Review: Rega R1 loudspeaker

The dinky box is dressed in a good-looking real wood veneer, which is rare at this price point. It has a small footprint that makes it easy to place on aftermarket stands, or indeed Rega's own. You can actually see where the wood layer is bonded to the rest of the cabinet, which is quite unusual in a speaker even at this price. At the back of the box are two binding posts that only accommodate single cable runs, plus a small port for enhancing the low stuff. Like many modern speakers, the R1 has a narrow baffle to minimise unwanted reflections from the cabinet's frontal aspect, plus a deep profile to keep the cubic volume at a sensible level for optimum driver function. Despite the attempts to increase the size, the cabinet is in fact light at just 3.5kg.

Due to its compact size and proportionally small bass port, close wall placement seems inevitable. Rega suggests shelf or even wall-mounting the speaker, which speaks volumes about who this speaker is marketed at: not just the audio purist, in other words. In our test environment, we found placement at around 10cm from the rear wall elicited maximum bass output and in surprising good measure.

Rega manufactures both drivers for the R1 in-house and the complement includes a 19mm soft-dome tweeter with large plastic surround, plus Rega's well-established, proprietary 135mm RR15 main driver, which employs a paper cone and flattened phase plug. Rega claims its classic RR15 drive unit has excellent cone damping qualities and as a result it has engineered a very simple crossover network to integrate the tweeter and driver. As the cone has few foibles the crossover has no need to compensate for unwanted effects and can therefore be kept as uncomplicated as possible to maximise cohesion between the two units. This helps to explain the single pair of speaker terminals, as bi-wiring the speaker would add no sonic benefit.

On paper the R1 measures up brilliantly for such a small box. Rega claims a 90dB sensitivity (approximately) at 8ohms and suggests a maximum power handling of 80-watts, with recommended amp power anything from 30 to 500 watts depending on the quality.

Performance
After some experimentation with placement we found a slight toe-in to the listening position ideal with the aforementioned close-wall positioning. With such a small cabinet volume the R1 is best suited to smaller rooms anyway, but its impressive sensitivity gives a dynamic output even in larger environments. Rega has achieved remarkable continuity with its electronics and with the R1; the speaker shares the same commitment to an exciting and detailed midband with an abundance of musicality, almost like a real-world Naim. It's a bona fide communicator with a precise and very even sound that highlights texture in recording well and delivers excitement with a punchy and dynamic output.

A speaker with this volume is rarely capable of deep bass but in consolation it is very adept with mid bass, delivering a solid thump when required, if a little lacking in the lower octaves. This is a small sacrifice however for such impressive midrange, but your overall delight with this box will depend on your musical tastes too, so rockers and dance fans may need a more lengthy audition.

The choice of soft dome tweeter delivers a beautifully smooth output that gels sublimely with the paper cone 'sound' from the mid/bass driver. Voices are crisp, clear and inherently natural and high frequency output never fatigues. The harmony between the two units presents music with vivid imagery and soundstage depth creating the kind of sonic platform that belies its budget price tag.