New integrated amp

[PLINIUS]

If someone has Trio or Kenwood LO7D and have just discovered that a Rega outperforms it , I will take the LO7D of your hands

You are certainly on to something Chris
The "jewel in the crown" of the gear your father left you is the Harbeth speakers which, by any standard, are very, very good( sorry to hear of his passing), but are not that easy to drive properly. At 86db p.w.p.m. they need a bit more powerfull amp. than those discussed.
Your dad sure knew his speakers

[hifi_dave]

Not so. The Harbeth range are a very easy load for an amp and the 50 wpc of the Brio-R is more than ample. I regularly use lower powered amps such as Sugden, Croft Integrated, Icon Audio and vintage amps such as Leak Stereo 20 and Quad 11, all work just fine and sound great.

[DSJR]

If someone has Trio or Kenwood LO7D and have just discovered that a Rega outperforms it , I will take the LO7D of your hands

All I ask of you peeps, before I leave this alone for evermore, is that you DON'T listen with your eyes. The "epiphany" I speak of is a life-lasting thing, when you find your God Product to be not worthy of the adulation you've previously given it, in particular when it's been trounced by something much cheaper. In turntable speak, it's why I rate the NAS Spacedeck so highly, even the old very basic version that's been all but replaced now by the AceSpace. An RB300, so derided by many here, sings so well on one of these, you wonder if it's the same arm that can sound so utterly boring and bland on other decks... Finishing a Spacedeck like all the old heavy jap decks revered here would add substantially to the cost, but would it make it sound any better? The Trio and early Techie direct drives (SL110 for instance) were never "listened to" when designed, but as I said at least twice before, modern thinking may well transform them, as happens with lower caste models.

Regarding Harbeths, none of them had what I'd call a difficult load in all fairness. 86db sensitivity isn't high I grant you, but any 50W amp with reasonable power supply should be fine, even with the tiny P3 series. Do please remember that the sensitivity quoted by so many manufacturers is at one frequency where there's a peak or up-lift in the response (one 90db speaker I know is on average 5db less than this over >80% of its range. In comparison with the approx 84db Harbeth P3's, the latter sounded just as "loud" but without the screech exhibited by the other speaker.

That's it from me. I hope the OP finds some good advice in this thread and that it helps him make a decision that suits him and not "us," if you chaps see what I mean. As for Rega decks, they may not plumb the depths or scale the heights, but PROPERLY SITED, what they do in between can be quite entrancing, cheapo wood plinths and rubber drive notwithstanding

[chris@panteg]

Sorry Dave , it was just a pathetic attempt at blagging a trio on the cheap , no offense m8 .

I don't buy with my eyes , if did I wouldn't use a Technics , though it's not that ugly really .

[Yomanze]

Not so. The Harbeth range are a very easy load for an amp and the 50 wpc of the Brio-R is more than ample. I regularly use lower powered amps such as Sugden, Croft Integrated, Icon Audio and vintage amps such as Leak Stereo 20 and Quad 11, all work just fine and sound great.

Agreed, some 'insensitive' speakers on paper can have much friendlier impedance curves meaning that amps need less juice to drive them properly.

[AristoChat]

Well i finally bought the new flat.

It took much time for painting and all of sorts of work

Here is the final result

Many thanks to all of you, without whom this project would not have been possible !!



Many thanks to all of you, without whom this project would not have been possible !!

Recap :

1 * Rega Brio-R
1 * Rega DAC
1 * Logitech Squeezebox Touch
1 * Rotel RCD 945AX
1 * Pair Harbeth HL5

2 * Belden 1694A Coaxial Digital Audio Cable RCA/RCA 1.5m
(Squeezebox Touch and CD player to DAC)

1 * Pair Fidelity IO Klotz AC110 IC / Neutrik Profi Interconnects 1m
(DAC to Rega Brio-R)

Speaker Cable Chord Company Carnival Classic

[Yomanze]

LFD is a head and cerebral mechanical sonic experience to me. the Brio R and all Crofts are more a heart thing. For me at any rate, to suspend disbelief, it's not enough to hear what instruments are playing and where in the soundfield they're located, it's also for me, a question about what they're playing and as far as possible HOW they're playing it...

Another perspective is that brands like LFD and NVA in particular are more about being "transparent" and getting to the "heart of the record" than Croft or Rega, which are more about being about "this is the heart of the music"! If you like or agree with any of these brands then great because each choice is astonishingly good in their own different ways. I would think that if the OP went for any of these options then they would be most pleased.

It's quite difficult to get an LFD or NVA setup sounding special because they need the source, media and speakers to be good, and not enter the chain poorly to get shredded apart. When synergy is right it's a different dimension to Rega's view of generally pleasing and musical sound, but not necessarily neutral. Am surprised that you mentioned the "what" and "how" instrumentalists are playing is a weakness of LFD as this is precisely what I think it a huge advantage with this gear!