southp
Active Member
Upgrading Rega Brio-R to Elicit-R with Harbeth or B&W
I spent a good 2 hours with the Elicit-R yesterday at the local dealer and I fell in love. We started with the Brio (because I already own one and I'm familiar with the sound) and then moved to the Elicit. I had two goals - to interpret the improvements when going from the Brio-R to the Elicit-R and also to see how Harbeth and B&W speakers matched with the Rega amplifiers.
The Brio-R came first, with the Harbeth C7ES-3 (Compact 7) and a couple of my own records spinning on a Rega RP8/Dynavector 10x5. I had just listened to Neil Young's Harvest (180g reissue) at home over the weekend, but with the opening notes of Old Man plucking away, it was clear that I was getting much more detail with the Harbeth's over my own B&W 602's. It was only once we got to the busier tracks like Alabama or Words did you feel there was something lacking from the little Brio, something that I've previously felt at home - it's a roundness or full-bodied depth that comes off as muddied. Overall the Brio-R with the Harbeth's was a fine match but if anything the 7's actually tone down some of that Brio liveliness which has become it's claim to fame.
After experiencing a slight let-down on a couple of Radiohead tracks from King of Limbs, we quickly switched from the Brio-R to the Elicit-R. On tracks like Lotus Flower, instantly the bottom-end came into focus and new subtleties began to emerge from the recording; the hand claps, the backing vocals. The little things that felt lost by the Brio-R in the busy electro-mix of these Radiohead songs all-of-a-sudden found their own space with the Elicit-R. You could choose to listen to the song holistically, or easily pinpoint the pluck of the bass or click of the hi-hat. If you're a musician (or hack like me), this is quite satisfying for those times when you ask "what are they playing or what are they doing to make that sound?" Then again, for someone who wants to get lost in the music, you might not like such a clinical approach. For me, the Brio was left in the dust and there was no turning back.
Staying with the Elicit/Harbeth combo, we moved back and forth from Vinyl to CDs played on the Apollo-R. On personal favourites like Pearl Jam's Vs I was captivated by the presence of Eddie Vedder's vocals on Daughter but disappointed that a driving rock song like Rearviewmirror didn't really snarl on the Harbeth's like I've come to expect with the B&W's at home. This also had me thinking "CD's suck", so one last song on the TT before a speaker switch was Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (from an original pressing of So). Damn it sounded fantastic. So big, so detailed. The Elicit-R hits the notes of the horn section with that perfect Rega liveliness, and Gabriel's voice sounding like he was in the room.
It was finally time to hear some B&W speakers with the Elicit-R, and it was the PM1 that were put to the task. We revisited the exact series of songs that were just played with the Harbeth 7's. My expectations were transparency and a more immediate attack with rock songs - mostly around the higher frequencies. And this is exactly what I got. The snare drum really locked into place on Rearviewmirror, and my initial reaction was that the speakers completely disappeared from the room and the music took on a new dimension. The magic only really took off however once the PM1's were being pushed, and you could get that beautiful Rega timing to shine. Where the Harbeth's seemed to smooth over some of the Elicit's natural tendencies of being more forward, the B&W PM1's played right into those traits. Vocals were as present between the two speakers, but electric guitars and bouncier bass were shinning through on the B&W. I'm possibly describing a sound that may be considered fatiguing, but the moment we dropped the needle the PM1's felt more engaging to me. S
Between the Brio-R and the Elicit-R it was clear that there's a drastic jump. Is it worth 3x the price? Probably not unless you have the speakers to tell it like it is, like the Harbeth C7's. That being said, my Brio-R is off to a new home, and I've already arranged a deal for a demo-unit Elicit-R for $2,100 CDN (which is around $1,900 USD). I couldn't resist
As for the comparison between Harbeth and B&W to the Rega amplifiers it's most certainly a question of personal taste but I'm leaning ever slightly towards the B&W sound. Possibly because I'm more familiar with it, or because they responded so well to rock songs. Keeping in mind, I'm only comparing two models here but the known traits of the two manufacturers really held true in my experience. Both have the imaging you'd expect, while the Harbeths are all-round performers at any volume, they seemed just slightly laid back on the highs while the B&W's delivered a lively pace that needed a bit more volume to make them sound their best. I'm not going to be moving quite as quickly with my speaker decision, so I'll start off with the Elicit-R and my older B&W 602's but I've requested a home audition with some Harbeth's at a future date and I'm going to be checking out some older B&W N805 which can be had used at a fair price.
