The amp has tonnes of room down there. Granted the width of the cabinet will trap a tiny bit more heat, but I doubt your everyday hifi stand is going to make any difference.
Me too. It sounds šš¼ I donāt think anyone is doubting this is an excellent amp.
Ever thought it could just be your particular unit that has issues?The amp has tonnes of room down there. Granted the width of the cabinet will trap a tiny bit more heat, but I doubt your everyday hifi stand is going to make any difference.
Me too. It sounds šš¼ I donāt think anyone is doubting this is an excellent amp.
Ok, yes Iām a little annoyed about Rega giving it a 4ohm rating & out of three dealers, all of them have said the amp should be fine with these speakers. One of them sells these speakers. Itās put me off Rega as a step up even though I love the sound & the styling.
Yeah, itās getting dropped off next week for a check-up. Currently waiting on the shop I bought it from if the warranty still counts as it was ex-display.
Hopefully it is just his unit... otherwise that would be pretty sad for a model line that pricey to have such issues.
I donāt have a better place. I still donāt understand what difference this location will make compared to a shelf on a hifi rack?
But should he have to do that? The amp should be designed to remain stable on a normal shelf, furniture or hi-fi stand. And on the floor will be the coolest part of the room - not like it's sitting on carpet.
Blimey, all this criticism of where you've got your amp - in acres of space...best I don't post a picture of where mine is
Yeah it's a real shame they don't do silent water cooling for audio devices!The amp has tonnes of room down there. Granted the width of the cabinet will trap a tiny bit more heat, but I doubt your everyday hifi stand is going to make any difference.
Me too. It sounds šš¼ I donāt think anyone is doubting this is an excellent amp.
Ok, yes Iām a little annoyed about Rega giving it a 4ohm rating & out of three dealers, all of them have said the amp should be fine with these speakers. One of them sells these speakers. Itās put me off Rega as a step up even though I love the sound & the styling.
Flippin' difficult comparing as human auditory memory is almost RAM-like especially when you have a level imbalance to contend with too. Guess you really need some kind of variable input switch-box to truly compare them A/B style.
Excellent review and I applaud you Rev
Big question is can the Audiolab handle your speakers for 8 hours?
The Rega has more casework - it has to as there is zero ventilation, so the casework acts as a heat sink. This seems to be one of the downfalls of the design when used with more demanding speakers, but I guess Rega intend it to be used with their own, which are a fairly easy load.
Well constructed Rev, love the review. One thing we can extract from it, vintage British amps are a class act. I can almost imagine myself being there, dunking my digestive into my cuppa. Very nice.....Experiment 1:
Elicit mk5 vs a classic that can push 2ā¦
I didnāt have much of a plan beyond searching for a cheap integrated that was well-regarded & comfortable pushing hard to drive speakers. The main candidates were NAD 3020, Naim Nait 50, some Yamaha models, Cyrus & a few others. Then I stumbled across the Audiolab 8000 & it quickly stood out for me due to descriptions from people who loved it (& from those who hated it). I came close to picking up an early version until I saw some criticism of the preamp. I did some more reading about all the different versions, incl. the 8000s (with the F serial number). That finally led me to the 8000LX which apparently has all the good stuff of the A & S, with none of the bad stuff. Within a few days an LX appeared on eBay, so I jumped on it for Ā£180.
Audiolab 8000 LX
1998
Ā£700 (c. Ā£1,540 adjusted for inflation)
60 W per channel into 8ā¦
Rega Elicit mk5
2022
Ā£2,000
105 W per channel into 8 ā¦
Did a quick a/b with a few modern folk & country songs. Mostly for quality production with layered mixes featuring prominent, quick-moving basslines & lots of acoustic drums, guitars, banjos, pianos etcā¦
(I should interject here & highlight that the only thing really being tested is how unreliable I am as a judge.)
Things get off to a great start with the Rega. Then I hit the first, and quite fundamental challenge to even remotely compare these two fairly: the Audiolab doesnāt have banana jacks š± after a few a few minutes wrangling with the speaker inputs, I managed to get things playing. Instantly my first thought was that the Rega was leagues better. Then I remembered it was louder with the other amp, so I turned it up. It sounded much better. By this point, though, Iād forgotten what the rega sounded like.
Cut back to me getting the volumes near level & testing again. The time it takes to switch the amps really kills any ability to get a feel for a direct comparison. The strangest thing was happening every time I plugged in the Rega: it seemed like no contest. But then after swapping over to the Audiolab I couldnāt hear anything missing or less clear in the mix.
The winner: Rega (only just)
All I can say is the highs sounded slightly more crisp on the elicit, and the 8000 was a bit bass heavy & slightly boomy in comparison. Apart from that I would go as far as saying I think they sound pretty damn similar. Both are excellent with lovely 3D sound in the mix, loads of clarity & separation. I think the word for the Rega would be ārefinedā, yet the difference would probably be imperceptible with day-to-day listening.
Colour me surprised. And also unsure of myself. I was expecting to instantly box up the 8000 & start looking for a different cheap amp that might be able to compete. Lots of good amps from this decade go for way more money on eBay, really wasnāt expecting for this first test to be so close.
Setting us up for a thrilling next stage of the experiment. To be continuedā¦
In the meantime, Iāll be doing lots of listening to try and get used to the Audiolab, then switch after a couple of days & see how that test goes.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram