Rega RX3 speaker appreciation

My modest (by audiophile standards at least) system features the following:
Naim CD5 w/Flatcap 2
Rega RP3 w/Dynavector 10x5 cartridge and P75 phono stage
Magnum Dynalab MD90 tuner
Naim Nait 5i integrated amplifiier
Rega RX3 speakers
Naim Headline 2 w/Grado SR-60 headphones or Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones

I've had the Naim gear and the MD tuner for well over a decade now. The Rega gear represents the latest additions, and the focus of this post has to do with the RX3 speakers in particular. Not only has the Rega gear slotted nicely into my system and increased the overall enjoyment that I receive from it, but it also represents very good value. In my case, the Rega purchases were made at substantial savings over the normal prices so they represent even better value than normal which is always appreciated.

The (living) room where my system resides is difficult at best. Our house was built in 1922 and the room is approximately 13' x 18' with a 9' ceiling height. Speaker placement is along the long wall, with a need for the speakers to be positioned fairly close to the wall behind them. Unlike my electronic components which I've hung on to for a while due to my satisfaction with them, the variety of speakers that I've owned is almost embarrassing and that number is outpaced by those models that I've seriously demo'd. At this point, I doubt that I can remember all of those that I've owned or demo'd, but they would include the following (in no particular order): ProAc Studio 100, ProAc Response 1SC, Spendor S5e, Spendor 3/5se, Linn Index, Harbeth Compact 7, Neat Petite, Neat Elite, Neat Motive (I forget the specific model number), Fried Compact 7, Kudos X2, Snell Type K, Devore Gibbon 8 amongst others.

Some might find it surprising that it ended up being the inexpensive, older Snell's which spent the longest amount of time in my system. The thing is, the Snells do a lot of things right and stack up quite well against many a modern speaker. But more than anything though, the sealed box design just worked so well with my room. (Due to bass bloat and overhang, anything rear-ported just doesn't work in this room, as are most designs that are vented directly downward towards a plinth.) However, as the years passed I came to realize that my listening time had tapered off significantly. It finally dawned on me that I had been "missing out" on much of what my albums and CDs (I own a couple thousand of each) had to offer and felt that the Snells (likely the tweeters in particular) were probably to blame.

In the end, I wound up replacing the stand mount Snells with the small Rega RX3 floor standing speakers. I had been familiar with Rega's small floorstanders since the release of the R3. While I found the Rega's to be enjoyable to listen to during the opportunities I had to do so in the past, I wasn't such a big fan of the previous iterations from a looks standpoint so they never made the cut for a home demo. That changed after I finally realized that my system could really do with a speaker update and I took a closer look at the RX3.

I've only owned the RX3's for a couple of weeks now, but have already spent an impressive number of hours listening to them. I can't say whether or not they are fully "run in", nor am I really all that concerned whether or not this is the case (if anything they've only improved with time). I knew that these modestly sized speakers were going to make me plenty happy the very first time I fired my system up with the RX3's in place. Perhaps things have begun to "gel" just a bit more since I first fired them up, but even if no additional change were to take place, I was very happy with these speakers right from the start. Not only is the RX3 design a great match with the rest of my system, but the combination of the front-ported design and the side-firing woofer provided the miracle I was in need of when it came room matching. Other than perhaps the Snells, The RX3 works better than any other speaker I've had in my room. Room matching aside, the upgrade of the quality of sound resulting from the insertion of the RX3's was significant enough that my wife immediately commented on it. This almost never happens, and one of the reasons for this is that the last thing my wife wants to do is to encourage any more spending on speakers (as you might deduce from the list above, in years past this had been a real issue for me). But the small Regas just sound so good in my system that even she couldn't help but notice (for her music is strictly to be enjoyed "in the background" to whatever else is going on at the time).

To sum up my audio preferences, I'd say that I value the representation of the dynamic quality of music and timbral accuracy over things like imaging and soundstaging. By the way, another cool small speaker that I A/B'd the RX3 with was the Larsen 4. The Larsens were really unique and given my preferences, they sounded great to me. Still, the Larsen's just didn't have the same "fun factor" that the RX3's did. The Regas do a great job with the timbre of the instruments and they portray a great deal of musical texture. While we all might have our own interpretation of timbre and texture, I'll just say that I describe these as the things that help me distinguish between the tone of a Gibson J45 and a Martin D28 (I'm a guitar player by the way). I'm not sure how much of this should be attributed to the tweeter and how much the the mid-bass driver, but I suppose that doesn't matter. I just like that these speakers do such a good job with this sort of thing.

