to power Magnepans because of power and current.

     
  21. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    Has nothing to do with current delivery. It’s the non-linear operation of most volume controls and/or a gain mismatch between the pre and power sections.
     
    timind, Robert C and John Landreth like this.
  22. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Should not have been mismatch between PS pair engineered to work together.

     
  23. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    Yeah, you would think so but a surprising number of integrateds, probably the majority, have either an amp or preamp section with higher than ideal gain for its counterpart. This is probably because most integrateds have a provision for use as a stand-alone amp or preamp. I suppose it could also be that manufacturers are doing this intentionally, because they’ve realized high output at low knob travel leads some to believe the amp is more powerful than it is.
     
    norliss, SteveKr and timind like this.
  24. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    The Parasound isn't an integrated amp. Separate power amp and preamp engineered by Parasound to work together: the New Classic Series.

     
  25. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    I was referring to your noting that the Elex-R is just as loud as the Parasound at only 25% volume travel. My point was that it doesn’t in any way indicate the Elex-R is a higher current amp.
     
    Pmds55889397 and Art K like this.

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