Rega Ela MK 1.25

[southall-1998]

Have some nice Rega Ela's here.

They are the MK 1.25 version, half fluted, Royd bass drivers and 3 spiked feet.

Nice sounding speakers, very musical and fast

Just wondering, are the Ela's easy to drive?

I'm also aware the Ela's are 8 ohms. Do they dip pretty low below 8 ohms ??

[DSJR]

Shane, with respect, REGA made those drivers, not Royd (I watched them being made), although Roy Gandy did mention that it was a JOINT effort!

You've had ELA's before haaven't you? They're a doddle to drive and apart from not having any bass to speak of below 70Hz or so (well, I could never get floor shaking bass from them), sound really good in a room they like and with vinyl as a prime source, as one would expect.

[southall-1998]

Shane, with respect, REGA made those drivers, not Royd (I watched them being made), although Roy Gandy did mention that it was a JOINT effort!

You've had ELA's before haaven't you? They're a doddle to drive and apart from not having any bass to speak of below 70Hz or so (well, I could never get floor shaking bass from them), sound really good in a room they like and with vinyl as a prime source, as one would expect.

Stop being a stereotype, Royd made the bass drivers :ner:

[istari_knight]

Although they are very easy to drive I never had any true bass until I used them with a Technics SE9060... they really came to life then !

[Andrew B]

Shane is correct. It was the later mk 1.5 with the four footed stand that had Rega Drivers. His model has Ackroyd bass units and Scanspeak D2008 tweeters. Ive ran Elas in one system or another continuously for over 10 years. Whilst they are easy to drive, they produce VERY different results depending on the Amp. They love Rega's own Elex and Elicit, which were criminally underrated. They also like early Linn LK series as well as the bigger Exposures (eg Dual IV) and of course, Naim. The 90 isn't great, but 110, 140, 160 and 250 all work well. The very best I got from a pair was with a Krell KSA 50. The only tube amp I liked them with with was Audio Innovations Series 500. If your budget is limited, they work well with Onix OA21 and Creek 4040 and 4140. I've ran Elas for some time with each and every one of these and can recommend them.

Altough none of the following are bad amps in themselves, i didnt find them a match for the Elas. Audio Innovations 300 ( lacked bass and drive), Myst TMA3 (slow and lacking life) Ion Obelsk 3x/-PAC 1 (bright and edgy- a real surprise given the Ion Royd reported synergy).

I've probably tried them with a couple of dozen more amps over the years, but the above list should help give a flavour of what they do and don't like. Only my opinion in my own systems, but it does cover a few different listening rooms. I find Elas utterly musical and could happily listen to them for the rest of my life. The price they go for is one of life's treats for those willing to dabble in used hifi.

[DSJR]

Excuse me - I was AT THE FACTORY and SAW the drivers for these ELAs being made and these were the slanty-baffle three footed models, albeit late 80's.. The fronts were fluted too, and definitely not the flat plain ones that came after.

Sorry if I'm totally wrong, but Shane's samples must be nigh on thirty years old then :scratch:

Maybe we need a time-line for the ELA's.....

[Andrew B]

If you are correct then every review of the day and even The Royd enthusiast website is wrong. According to every piece of literature out there, the circular framed, eight screwed, dust cap free bass unit was made by Royd. It's also totally identical visually to the bass unit in my Royd Edens, which are sat here with me beside the Elas. If it was assembled in total or part at Rega, this isn't recorded anywhere, but it does look identical to Royds bass unit.

Now I can't rule out you being right, but it does contradict what everyone else has said all these years.

Here is a quote from the Royd enthusiast website.

Although not a Royd Audio speaker, I’m including the Rega Ela, as the first version were developed in partnership with Royd and shared the same drivers to the Royd Apex. Later versions of the Ela used a Rega driver, which can be identified by its squared off chassis with four screws, compared to the perfectly round Royd chassis with eight screws.

http://www.roydaudio.com/models/rega-ela/nggallery/image/rega-ela-manual-5/

There's also already a timeline on the website which categorises Shane's as Ela 1.25 with ROYD driver

[DSJR]

Your link is fine and I'm now wracking my brains as to the version I had for a very short time - no bass in my room and I couldn't live with them at all - I saw the walnut sided cabs with a scuff on them and bought them at a reduced trade price. I'm sure this was 1988/89 or thereabouts and they must be 1.5's since I distinctly remember seeing rows of drivers and bits of drivers at the later factory which was newly commissioned at that point - decks and arms were made at the original site in Westcliffe-On-Sea for many years after..

Shane's would sound best I think, since the ELA's treble got spittier and spikier as time went on, the later ones being horrible I remember. The 2000 model lacked scale, but was far better balanced to me :)

Thanks so much for the link :)

[Andrew B]

As far as I can glean, the Ela was only introduced August/September 1989 and apparently they weren't even built at Rega's factory until later. Original production/assembly was apparently done somewhere in Denmark. Could your memory of the factory maybe be a bit later? That would square with the drivers you saw assembly of being the later RR125 made by Rega and fitted to the Ela 1.5.

Edit: the original Ela also didn't come with wood sides. They were a slightly textured vinyl. Think "sticky backed plastic" and you won't be too far off. This only changed for the Ela 1.25 onwards, although I'm not sure if anything other than black ash was available until the 1.5. This also would suggest you saw the 1.5 rather than the 1.25s Shane has.

