Last BH weekend I had the Rega Elicit-R on home demo. Following on from the Elex-R home demo a couple of weeks previous, my initial impression was that it was nowhere near the same step up from the Elex-R, in comparison to the step up from my Rega Brio 2000 (38W) to the Elex-R. But one of the things I have learnt is you need to have a few days to play a good range of music at various volume levels and at various times of the day (moods) to get a proper feel for something.
The jump from the Elex-R's 72 watts to the Elicit-R's 105 watts (@8ohms) was not immediately obvious with bassy tracks, but once I played a few classical tracks the extra power became evident and on one track in particular (on a Saint Saens cd) the sudden power and scale of the lift in the music volume really stood out and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And similar to the Elex-R, the Elicit-R did not seem to go very loud quickly. but I think this was just that it was loud but much clearer than I am used to. Although I did manage to play one bassy track very loud where I could physical feel the volume of air bouncing off the walls.
The more music I played, the more I realised how much clearer the Elicit-R was and on quite a few occasions I was hearing sounds on tracks that I either had not noticed before or that sounded different/more pronounced than before. But, I also felt that the sound was very slightly on the bright side. On the plus side however, the soundstage was wider than the Elex-R. My speakers are 2.3m apart and the Elicit-R seemed to fill the space much more than the Elex-R did.
Prior to the weekend I had been away for a few days and driven 600+ miles, so on reflection the combination of being a little tired, a busy weekend, and playing much of the music louder than I would normally, probably contributed to the bright sound. However, once I was rested, and started relaxing more and playing music at lower volumes and at night, the brightness subsided. I use my hifi most later in the evenings to relax to. I spent several hours listening to albums I play regularly without any fatigue whatsoever. It was at these lower levels that I really started to enjoy the Elicit-R. In comparison to the Elex-R, the Elicit-R gave a more defined, fuller and clearer sound for those quieter night-time listening sessions.
I still have an open mind on which direction to go - the amp choice will form the basis of upgrading my complete system so there are lots of options, and I intend to arrange further demos to help me decide.
The jump from the Elex-R's 72 watts to the Elicit-R's 105 watts (@8ohms) was not immediately obvious with bassy tracks, but once I played a few classical tracks the extra power became evident and on one track in particular (on a Saint Saens cd) the sudden power and scale of the lift in the music volume really stood out and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And similar to the Elex-R, the Elicit-R did not seem to go very loud quickly. but I think this was just that it was loud but much clearer than I am used to. Although I did manage to play one bassy track very loud where I could physical feel the volume of air bouncing off the walls.
The more music I played, the more I realised how much clearer the Elicit-R was and on quite a few occasions I was hearing sounds on tracks that I either had not noticed before or that sounded different/more pronounced than before. But, I also felt that the sound was very slightly on the bright side. On the plus side however, the soundstage was wider than the Elex-R. My speakers are 2.3m apart and the Elicit-R seemed to fill the space much more than the Elex-R did.
Prior to the weekend I had been away for a few days and driven 600+ miles, so on reflection the combination of being a little tired, a busy weekend, and playing much of the music louder than I would normally, probably contributed to the bright sound. However, once I was rested, and started relaxing more and playing music at lower volumes and at night, the brightness subsided. I use my hifi most later in the evenings to relax to. I spent several hours listening to albums I play regularly without any fatigue whatsoever. It was at these lower levels that I really started to enjoy the Elicit-R. In comparison to the Elex-R, the Elicit-R gave a more defined, fuller and clearer sound for those quieter night-time listening sessions.
I still have an open mind on which direction to go - the amp choice will form the basis of upgrading my complete system so there are lots of options, and I intend to arrange further demos to help me decide.
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