Rega Brio-R and Dynaco A-25


Hi - I'm a total newbie in hi-fi, right now I have a rebuilt Marantz 2230, Tascam DVRA CD player, Rega RP-1 and Dynaco A25's. I was wondering if a Rega Brio-R would be an upgrade from the Marantz in terms of soundstage and performance. Down the line I was curious about adding the Rega Dac and Apollo-R to round everything off. Admittedly this is for a small listening room, and I am specifically looking for advice given this price range. Thanks very much for any help, Mike
mikecorwin
Hi Mike - on the speaker front - as a slight wild card you might want to look at the Paradigm Atoms. A cracking small speaker for the money and not perhaps on everyone's radar. They do a bigger brother the Paradigm mini monitor but I have not heard this.
Maybe try the Paradigms along side a pair of RS1's and see what you think. Admittedly haven't tried them with the Rega Brio R but give it a go and see what you think!
I concur the Rega R-1 is a great speaker, I had a pair for a while and sold them to a friend. And they would work great with the Mira or Brio. With a little work you can replace the interior wiring, connectors, crossover cap in the Dynaco's to goose them to a little higher performance.
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Thanks so much guys for the help. When it comes to newer speakers, I'm pretty much dead in the water. Besides the Rega R1's are there other comparable speakers I should be looking at in that price range? Thanks!
Either REGA amp will smoke the Marantz, not even close.

Speakers: the Dynacos are old technology, built to a very modest price
point , and with outdated crossovers; and build-wise are past their time
and probably close to or already in need of new caps, speaker surrounds
and rewire.

REGA R1s or RS1s (used) work magic with the amp ( had both the
Dynacos with the Marantz in an earlier life, and I had the R1s in a prior
"B" system.) The Rega speakers , as with many other
comparable British gear, will similarly smoke the Dynacos.

Caution: As you move up from lo-fi to hi-fi:
(1) garbage in = garbage out .... An unrefutable and inalienable fact.
Translation: your digital source matters ... Big time. Your upgrade path to
a quality DAC or CDP is on point.

(2) This also will entail an upgrade (eventually) to quality cables ( power,
ICs, and speaker)
The Brio and especially the Mira would be a big step up from Marantz 2230.. I have had all of these. The Marantz is fun to own but totally outclassed by the improved transparency and immediacy of the Rega units. I'm thinking you could get away with pretty good sound sticking with the Dynacos, never had them but read alot of good things about them. I happen to LOVE my Rega Saturn cd player, you can get one used perhaps less than the Dac and apollo.