The RX3 appears to be a very easy load within the context of my system and matches up well with my trusty old Nait 5i. While they manage to sound plenty lively when at lower volumes, they can also stand up to really being cranked beyond levels where I could still try to have a conversation with someone else in the room (I listen to a bit of everything, but do have a lot of classic rock and blues albums that I love to listen to at high volume when given the chance). Much like the Snells, the "balance" of the speakers remains nicely intact as the volume continues to increase. They also do a good job of representing the scale of different instruments such as the piano, or the variety of impacts different sized drums in a drum kit can have. Leading edges of notes from strings be it guitar, piano or acoustic bass are all presented well, as is the immediate impact that anything in the percussive realm contributes to the mix. All of which is a very wordy description of what makes these small speakers so much fun to listen to for me.

I suppose that they do the imaging / soundstaging thing okay too, but I honestly don't pay as much attention to that sort of thing. On the downside, I'd say that when it comes to the RX series in particular, while it looks nicer to my eye, the placement of the spiked feet underneath the cabinet (as opposed to using the "outboard pods" of past R and RS designs) provides a less stable base from a support standpoint should someone, or something (such as a large lab pup) happen to bump into the speaker. While the provided magnetic grill for the mid-bass driver looks and works great, leaving the tweeter exposed (even though it's protected by a very nicely executed thin metal guard) might someday draw the unwanted attention of small children.

I guess that it's a bit of a shame that Rega's speakers gain little attention in the marketplace. But I get it — it's far more enticing to consider the designs of those companies whose sole focus is on building loudspeakers, human nature being what it is and all that. If nothing else, I personally feel that way. I suppose that Naim and to some degree Linn also fall prey to this same fate. At this point, I'm just glad that decided to give the RX3's a shot. While I obtained the RX3s at a great price, having now enjoyed these speakers in my system/room for some period of time, I feel that they would be well worth the full asking price. I would note that when it comes strictly to music playback, it's also very likely that I would have enjoyed the older RS and R designs in my system/room as well.

This forum happened to be one of the few places where I found much in the way of mention of the RX3 so I thought I'd sign up and share my thoughts here just in case someone else out there researching small floor standing speakers might benefit from my experience. While there has been little attention paid to the RX3, I've noticed that not all of the feedback on the RX1 and RX5 models has been glowing. I personally tend to take reviews with a grain of salt whether they are glowing or not, and as such, I'd only say that what I've shared here should be considered as the beginning of a journey when it comes to buying a pair of speakers. Given the sheer number of different designs out there for consideration, it becomes very apparent that we all like different things when it comes to speakers in particular. What really matters most is how any given speaker works within the context of each individual's system (and certainly within their own room). But based on my experience, it would be a shame if anyone who found themselves in a position of considering small floorstanding designs were to simply ignore the Regas all together if they were within budget and appeared to be a potential match for their system/room.

 

I too have a difficult room as far as bass loading is concerned and I find the front port and the side mounted woofers to be the perfect solution. Its amazing what you can hear when you have a speaker that doesn't fake bass. I listen to a lot of jazz and love the sound of double bass and the RX3 covers every note from top to bottom in a clean and natural fashion. In addition to the bass the speaker definitely has a lively character and is great at portraying the emotion in a piece of music. As far as imaging goes that is an important factor in how a speaker appeals to me and the RX3 images very well compared to the last speaker I had which was a Monitor Audio RX6. The RX3 renders a good sense of depth and instruments are solidly positioned in the sound stage. Soundstage width doesn't seem to be exaggerated and is either wider or narrower depending on the recording giving a hall like spaciousness or an intimate club like feel depending on what the producer intended. For instance a classical recording, Witches brew featuring Alexander Gibson conducting the New Symphony Orchestra of London (RCA Living Stereo 1958) doing a compilation of early-mid 20th century works by the likes of Arnold, Moussorgsky, Saint-Saens, Humperdinck and Liszt, where the soundstage stretches from wall to wall left to right in my listening room. Or one of my Blue Notes, for instance Stanley Turrentine's Jubilee Shout (1962) where Rudy Van Gelder set the boundaries by placement of the sax on the left and trumpet and drums on the right giving a more close up and intimate perspective on what's being played. Either way they provide a fairly three dimensional sonic picture of what is being played only failing a little bit in scale, given a small room, small speakers and modest power (72.5 watts). On close mic'd instruments though (Rudy's sax and trumpet again) they can easily present a life size image.

I guess you can gather from what I'm saying that like you I'm rather smitten by the RX3's. I find them very capable and really enjoy listening to them.