I spent a good 2 hours with the Elicit-R yesterday at the local dealer and I fell in love. We started with the Brio (because I already own one and I'm familiar with the sound) and then moved to the Elicit. I had two goals - to interpret the improvements when going from the Brio-R to the Elicit-R and also to see how Harbeth and B&W speakers matched with the Rega amplifiers.
The Brio-R came first, with the Harbeth C7ES-3 (Compact 7) and a couple of my own records spinning on a Rega RP8/Dynavector 10x5. I had just listened to Neil Young's Harvest (180g reissue) at home over the weekend, but with the opening notes of Old Man plucking away, it was clear that I was getting much more detail with the Harbeth's over my own B&W 602's. It was only once we got to the busier tracks like Alabama or Words did you feel there was something lacking from the little Brio, something that I've previously felt at home - it's a roundness or full-bodied depth that comes off as muddied. Overall the Brio-R with the Harbeth's was a fine match but if anything the 7's actually tone down some of that Brio liveliness which has become it's claim to fame.
After experiencing a slight let-down on a couple of Radiohead tracks from King of Limbs, we quickly switched from the Brio-R to the Elicit-R. On tracks like Lotus Flower, instantly the bottom-end came into focus and new subtleties began to emerge from the recording; the hand claps, the backing vocals. The little things that felt lost by the Brio-R in the busy electro-mix of these Radiohead songs all-of-a-sudden found their own space with the Elicit-R. You could choose to listen to the song holistically, or easily pinpoint the pluck of the bass or click of the hi-hat. If you're a musician (or hack like me), this is quite satisfying for those times when you ask "what are they playing or what are they doing to make that sound?" Then again, for someone who wants to get lost in the music, you might not like such a clinical approach. For me, the Brio was left in the dust and there was no turning back.
Staying with the Elicit/Harbeth combo, we moved back and forth from Vinyl to CDs played on the Apollo-R. On personal favourites like Pearl Jam's Vs I was captivated by the presence of Eddie Vedder's vocals on Daughter but disappointed that a driving rock song like Rearviewmirror didn't really snarl on the Harbeth's like I've come to expect with the B&W's at home. This also had me thinking "CD's suck", so one last song on the TT before a speaker switch was Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (from an original pressing of So). Damn it sounded fantastic. So big, so detailed. The Elicit-R hits the notes of the horn section with that perfect Rega liveliness, and Gabriel's voice sounding like he was in the room.
It was finally time to hear some B&W speakers with the Elicit-R, and it was the PM1 that were put to the task. We revisited the exact series of songs that were just played with the Harbeth 7's. My expectations were transparency and a more immediate attack with rock songs - mostly around the higher frequencies. And this is exactly what I got. The snare drum really locked into place on Rearviewmirror, and my initial reaction was that the speakers completely disappeared from the room and the music took on a new dimension. The magic only really took off however once the PM1's were being pushed, and you could get that beautiful Rega timing to shine. Where the Harbeth's seemed to smooth over some of the Elicit's natural tendencies of being more forward, the B&W PM1's played right into those traits. Vocals were as present between the two speakers, but electric guitars and bouncier bass were shinning through on the B&W. I'm possibly describing a sound that may be considered fatiguing, but the moment we dropped the needle the PM1's felt more engaging to me. S
Between the Brio-R and the Elicit-R it was clear that there's a drastic jump. Is it worth 3x the price? Probably not unless you have the speakers to tell it like it is, like the Harbeth C7's. That being said, my Brio-R is off to a new home, and I've already arranged a deal for a demo-unit Elicit-R for $2,100 CDN (which is around $1,900 USD). I couldn't resist
As for the comparison between Harbeth and B&W to the Rega amplifiers it's most certainly a question of personal taste but I'm leaning ever slightly towards the B&W sound. Possibly because I'm more familiar with it, or because they responded so well to rock songs. Keeping in mind, I'm only comparing two models here but the known traits of the two manufacturers really held true in my experience. Both have the imaging you'd expect, while the Harbeths are all-round performers at any volume, they seemed just slightly laid back on the highs while the B&W's delivered a lively pace that needed a bit more volume to make them sound their best. I'm not going to be moving quite as quickly with my speaker decision, so I'll start off with the Elicit-R and my older B&W 602's but I've requested a home audition with some Harbeth's at a future date and I'm going to be checking out some older B&W N805 which can be had used at a fair price.
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