Rega ELA speakers... Responses and Reviews.
Mike Chu
Here's a summary of responses to my request for information on the
Rega ELA speaker. The ELA is a small floorstanding speaker about
three feet tall with spiked feet. The drivers are a soft dome tweeter
and a small 5 1/2 inch paper woofer loaded in a transmission line
configuration. The speaker retails for 1250 dollars and 1450 if
one requires wood veneer cabinet.
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I used a pair of ELAs for about a year. Excellent value for money.
Fast, transparent and very open.
Their real forte though, is that they are the most room independent
speaker I've ever come across -- you can stick them anywhere. They are
very happy close to a back wall, but just about anywhere you want
to put them.
Out of the 3 speakers you listed, I would pick the Regas.
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i read your post in rec.high-end. i have listened to two of the
speakers...the ela and the epos. i think i have listened
to the linn speakers, but since i was not interested in
them, did not take them seriously enough!!
the epos speakers have a metal (dome?) tweeter. that makes
them a bit bright. be very careful if you are going to use
them in a cd based, or solid state system. i personally
preferred the sound of epos 14 to the 11. the 14s are warmer,
probably due to the better bass and so on. infact, they dont
at all sound like a "small" speaker, which the epos 11s do.
the rega elas are much easier on the ear. they dont image as
well. and like the person posted on the net, they are airy
and so on. they dont use metal tweeters, and are quite easy
to live with, i think.
the speaker i went for are the spendor s20s. they are incredibly
musical..voices and horns sound just amazing through them. the
bass is good, but not great. it was reviewed in a recent stereophile.
a dealer in la for spendor is an incredibly nice guy, and he often
has used or trade in stuff in mint condition. do give them a hear,
particularly if your amp and preamp are solid state.
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About the Rega ELA's. First point, you don't say why you want to
upgrade your Proacs, what aspects are you hoping to improve on?
The Tablette is a very good speaker, suffering mainly from bass
limitations due to its size. If you like the Tablette then I'm not
sure you will find the ELA a suitable replacement. The ELA's are
a good speaker, but they do things in their own way - you either like
it or hate it I think. They are very musical, ie they convey the
rhythm and emotion of a recording fairly well. They are very laid
back and unforced though, the dynamics will not be in the same league as
the Proacs. I for one lean towards a dynamic sound from speakers and
although I enjoyed the ELA I felt I was constantly waiting for it to
get up and go!
Bass response is good due to the transmission line design - it works
well. They are excellent 'furniture' - they really blend in well with
a room and the design means they can be placed close to a wall with no
ill-effects at all (I only mention that in case size was a problem).
I like them, but couldn't live with them long term. They're warm,
involving, musical but in terms of transparency, dynamics, and being
revealing (ie Proc traits) they really fall short. The Royd version
of the same speaker is slightly better and has improved build quality.
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Of the three speakers that you mentioned, I've only personally
heard the Epos ES-11. They are wonderful sounding speaker IF they have
electronics that complement them. The designers used Naim Audio
amplification and a Linn front-end when they designed the speakers. They
are fussy speakers (but not as fussy as the ES-14). You didn't mention
what amp you would be driving them with so I would suggest that you
audition with the amp that you are using now.
Right now, I'm in the process of buying a hi-fi system too. I'm a big fan
of British speakers and judging from the three that you listed, I would
presume that you are too. If you can, have a listen to Tannoy speakers,
especially the 609 (bookshelf) and 611 (floorstanders). They list for
$700 and $900 respectively. Another speaker to consider is the Mission
753, just released late last. I have yet to hear them but they have
gotten rave reviews in the British hi-fi press. If I'm not mistaken, they
list for about $1200 or $1300. The KEF Q-series are also wondeful
speakers. The Q-80s would be well within your budget at $800. B&W also
makes pretty good speakers at this price point. Maybe you could check
them out.
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I haven't seen any of this stuff in print, but I do trust the options of
my friend, the speaker builder, as well as my own ears. Still, it's
good to hear that other people have the same opinion. I didn't
mention that for about an hour one day the two of us had a pair of
Quicksilver power amps in the system, wired up without the sub. At the
end of the hour, with the amps warmed up, the effect was awe-inspiring.
The program was the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra playing Mozart. And now I
don't remember whether we tried the Richard Thompson without the sub.
I'm used to the sub, and it's here (paid $250 for a used one through
rec.audio) so I'm going to use it. It's slow, but really only
contributes that last octave. The quality of the bass from the ELA's
themselves is extremely good, with a lot of punch and really fast.