 

Rega have always made underrated speakers, IMO. I have a fairly small listening space, and, for awhile, I had RS1's (immediate predecessor to the RX1) being powered by a Linn Majik amp, and later a Rega Brio R. I've had a ton of speakers in here, and the RS1's are one of a handful of speakers I miss owning. I traded them for Harbeth P3ESR's which, although lovely, didn't have the sheer fun factor the Regas did.

 

Morbius, thanks for your comments regarding other aspects of music reproduction as heard through the RX3's that I didn't provide much info on. Scale in a recording is a tricky subject for a variety of reasons and you've touched upon one of them which is mic placement when the recording was made. You mention the double bass and I'm instantly reminded of the Brian Bromberg recording titled "Wood" where he's playing a 300 year-old Italian double bass that must have been very closely mic'd. The amount of "texture" in that recording is incredible and makes almost any decent speaker sound quite a bit larger than it physically is. The RX3 is no exception in this regard when playing this particular recording.

bhazen, for me the "fun factor" of amy given speaker is a huge component of how much I might tend to like it. If music isn't fun to listen to, then I hardly see the point. Ultimately I want gear that does all of the "audiophile" stuff well, but is also plenty fun. Your comment reminded of the period of time that I was using the Harbeth Compact 7ES in my system. They were fantastic speakers that did a number of things amazingly well. I found myself listening to a lot of my jazz and acoustic/americana recordings in particular during my time with the Harbeths. But in my system/room I didn't find that I was having as much fun as I should have been (for one thing, most of my rock and electric blues recordings sat largely untouched). The Harbeths might well have boogied better in another system or another room, but I ended up moving them on to try other options. I don't miss them, but then I don't tend to miss too many of the speakers that I moved on from in general. I would still point out that I liked a lot of other speakers enough (including the Harbeths) to take a chance on them so my comments really should be viewed how I view/viewed various speakers within the context of my system and the room it's in.

In the end, I made two trips from Portland to Seattle and back in order to wind up with the RX3's. This was not an intentional plan as I originally made the trip there and back to purchase a different set of previously owned speakers that ultimately did not work out in my system/room. The store in Seattle noted that they would allow me to return the used speakers if they didn't work out (which I'll admit played a factor in my making that purchase in the first place). Only upon my second trip did I decide to take a chance on the RX3's. Later on, I made a follow-up call to let the salesman I had been working with know how happy I was with the speakers. As it turned out, he owned a pair of RX3's himself (also brought on by certain room constraints). It seemed watching me go through the process of listening to a variety of speakers and deciding to take a chance on the RX3's simply because they struck me as the most fun to listen to made an impression on him. He let me know that later on he ended up spending some time re-visiting his own pair a bit more closely and admitted that he too finds them impressively fun and enjoyable. All in all, even having made two separate trips to Seattle and back, I'd say that the time and effort invested was worth it for me as I've been able to "upgrade" my system while maintaining the proper audiophile/fun balance that I strive for.

 

I appreciate your comments and those from others in this thread. I really enjoy my RX3s but see little feedback about them here or other places on the web. Just wanted to chime in as another owner of these speakers, though since I'm at work I can't comment further.

 

I've got a CD5 w. Flatcap XS, myself; how do you like that combo?

IMO, the CD5 is one of the classic Naim CD players. Not uber-resolving, maybe, but for communicating musical intent and groove it's a standout.

 

I've truly enjoyed it. I had previously owned an Arcam FMJ CD23 (along with an A85 integrated amp) that I had owned prior to the move to our current house. It was after moving into this house that I discovered just how problematic the room where my audio gear now resides could be. That started my exhaustive speaker search. When shopping for speakers, I happened to listen to the Nait 5i and decided that regardless of anything else, the 5i was going to be part of my system. So out went the A85. Not long after the Nait 5i purchase, I also demo'd the CD5, CD5i and CD5x and really liked all of them. Enough to know that if I found a deal on any of them that I'd likely go for it. So not long after that when the CD5/FC2 combo came up for sale on the used market, out went the FMJ CD23. The "5 series" gear has been with me now for 14 years or so, so yeah, I guess that I've been pretty happy with it. Man, time flies.

I'm really happy with the way the Naim gear and the Rega gear work together so nicely. In general, both companies seem to be interested in presenting music in a way that I find incredibly desirable.

 

Naim 5-series stuff is great. In recent times I haven't really felt the urge to follow the Naim "upgrade path", or too far, anyway. And of course, there's tons of folks feeding Naim setups with Rega 'tables, phono stages and such.