There were a few reviews at the time which identified the Ela bass unit as a Royd, but here's one thats available online, from Malcolm Steward in Nov 1989 for Hifi Review:

"Both employ two drive units: in the Royd that’s a 19 mm Scanspeak tweeter paired with one of their own 5 inch bass/midrange drivers; the Rega I know has a sourced-from- Royd bass/ mid unit of about 5 inches in diameter"

http://www.roydaudio.com/reviews/royd-apex-rega-ela-hifi-review/
I realise ths is ages ago, and its scary when you realise it's almost a quarter of a century!

[southall-1998]

Shane is correct. It was the later mk 1.5 with the four footed stand that had Rega Drivers. His model has Ackroyd bass units and Scanspeak D2008 tweeters. Ive ran Elas in one system or another continuously for over 10 years. Whilst they are easy to drive, they produce VERY different results depending on the Amp. They love Rega's own Elex and Elicit, which were criminally underrated. They also like early Linn LK series as well as the bigger Exposures (eg Dual IV) and of course, Naim. The 90 isn't great, but 110, 140, 160 and 250 all work well. The very best I got from a pair was with a Krell KSA 50. The only tube amp I liked them with with was Audio Innovations Series 500. If your budget is limited, they work well with Onix OA21 and Creek 4040 and 4140. I've ran Elas for some time with each and every one of these and can recommend them.

Altough none of the following are bad amps in themselves, i didnt find them a match for the Elas. Audio Innovations 300 ( lacked bass and drive), Myst TMA3 (slow and lacking life) Ion Obelsk 3x/-PAC 1 (bright and edgy- a real surprise given the Ion Royd reported synergy).

I've probably tried them with a couple of dozen more amps over the years, but the above list should help give a flavour of what they do and don't like. Only my opinion in my own systems, but it does cover a few different listening rooms. I find Elas utterly musical and could happily listen to them for the rest of my life. The price they go for is one of life's treats for those willing to dabble in used hifi.

Never heard the nice looking old Rega Elex amp, Andrew. How does it sound to you?

[Andrew B]

I honestly love the original Rega amps with Elas. Very sumptuous and weighty with great timing. Phono stage is decent but can be bettered. Not many integrated amps sound as hefty as a pre/power but the Elex and Elicit do. They go cheap too. Probs 100-120 for Elex and £220-250 for Elicit. Definitely an alternative to the Linn/Naim/Exposure pre/powers with Elas. I've never tried later Rega amps though.

[southall-1998]

I honestly love the original Rega amps with Elas. Very sumptuous and weighty with great timing. Phono stage is decent but can be bettered. Not many integrated amps sound as hefty as a pre/power but the Elex and Elicit do. They go cheap too. Probs 100-120 for Elex and £220-250 for Elicit. Definitely an alternative to the Linn/Naim/Exposure pre/powers with Elas. I've never tried later Rega amps though.

Cheers for that Andrew. Does Rega still service the old Elex?

[Andrew B]

Ooh not sure, but from seeing inside one, I'd reckon they'd be pretty bulletproof. The main board is the same as the mk1 Elicit. The two designs were very close in that respect and there's even the space to accommodate the second transformer and extra pair of smoothing caps that the Elicit enjoys. I've seen a couple of Elex that have been converted to Elicit spec. Google it and you should find one or two.

[southall-1998]

Cool. Cheers, Andrew.

[guy]

Edit: the original Ela also didn't come with wood sides. They were a slightly textured vinyl. Think "sticky backed plastic" and you won't be too far off. This only changed for the Ela 1.25 onwards, although I'm not sure if anything other than black ash was available until the 1.5. This also would suggest you saw the 1.5 rather than the 1.25s Shane has.


http://www.roydaudio.com/reviews/royd-apex-rega-ela-hifi-review/
I realise ths is ages ago, and its scary when you realise it's almost a quarter of a century!

Hi Andy,

I am still listening to and loving my Ela mk 1's with Royd bass drivers (circular, 8 posidrives and no dustcaps), fully fluted, three spike support, serial no 05286/7with wood side panels.
Not sticky back plastic/textured vinyl, but rather nice veneer (can't remember what the wood is now, but it still benefits from the occasional application of beeswax polish - seems to absorb it, which vinyl certainly wouldn't).

I bought them "ex demo" about twenty five years ago from a hi fi shop on mill road in Cambridge, and wouldn't want to be without them.

Interesting about their amp dependency. I use them with either a Nait 3 or Onix oa20 both of which work well with them. I sold an Ion obelisk because I thought it sounded thin and lacking in bass. I never thought that it could have been a mismatch with the Ela's!

Regards. Guy.

[Andrew B]

Hi Guy. I've only ever seen the sticky backed original Elas with the full flutes, so nice one! The plastic finish was/is uninspiring. Just like you, I didn't like the combination of Elas with Ion amps. Really strange considering the Royd association. I really like them with the Onix though. Such a good amp. I remember my first listen was with a Xerxes and Epos ES14s. They were a demanding speaker that tended to punish integrateds, but the Onix really did a great job. I had one again about a year ago. It was every bit as good as I remembered.

Nice to know others love their Elas too. My longest running piece of kit by miles.

[pbroido]

Hi Im new to the forum and came across this thread as Im looking at some Elas (Mk1.25). Thought Id respond to this old thread rather than generate a new one
Has anyone got a view on driving them with a Quad 303? Any thoughts

[5acan]

I use ELA's MK 1.25 with 405, and this is a lovely match...

[hifi_dave]

No problem with that combo. The ELA is easy to drive and the warm balance of the 303 will complement the brightness of the ELA.