[Merle]

As a long time fan of Rega gear,I was pretty excited when Rega released a brand spanking new Brio. I was lucky recently to come across a nice pair of Vienna Acoustic Bach's for sale here in the Circle's classifieds. I was looking for a good little amp to pair with them around the same time Rega released the new Brio. Long story short, anyone looking for a great little amp for not that much money would be well advised to seek out the new Brio. It's a stunner! I truly can't think of an integrated under 2K I'd rather listen to in a small room than the new Brio. I expect Rega's gonna sell a million of these! It reminds me of a Nait 2 with more of everything and twice the power!

[bummrush]

Are you talking about the new int thats like $800 or so?

[Merle]

Yep. $895 retail, worth every penny.

[srb]

I noticed that curiously, the rear panel is labeled "Speakers Minimum 8 Ohms".  Although the specifications do rate power output at 4 Ohms
 
50Watts RMS both channels driven into the rated load of 8 Ohms
73Watts RMS both channels driven into the rated load of 4 Ohms
 
It also does go on to say:
 
Continued high level use into 4 Ohms may cause the case to exceed 40° C above the ambient temperature.
 
It really does look like a nice amplifier, but perhaps a bit of caution for those with 4 Ohm speakers, a large room and/or louder listening habits.
 
Steve

[Merle]

Agreed. It's a 50 wpc amp. Not what you want to run difficult speakers in a large room with. That being said, match it with a suitable speaker in a smaller room and it's tough to beat in my experiance. Driving the 6 ohm Bach's in a room around 10' X 12', it's pretty darn sweet, to say the least!

[Noseyears]

There were some discussions at pinkfishmedia about the new rega amp.

Here's a link to a pretty positive review.

[Letitroll98]

I noticed that curiously, the rear panel is labeled "Speakers Minimum 8 Ohms".  Although the specifications do rate power output at 4 Ohms
 
50Watts RMS both channels driven into the rated load of 8 Ohms
73Watts RMS both channels driven into the rated load of 4 Ohms
 
It also does go on to say:
 
Continued high level use into 4 Ohms may cause the case to exceed 40° C above the ambient temperature.
 
It really does look like a nice amplifier, but perhaps a bit of caution for those with 4 Ohm speakers, a large room and/or louder listening habits.
 
Steve

The manual also states "The output amplifier is capable of driving awkward loads as low as 1.7F...".  It only says it may get hot driving such loads.

[johnnydarko]

There were some discussions at pinkfishmedia about the new rega amp.

Here's a link to a pretty positive review.

i've ordered one on the strength of jeff's review alone. 

[timind]

I've seen a couple of used Brio Rs come up on Audiogon. They sell within the first hour or so. In fact there was a listing this morning; "sale pending" almost immediately. I thought about it too long.

[TONEPUB]

I drove the GamuT S9's (4ohms) pretty hard with the Brio-R when in for review and didn't notice it getting terribly warm.  But then I'm listening to pass XA200.5's, so nothing gets that warm!

I have a Brio-R stopping back here again to use with the new Apollo R cd player, so I'll hook it up to the Martin Logans and Magnepans and run the heck out of it to see what happens.

We're giving the Brio-R our Product of the Year - OVERALL award this year.  That's right, in a world full of five and six figure stuff, we gave the nod to the Brio-R.  I think for a $1000 bucks, the sound quality combined with a decent MM phono stage makes for a pretty spectacular product.  No, it didn't sound as good as a rack full of Burmester gear, but for a $1000, when hooked up to the big GamuTs ($150k retail) and a number of other big bucks speakers, that little amp did a great job.  And with reasonably priced speakers it was nothing short of amazing.

Of course 50wpc has some limitations, etc etc.  but I was really blown away by the sound quality.

[bummrush]

Could be a sideways move but that amp makes me think about freeing up some money and sell some gear to try this out.

[roscoeiii]

After Jeff's review I was bummed to see that there is no pre or sub out.

[macrojack]

Could be a sideways move but that amp makes me think about freeing up some money and sell some gear to try this out.

If that move freed up cash and reduced the complexity and space consumption of your system, then a sideways yield in performance would still represent a net gain - IMO.

I did what you are considering by replacing an actively bi-amped system with passive crossovers and Yamaha A-S2000 integrated. No regrets.

[bummrush]

I wonder if the Rega might be a move up from Counterpoint Solid one with a Coda pre amp? Hmm I do wonder .

[macrojack]

You are the only one who can make that assessment. If you don't feel any loss, you can look at it as a gain.

[roscoeiii]

And it is carried by online dealers such as Music Direct who have solid return policies if you want to check in out.

[Bemopti123]

I wonder if the Rega might be a move up from Counterpoint Solid one with a Coda pre amp? Hmm I do wonder .

Sounds to me more of a horizontal move...unless you really find the present setup lacking...the Brio R sounds to me more of a decent integrated up to 2k....if you want to make a real sonic jump, you might have to spend more above 2k....Lfd, higher end Marantz to notice a major difference. 

Of course this is my opinion.

[JLM]

After Jeff's review I was bummed to see that there is no pre or sub out.

Not much space on the rear panel, but I fully agree.  Small amps need either of those options more than big amps.

[bummrush]

Theres a good chance it's not happening . I'm still super happy with what I have.But what a int.

[roscoeiii]

Not much space on the rear panel, but I fully agree.  Small amps need either of those options more than big amps.

I'd have thought pre/sub outs would be more desireable than a recording out...