rega elex r burn in?

well I appreciate the comment I think kind of I figured it out, and it has to do with Bass. so I've been powering my setup with a arcam alpha 5 which has about 40 Watts and of course the rega has about double that. so last night after I kind of posted this I had the thought that maybe the bass is overpowering the mid-range and obscuring the vocals as I described. anyway I took some socks and stuffed them in the ports and lo and behold that basically eliminated the problem.

I think originally I remember the amplifier 4 years ago differently because well one, auditory memory isn't all that great and number two the older tangent 40 speakers I was using are a sealed box design and they do not have any bass ports. so with those speakers I had them shoved up against the living room wall just for space saving but it didn't really matter because they didn't have any ports anyway.

actually that kind of makes me think some of the best speaker designs that I've heard have been sealed box designs without ports. 

so yeah the sound still isn't 100% what I remember but it's basically there and I know some people don't believe in burn in but I do and it's something I've seen time and time again with a lot of different products.

thanks again for your help Bud I appreciate the advice and I'll try leaving it on, I've heard people with rega amps talk about leaving them on all the time and getting a better sound, so I'll give it a try. I mean as you can imagine with the fire and all I'm kind of a little nervous about leaving electronics running.

I have the REGA OSIRIS integrated amp and it’s stablemate REGA ISIS VALVE cdp/dac

My experience:

- INITIAL RUN-IN FROM NEW: ~ 300 hrs for the first 90%. Progressive small steps after that. ( NOTE: this is an ad-hoc timeline with a series of steps and plateaus …)

- DAILY USE: I first warm them up for a minimum of 2-3 hrs to get the max performance quotient. It’s not a linear curve timeline,…. patience …..

I’ve not seen any need to leave it on 24/7 .

Your disappointment with your midrange and indicated 85% threshold on performance : I’ll take a swing here and guesstimate two things:

Your current power cord and the house power line may be lacking

(1);. A dedicated 20A armoured cable line is begging IMO.
(2) I upgraded my PCs to CARDAS CLEAR / CARDAS CLEAR REFLECTION….. immediate step up in dynamics, slam overall and more presence in the midrange

Your current speakers may no longer be an optimal match to the new integrated amp choice. (System synergy matters … big-time …..)

REGA electronics can develop a bespoke and very special, sweet, and ethereal system synergy with certain limited speaker brands… all British .
My recommendations for the top synergy matches: REGA’s own and HARBETH ( at two different price points )

I have both .

At the lower budget point: the matching of an all-REGA system is a REGA top-match at its pricepoint ( the current REGA RX models.., well worth an audition as a litmus test)

I give every new component a month before making any decisions.  This gives both the component and my ears time to break in. You both need more time, IMO.  It can be frustrating I know.  

Post script

” … all into a pair of older klipsch tangent 40 speakers with basic cables and ancillary components.“

Your Room dimensions have changed drastically ( shrunk a lot = now a small room..)

- Pushing these bulky floorstanders into a comparatively small room , and especially then stuck with crowding them into the back wall will intuitively push up the bass to an overly dominant level and overwhelm the midrange.

- The optimal speakers would be standmounts now and replace the Klipsch floorstanders IMO. Speaker choices go hand in hand with your room dimensions, room nodes, and their bespoke warts.

Your non-descript “ basic” cables

Cables matter ,.. big time.

Some people make the argument that cables don’t matter. They ask the question, “If the component I buy comes with all the cables it needs to run included, or I just use the cheapest aftermarket I can find, why wouldn’t I just use these cables?

It’s true, many of the audio devices you purchase may come with cables included.or you settle on Uber cheap aftermarket ones. Unfortunately, these cables that are are not the ideal options for the components they are paired with. Many hifi manufacturers are pressured to meet a certain price-point when releasing a product to market, which really limits the cables they are willing to supply in the box. The bottom aftermarket ones are built to their pricepoint and suffer limitations in lockstep.

Budgets matter for sure but you can do better - when used with these standard “ cheap build “ basic cables, performance suffers.

Need proof? The next time you attend a hifi show, take a moment to look behind the systems in your favorite manufacturers’ rooms. That’s what we do! You’ll notice that the cables they choose to use when they’re trying to make a good impression are not the standard black cords they give away, or cheap build or even middling’ ones …. they use premium top brands AND the very top models in the brand,

You should do the same with the carefully chosen components in your home system! Just because, for the sake of convenience, don’t be forced to make compromises …. It doesn’t mean that your system should be limited by the “standard” totally cheap build model cabling . Upgrade your system (/within budgets );with to make sure your system is living up to its performance potential.

GREAT BUDGET STRATA PRICEPOINT MATCH FOR YOUR NEW REGA AMP:

ICs:

- REGA COUPLE interconnects .

SPEAKER:

- REGA DUET( current model)

- I prefer their prior REGA FSC QUATTRO speaker cables.

https://www.analogueseduction.net/terminated.html

PCs: discussed in prior post . Pick a suitable comfortable budget one ( REGA’s own is pretty good at it pricepoint ).