Rega ELA successors (speakers)?

[Concordia]

My first good speakers were a pair of Rega ELAs. Slim, light, $1,250 floorstanders with a small transmission-line loaded woofer and a minimal crossover to the tweeter. Could sound like a clock radio in a large room, but kept within their limits were fantastically communicative of musical information. They didn't need a large amp (and sounded positively dreadful downstream from a Krell that I plugged in just for grins), but are quite revealing of improvements to upstream equipment.

I haven't really started listening around in earnest, but have had a decent first impression of the mid/large Gallo floorstanders and a negative one of a $3000 pair of bookshelf sized boxes from Monitor Audio.

Any thoughts or observations from the front line? I'd love to recreate that old buzz.

 

[breitlingman]

I've heard Rega Ela's, but only connected to Rega equipment, which is quite unique in its sound.. but if you like the Gallo Accoustics Ref 3 (i'm not sure which model you heard) you might be liking the emphasis in the high-frequencies. They have tremendous detail and articulation up there. You might want to listen to the JM Lab Utopias and possibly Jean-Marie Reynaud or PMC if you like the transmission line sound.

But really, all these speakers sound quite different..

 

[Concordia]

Yes, they all sound different, and-- strictly speaking-- they all probably suck. Which is normal for speakers. Given that, I'm hoping to find some that suck in areas other than clarity and speed with a nod to correct tone color.

Emphasized treble response might indeed be part of some that I like, but I think probably an incidental part. There are plenty of bright speakers that I hate.

At the moment, I'm chasing down a few with simpler or non-existent crossovers to see if that can produce some of what i like.

 

[Concordia]

Well, we have a replacement-- I think. Heard the Linkwitz Pluto 2.1 this week, and have decided that they are worth a run. Many of the virtues of the Rega-- not-too-huge drivers, transmission line, simple crossover. All of which leads to a fast response and no obviously awful colorations. The deal-closer is that they fill the room much more easily; the tweeter apparently carries most of the load, letting the small woofer do its thing with a minimum of interference.

I'll probably feed them with one of the new NAIM Unitis from its preamp output, which would make it a nearly one-box system.

 

[A Y]

Holy necrothread. Congrats on the impending decision. I have a pair of the original Plutos (used as surround channels for a V1 Orion), and they are very nice speakers. If you are worried about playing loud, adding a subwoofer will alleviate much of their load. Most music doesn't carry much energy in the high frequencies, and 200 Hz is midpoint of power for most music. Exceptions are highly processed pop music that have been level-compressed to an inch of their life.

Are you getting them built by Wood Artistry, or will this be DIY? I got WA Plutos and DIY Orions.

 

[Concordia]

From Wood Artistry.

I actually heard them in a pretty large room without subwoofers, and they dealt very nicely with Wagner, Puccini, and other thick'n'nasty bits of orchestration. Apparently Linkwitz used to use subs on his own set but not since his latest re-design.

They'll be going against the long side of a 17x24' room that has a very low (7.5'?) ceiling.

 

[A Y]

OK, the sub option is there in the future if you need it. They're actually fairly room-neutral, but you probably knew that from Linkwitz's site already. You probably also know that he develops his speakers against bootleg SFSO recordings he makes at Davies.