 

The whole law of diminishing returns thing kicks in pretty strongly for me beyond the level of gear I currently own. That might be partially due to the fact that I have plenty of other interests/expenditures beyond my audio pursuits. But regardless, I’m still really enjoying listening to music after many decades of doing so.

I’m certainly not breaking any new ground by combining Naim and Rega gear, although mixing in the RX3’s seemingly represents a leap that fewer are willing to take.

 

I may be wrong, but I get the idea the RX series speakers aren't as popular with the Rega faithful as the earlier lines. Couldn't say why, exactly, though the earlier paper drivers were beloved by Rega folks. I tried RX1's on a home demo and thought they had better tone than the RS1's I had, but maybe weren't as lively. Of course, this is hugely subjective. I did hear RX3's in the shop and thought they were great, driven by a Naim Uniti.

 

Thanks for this thread @Guth
I have owned the RX5 speakers for over a year now. I demo them 2x at my dealer in Tacoma, after I went in looking to buy a set of B&W 683 S2. After calling my dealer to set up this listening demo he told that I would not like the B&W. I listened to them for an hour, he was right, and I was disappointed. I then demo Vandersteen 1c, nicer but no boogie factor for me, plus I don't care for its "vintage" look. He then pulled out a set of Rega RX5s, I told him I did not want to spend that kind of money...he said just listen.
After wayyyyyy too much bass (which was fine by me) we pulled them away from the wall and it became more detailed and tight. I was hooked.......Listened for about an hour. Went home to ponder the price and make sure I was good.......I had also listened to a set of Wharfdale Jade 7 at another dealer, which I really liked.

I came back the next day, listened to the B&W once more then told him to put the RX5 back in, I brought my own CD, he left me alone closed the door and I listened for another hour....after 30 min I knew I was buying them. All this and I still did not appreciate the RX5 sound because the amp was an Ayre integrated for like $3K that to be honest sounded terrible, but I knew my NAD C356BEE amp would be better.
Even though you don't read many reviews on them, the two dealers I visit often hold the Rega speakers in high regard, there is another dealer in Gig Harbor that speaks highly of them. He runs a lot of tube amps and they sound amazing also with tubes, very impressive.

Once I received the RX5 at home it took maybe 100 hours for them to fully bloom. They sounded so much better with the NAD and since then I have upgraded to the Parasound Halo and the improvement has been more than substantial. The previous Rega line had some issue with drivers blowing, and its why I think they changed the design. What I like is the drivers are made in house and voiced really nice for a rich midrange, its why most like the sound they get from acoustic instruments and brass, vocals are also really nice and life-like. Bass notes have a nice deep tone with lots of detail which I really like, I don't really care for boom-boom bass......and yes low level listening is some of the best I have experienced, but when I crank the volume it gets more than too loud with more detail and resolution/dynamics. Soundstage is some of the best I have experienced, and this comparing to speakers I have heard costing 2x as much. Very easy to drive at 6 ohms and 89dB, what I really like about them and was a deciding factor for me is even thought these are 2.5 way, they have a concise singular sound, its not messy like the B&W sounded to me.

The Rega RX5 are a really fun speaker, I own them in walnut.....Eye candy

 

brazen, while I've been familiar with "this speaker" going back to the R3, I can't say that I've paid much attention to Rega speakers before then. I can't recall the exact pricing of the R3 or the RS3 for that matter, but I do recall them striking me as being a better bargain at the time. This might have something to do with the decrease in popularity. As I mentioned previously, I was already considering the RX3's at their full retail price before I happened them elsewhere at a 25% discount. Those savings certainly didn't hurt things, but I now realize that I would have still been happy with this speaker even at full retail price. Within my system, in my opinion they are easily that good. I would point out that I don't place too much weight on the price of a speaker in terms of how that equates to performance/enjoyment (certainly not in my room anyway). While I have had more expensive speakers, I've also had far less expensive options residing in my system that I've been very happy with. The RX3's have moved me from very happy to the next level of enjoyment.

I would also note that what someone is willing to spend in this hobby can vary an incredible amount from one person to the next. Given my budget, I personally consider these to be expensive speakers. I know that they aren't all that expensive within the context of what a person could spend on other available options out there, but when I apply the "how would I feel explaining this expenditure to my friends" exercise to the situation, then they're way expensive — it's all relative. I've got the "old guy" thing going on now and to me everything is getting way too expensive these days compared to the prices I was paying for gear when I first started being audio equipment. Such is life.

