Rega Brio R, Broke 3 times in 4 weeks.

[Brentford Bob]

The dealer you bought the amp from should be replacing this - no question.

Your contract of sale is with the dealer, not Rega. Go and demand a new one!

 

[BigH]

The dealer you bought the amp from should be replacing this - no question.

Your contract of sale is with the dealer, not Rega. Go and demand a new one!

It was an ex-demo one.

 

[paul darwin]

Hi Bigmilly88,

If you let me have the serial number of the Brio R I will check exactly what has happened to it over its life, date of manufacture, date of dispatch to dealer, return to Rega etc etc.

As I suggested previously if you are unhappy in any way after we have had an opportunity to look at the unit then we will replace without question.

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

 

[paul darwin]

Hi Bigmilly88,

If you let me have the serial number of the Brio R I will check exactly what has happened to it over its life, date of manufacture, date of dispatch to dealer, return to Rega etc etc.

As I suggested previously if you are unhappy in any way after we have had an opportunity to look at the unit then we will replace without question.

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

 

[stevebrock]

Hi Bigmilly88,

If you let me have the serial number of the Brio R I will check exactly what has happened to it over its life, date of manufacture, date of dispatch to dealer, return to Rega etc etc.

As I suggested previously if you are unhappy in any way after we have had an opportunity to look at the unit then we will replace without question.

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

Good call

 

[Brentford Bob]

The dealer you bought the amp from should be replacing this - no question.

Your contract of sale is with the dealer, not Rega. Go and demand a new one!

It was an ex-demo one.

Your rights in this instance are exactly the same as with any other "NEW ITEM" purchase with the exclusion that you would not as stated above be able to return it in the case of any reasonable defects visible or notified at time of sale, for example if the guarantee is not present unless there was a ticket attached or some other point of sale identifying this fact then this would be grounds for refund but the production of the guarantee (or other missing item) would eliminate the stores requirement to refund, it is fair for any store to expect that a customer would accept minor scratches or blemishes ,or missing packaging when purchasing ex-display but nothing that adversely effects the functionality of the product or statutory rights of the purchaser.

 

[the record spot]

Looks like you got some humming in your Elicit-R but a lot of British amps have this characteristic. It is not really an issue but part of the design of British amps. That's why a lot of these amps like Naim don't a mute button because they believe this gives the amp a purer signal. Naim amps are known for humming issue, but that's how they're designed. My new Onkyo amp never had this issue, yet, Naim or Rega still sound cleaner and clearer. My Rega Brio 3 was picking up radio channels through my interconnects. Basically, my interconnects was acting like an antennae. This did not ruin my enjoyment of the music.

Have to say, if I was paying the kind of money that Naim and Rega are asking for some of their amps, then get fobbed off with a "that's how the Brits design their amps" as if that's some kind of good thing I'd be a mite brassed off, especially when other manufacturers can churn out amps that would be back in the repair shop with nary a hint of a hum on their gear.

I use an Onkyo amp as well and clarity, power, presence and detail aren't even an issue. I wouldn't put up with an amp that hums far less accept it is supposedly part of a good design. Come on, we're saying our designers can't spec a quiet amp?

 

[Vladimir]

Not that dead horse topic again...

 

[Native_bon]

Not Rega again?

 

[bigmilly88]

Hi Bigmilly88,

If you let me have the serial number of the Brio R I will check exactly what has happened to it over its life, date of manufacture, date of dispatch to dealer, return to Rega etc etc.

As I suggested previously if you are unhappy in any way after we have had an opportunity to look at the unit then we will replace without question.

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

Cheers for this Paul,

Thankfully though when I returned it to the dealer he made the decision of giving me a brand new one. I've had it 2days now and no complaints, so I'm happy it's all worked out in the end, it just seems to have been a very rare case and a bit of badluck on my side maybe. I can't really fault the service Rega has given me in the end, and hopefully it has come across like that for the most part!

Also many thanks to everyone else on providing advice, and I will have a good look into them dacs thanks BigH.

Now back to my records.

 

[DeckardWill]

Apologies in advance for resurrecting a really, really old thread. But I don't know where else to turn.

I've had the EXACT same problems as the previous poster on here. The Brio falls silent. You can power it on, but no inputs appear.

I already returned it once, to Holburn in Glasgow (who are most the length of the UK away from me, in Bristol). They stated the problem was "One of the peripheral interface control chips (PIC) got stuck in a loop and had to be replaced / reprogrammed. Other than that it has had a full test and clean bill of health on everything else".

I tested it a couple of mins and seemed ok, so sold on eBay since I'd purchased a Yamaha amplifier due to needing living room audio.

The eBay user IMMEDIATELY came back stating there was a fault. The EXACT same fault

Holburn this time told him he'd need to pay to send to them for a repair. He declined, so is sending back to me for a full refund.

But where does that leave me?

I'm trying to contact Rega direct, since I don't want to ship the hifi accross the UK again for a repair that may or may not work.