Given the fact of a 5" driver, it's pretty amazing. The Adcom power amp
has the bass so tightly under control that the kick drum on Rumor and
Sigh, say, has the thump and then it's cleaned up an gone---no muss, no
fuss, no resonance, no rumble, no smearing in the time domain to give
the illusion of emphasis in the frequency domain. With tubes it might
be different. I really want to get the Quicksilvers back again, now
that the room treatment is worked out, but at the moment I can't really
give you any guidance. But I can assure you that you don't need a
killer sub. I'm pretty sure that there's no 100Hz bump in the response
either---the kind used to hide the absence of a real low end---so you
don't have to ask the sub to crank out a lot of sound just to match up
to the bump. This was the problem with my old Celestion DL8's.
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I've had a pair of Rega ELA's for about 6 months now. I had listened to
the Vandersteen 2C's, Thiel CS1.2's and SCS's, and the Apogee Centaur
Minors, along with a host of non-contenders, before auditioning the
Rega's. I heard them in a system containing the Naim CD player and Naim
amps. The overall effect was wonderfully musical, smooth, airy, and
detailed, with an upwards tilt in the frequency response. I suppose it
was the sound of the bodhran (drum) on Altan's Harvest Storm disk that
made the sale---the fingers-tapping-on-skin sound was unforgettable
(and, eventually, expensive, I fear).
In my own humble system (Rotel 955, Adcom GTP-400 + GFA 535, Audioquest
Ruby interconnects, Monster PowerLine 2 speaker cable, and an M&K V3B
subwoofer), I'm quite satisfied. The most amazing aspects of their
performance is in the time domain. I'd really like to see a waterfall
plot, but it sounds like it would be very clean. In the frequency domain
it took some RoomTunes and careful speaker positioning to bring the high
end under control. I ended up with excellent imaging, smooth tonal
balance, and not much soundstage depth (not the speakers' fault, I
suspect). I have the subwoofer crossover set at about 65Hz, so even
string bass comes mostly from the ELA's. The subwoofer is just run as a
second pair of speakers, so the ELA's don't see a low frequency
crossover. Even in my system, the effect is very musical. I love
having the Cambridge Singers or Shawn Colvin or Bela Fleck right there.
I suppose the transparency of the ELA's is not the equal of the Centaur
Minor's, but the Minor's didn't fit my listening style: I do
occasionally stand up and move around. The bass is not in the same
class as the ProAc Response Two's, but neither is the price, and they
are as musically involving, claims a friend. The perceived value is not
the equal of the Thiels, but they image as well as the SCS's and don't
need stands. Do the SCS's still only come in the gloss black finish?
For bluegrass, vocals, or chamber music I can live without the last
octave that the subwoofer provides, but for Richard Thompson, Asleep at
the Wheel, or organ music, now that I'm used to it, I'd miss it.
After six months of listening to speakers, I bought the Rega ELA's after
one listening and a sleepless weekend of real bad gotta-have-it's. The
way I bought them made me mistrust my judgement, and I worried all
through the breakin period and the long process of finding the right
setup. I am now addicted to them and recommend that you seek out a way
to listen to them, which may be tricky. What I have to do now is figure
out how to get that "fingers-on-skin" sound.
My speaker-building friend says he has seen a review in print of the
ELA's. If you are interested, I will try to track it down.
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Finally, I'd like to include a brief summary of the articles I've
dug up about the ELA:
"The frequency range is extended and clarity excceptional - one of the
best there is in any catagory. The sound is very detailed, without
artifitial definition. The timberes are elegant and correct. One is
under a spell as the musical coherance and the sonic fluidity are without
fault. Lastly, one must applaud the spatial image - precise and deep"
"For our part, despite the slight lack of body and fullness in the bass
range, we classify them among the two or three most authentically musical
in their catagory"
Jean-Marie Piel, L'enceinte Acoutique, France
"The Rega can indeed sound a bit lean tonally when compared to models
like the Vandersteen 2Ci and Rogers Studio 1a. For me, the ELAs stunning
sense of speed and dynamics is addictive. I'd rather trade away a little
bass weight in exchange for crispness and clarity that benifit ALL types
of music, not just those with significant low-frequency information.
Put plainly, the ELA communicates the emotion and meaning of music better
than the vast majority of speakers at any price."
"... the Rega ELA is simply one of the most musically satisfying
loudspeakers in the world today."
Hi-Fi Heretic
"Sonically somewhat idiosynchratic, the ELA's neat, compact package
incorporates much intresting engineering in a very discrete floorstanding
package. Provided care is taken to achieve a good system match bearing
in mind its revealing and slightly untidy nature, this speaker is capable
of delivering very satifying results for a relatively modest price, so
clearly deserves Recommendation.
Hi-Fi Choice, Recommended, UK
Enjoy,
Mike
--
Mike Chu -- Chemical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
Internet: gt0...@prism.gatech.edu
"The secret to a long life is knowin' when it's time to go" - Michelle Shocked