Hi all,
So, I've recently been bitten by the lovely creature that is the upgrade bug and was hoping to seek some buying advice as I am interested in upgrading both my amplifier and speakers.
I currently have a pair of wonderful Heybrook HB1 speakers on their original stands that were handed down by my father after he purchased some Mordaunt-Short MS908s some years back. The Heybrooks suffered from the dreaded foam-rot a couple of years back so I bravely re-foamed them myself, to which has kept them going for some years to come, however I was looking to get some smaller standmount speakers but don't want to risk taking a step backwards from the Heybrooks which are really tonally balanced, especially with the great Chord carnival cable which ensures no frequency stands out too much.
My Trio-Kenwood amp is a great little amp that drives the HB1s effortlessly, and has that typical old-school Japanese warmth similar to that of an old Marantz. I am, however, in desparate need of upgrading the Trio which shows signs of age when listening to vinyl, because the phono stage lacks alot of detail and doesn't really do my Rega RP1 any justice. The best replacement amplifier I've seen so far is the Rega Brio R, which sounds like a steal for a sub- £500 integrated amp, but don't really know where to go with the speakers. I understand that Wilmslow audio provide an upgrade service for Heybrook HB1s, bringing them a bit more up to modern standards by upgrading the tweeters to later Vifa units and re-capping the cross overs, and this will probably cost around half of my £500 budget for a pair of new speakers.
Does anybody have any experience of entry-level Rega standmounts/Dynaudio speakers, and would it be a worthy replacement for the old Heybrooks?
Any help is appreciated- apologies for the lengthy post!
So, I've recently been bitten by the lovely creature that is the upgrade bug and was hoping to seek some buying advice as I am interested in upgrading both my amplifier and speakers.
I currently have a pair of wonderful Heybrook HB1 speakers on their original stands that were handed down by my father after he purchased some Mordaunt-Short MS908s some years back. The Heybrooks suffered from the dreaded foam-rot a couple of years back so I bravely re-foamed them myself, to which has kept them going for some years to come, however I was looking to get some smaller standmount speakers but don't want to risk taking a step backwards from the Heybrooks which are really tonally balanced, especially with the great Chord carnival cable which ensures no frequency stands out too much.
My Trio-Kenwood amp is a great little amp that drives the HB1s effortlessly, and has that typical old-school Japanese warmth similar to that of an old Marantz. I am, however, in desparate need of upgrading the Trio which shows signs of age when listening to vinyl, because the phono stage lacks alot of detail and doesn't really do my Rega RP1 any justice. The best replacement amplifier I've seen so far is the Rega Brio R, which sounds like a steal for a sub- £500 integrated amp, but don't really know where to go with the speakers. I understand that Wilmslow audio provide an upgrade service for Heybrook HB1s, bringing them a bit more up to modern standards by upgrading the tweeters to later Vifa units and re-capping the cross overs, and this will probably cost around half of my £500 budget for a pair of new speakers.
Does anybody have any experience of entry-level Rega standmounts/Dynaudio speakers, and would it be a worthy replacement for the old Heybrooks?
Any help is appreciated- apologies for the lengthy post!