Can I take the Brio into a local supplier in Bristol? Maybe Audio T on Park Street?

Rega reps, if any one of you are reading this please help. We don't have this kind of money to lose and this hasn't been a good experience.

 

[DCarmi]

You could ask Audio T. Their site has a chat function which you could try, if you don't want to visit in person (though this may be the best option). For Audio T, it should be that a happy customer is a returning customer.

Take any blurb from Holborn, with you, if you visit.

Rega prefer to contact through dealers. You don't say whether it is covered by warranty, so I guess probably not. If it is a chargeable repair they should give you a quote.

 

[DeckardWill]

You could ask Audio T. Their site has a chat function which you could try, if you don't want to visit in person (though this may be the best option). For Audio T, it should be that a happy customer is a returning customer.

Take any blurb from Holborn, with you, if you visit.

Rega prefer to contact through dealers. You don't say whether it is covered by warranty, so I guess probably not. If it is a chargeable repair they should give you a quote.

Thanks for the advice. I've since heard back from Holburn again and in their defence, it does sound as though they were offering the ebay purchaser a new amplifier as a replacement, so what I was told was not 100% correct.

They're offering to do the same for me. However I'm keen to either have a refund or a replacement for a big-name brand, since for me reliability is the most important thing with a young family.

Will update again later with how this worked out.

 

[npxavar]

The Brio R operates without a heatsink and without venting grilles on top. Depending on room temperature and how much drive your speakers need, it may be that the chip is failing due to overheating.

 

[DeckardWill]

The Brio R operates without a heatsink and without venting grilles on top. Depending on room temperature and how much drive your speakers need, it may be that the chip is failing due to overheating.

Yes I suppose it's possible. It was kept on a shelf in what used to be the fireplace. There was nothing on top of it, so it had space to breathe above. The doors to the shelves were vented so I'd never experienced things overheating in there before. I did always consider heat and checked quite regularly - it only got warm to the touch.

So you could be right but that said, if its tolerance to heat is that low... in the UK (not the hottest of places), it's not great

 

[npxavar]

Do you have 4Ohm speakers? The Brio does not have a rating for those, exactly because of limited heat dissipation.

 

[DeckardWill]

Do you have 4Ohm speakers? The Brio does not have a rating for those, exactly because of limited heat dissipation.

The Brio was driving 2 different sets of speakers (I upgraded these in the middle of owning the Brio).

First pair was the Mordaunt Short Mezzo 1 (4-8 ohms, quite easy to drive)
2nd pair was Dali Oberon 3 (6 ohm)

It didn't seem to struggle with either, and didn't get hot - it remained warm to the touch.

 

[npxavar]

Did you try touching the sides? This is where the transistors are screwed on internally.

 

[DeckardWill]

Did you try touching the sides? This is where the transistors are screwed on internally.

I did yes, particularly in the days where the unreliability started (which ended up as a permanent fault), since I was moving it and its connected devices around trying to diagnose what was going on.

They were warm too - it never felt to me as though heat should be an issue at the temperatures observed.

 

[npxavar]

The next possible culprit is electrolytic capacitors. Maybe the IC is too close to one of the two large filtering capacitors. Electrolytic capacitors produce increasing amounts of heat with years of equipment use.

 

[hifi]

Why do they make these units so small knowing heat is involved when these are ON my guess is too save money on materials.
I wish you all the best ,at least you know there after sales service is good ! reading the above.

 

[Deleted member 201267]

Apologies in advance for resurrecting a really, really old thread. But I don't know where else to turn.

I've had the EXACT same problems as the previous poster on here. The Brio falls silent. You can power it on, but no inputs appear.

I already returned it once, to Holburn in Glasgow (who are most the length of the UK away from me, in Bristol). They stated the problem was "One of the peripheral interface control chips (PIC) got stuck in a loop and had to be replaced / reprogrammed. Other than that it has had a full test and clean bill of health on everything else".

I tested it a couple of mins and seemed ok, so sold on eBay since I'd purchased a Yamaha amplifier due to needing living room audio.

The eBay user IMMEDIATELY came back stating there was a fault. The EXACT same fault

Holburn this time told him he'd need to pay to send to them for a repair. He declined, so is sending back to me for a full refund.

But where does that leave me?

I'm trying to contact Rega direct, since I don't want to ship the hifi accross the UK again for a repair that may or may not work.

Can I take the Brio into a local supplier in Bristol? Maybe Audio T on Park Street?

Rega reps, if any one of you are reading this please help. We don't have this kind of money to lose and this hasn't been a good experience.

Post #10 on this thread is from Paul Darwin from "Rega research" themselves. Not sure if he is still active on the forum but maybe pm him to help sort this problem out.

 

[DeckardWill]

Post #10 on this thread is from Paul Darwin from "Rega research" themselves. Not sure if he is still active on the forum but maybe pm him to help sort this problem out.

Thank you - yes, I've reached out to him but since Holburn have since come back, I'll wait and see what they conclude before trying Rega directly again.