 

I had no idea that the drivers were constructed in house until reading your post. Sure enough, a quick glance at Rega's website and I've learned that not only the drivers, but the cabinets as well are constructed on site there at the Rega factory. Pretty cool.

(EDIT: taking a close look at the photos, it appears that the images are of the older series speakers, not the RX series. So I'm assuming that Rega still makes everything in house, but I was under the impression that they went elsewhere for the construction of the drivers in the RX series. Either way, it all sounds good.)

I agree with you that the integration of the drivers and the seamless sound that results from these speakers is very impressive. The fact that they're easy to drive and still are able to portray music in a dynamic fashion at low volume levels is just icing on the cake. It's really nice to hear that you're enjoying your RX series speakers as well.

 

I had a pair of R5's and RS1's. Fun and communicative speakers.

 

Not sure what pics you are looking at but the Rega website only shows the RX series and their higher end RS10. The older RS series is not listed anymore..........And yes Rega makes the speakers in house including crossovers, cabinets and drivers. There is a Fremer video of him touring Rega and they show the area where speakers are built.

 

There is a photo tour of the Rega factory on their website. At the very beginning there is a section titled "Loudspeaker Production Area - RX range of loudspeakers". The photos however are of the older series of speakers.

 

There is a review on HiFi Wigwam by Jason Kennedy where he states that the driver and cabinet construction are done of site and that only the final assembly is done in house. The design of the drivers and enclosures and crossovers is done in house of course. In Fremer's video they only show final assembly taking place.

 

Nice! Regas in a variety of sizes. Fun and communicative is a great way to sum up not only these speakers, but my system in general. Nothing over the top, yet getting to the core of what I’m looking for out of my music experience. I like that and these little Regas slot into the overall mix superbly.

 

This statement is off the Rega website, read it as you like:

Loudspeaker Production Area - RX range of loudspeakers
"Did you know? We design and build our own bass, mid-range and high frequency units in house.
Every voice coil and crossover inductor is wound and manufactured to exact specification before each unit is meticulously hand assembled and tested before fitting into a cabinet."

Certainly possible that Rega has a woodshop (contract shop) off site that precuts the boxes and applies the real wood veneer to all the sides. Ships those in knock down format and at Rega they are then assembled with the x-overs, drivers and connector box.

Cheers

 

You have a point but its interesting that they only show production pictures of the RS line. Either way though I really do like the RX3 and your 5s look smashing in walnut!

 

Surely the only question worth a damn is, "Are you an in-y or an out-y"...?!

Side ports firing in or out? There is no 'correct way' apparently but I prefer my RS3 firing inwards.

So, I'm an in-y!

 

Oh, and they are marvellous. - I was very concerned by their lightness at first, but I needn't have been

 

In-y
cherry

 

lol, in my room I prefer the sound with the side units pointed inward. I just really dig the fact that one has the choice (flexibility) to further tune the way the speakers interact with the room by way of locating the side firing units to the inside or the outside. (The RX3’s sounded better to me with the side units pointed outward in Hawthorne Stereo’s listening room).

For people who have largish, dedicated listening rooms where the speakers can reside well into the room un-impeded by anything else, such design factors might be of little value. But for someone like myself, where the audio system resides within a regular living area, this is of tremendous benefit.

 

Lots of misinformation everywhere on the net. Rega has increased production a lot since the early 2000's. They were about 70 employees in the '90s and I think they are well over double that now. They have two production facilities now. They started with one, of course. When they outgrew that one, they moved most of the production to the new space. That is the facility that is shown in the Fremer videos. They make many component parts for and assemble through final assembly there turntables and electronics. The old facility is where loudspeaker production is done, and that is why it wasn't in the videos. Rega does all engineering and design work in house. They do use quite a few specialized suppliers for components that they have designed or specified. Plinths for turntables and loudspeaker cabinets are done off-site at other businesses that specialize in supporting Rega production. They also have the tonearm tubes cast in a foundry of course, and then finished to their spec, cleaned-up, powder coated, polished, whatever, elsewhere before being delivered and inspected prior to final finishing and assembly for the tonearms. It isn't practical to do every job in one facility where you can specialize. So the great dusty mess of the woodworking is done elsewhere as is much painting, etc. Rega does make all of the important inner workings of the components such as voice coil and cartridge coil winding, driver component assembly and all final testing. Naturally, component electronic parts such as resistors and capacitors, etc are all sourced from those mfrs but are chosen for Rega's own unique product designs. Here is a photo of a Rega employee building a driver for one of their speaker designs.



-Bill