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Rega Elicit-R overheating - resolved by warranty repair


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Hi All,

 

Wanted to share an experience I recently went through with my Rega Elicit-R integrated amp.

Official site: http://www.rega.co.uk/elicit-r.html

 

I've had my Elict-R for a couple of years, purchased brand new locally, and always really really enjoy the amp. Sounds fantastic, and great synergy with my other Rega gear. I previously had the Elex-R, and the Brio-R. I find that the Elicit was a satisfying upgrade, well worth moving up from the other models.

 

My listening habits are usually having a good sit down listen for an hour or two on a Friday night or weekend (with a drink or two), usually spinning my favourite records (using an external MC phono). Will also sometimes come home of a weeknight and power-up and have a listen to digital sources  at low/moderate volumes while I cook and do the daily evening routine.

 

Anyways, I recently splurged and purchased a new/different integrated amp. After enjoying the new purchase for a little while, decided I no longer needed the ol' Elicit-R

 

So I put the Elicit-R up for sale here on Stereonet classifieds. It was soon sold here on Stereonet to a fellow locally in Brisbane QLD.

Very soon after sale, the buyer complained to me that the amp was apparently switching itself off after a couple hours of listening.

I had experienced something like this myself in the past. Sometimes the Elicit would switch itself into 'protection' mode when it would get too hot. Yet this happened only very rarely to me, only on a couple of occasions, on very hot days and extended listening at high volumes. I'm not sure why this issue wasn't more apparent to me? Maybe due to my usual listening habits, of only listening/using in short bursts? The buyer mentioned that he usually runs his hifi for extended periods (5hrs+). He was running some very neat floorstanding KEFs (possibly 4ohms).

I did some searching online, and found some similar reports/issues (only with the Elicit-R, not Elex-R, or Brio), all the reported issues of overheating/switching into protection mode were fixed by simply returning the Elicit-R to Rega for warranty repair.

 

Anyways, so I quickly refunded the buyer and collected the amp and sent it off for warranty repair (Rega has 3yr warranty in Australia).

A couple of weeks later I have it back, and have run it for some long extended listening over the weekend just gone (was over 30' all weekend here in QLD too) and is now running without interruption. Although the top left of the case still does get very warm, it doesn't get hot enough to switch into protection mode.

 

The warranty repair report notes: " Dismantled & adjusted bias both channels. Reassembled & tested.

I don't have much understanding of amp Bias adjustment, yet assume it was up too high/hot from initial build?

Thankfully the protection circuit is there and no damage done.

FYI: The Elex and Brio have no protection circuit/mode.

 

I know the Rega Elicit-Rs aren't very common here in Australia, yet wanted share, and hear if anyone else has had the same or similar issues with their Elicit-R

 

Also, my Elicit-R will likely be available for sale again soon

 

 

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I had a similar issue when I had a rega elicit-r running Dynaudio contour S1.4 which is also a 4 ohms load.

 

I since changed to a Bryston amp and had no problems with it.

 

I came to the conclusion that the rega amp may prefer higher efficient speakers and possibly higher then 4 ohms load

 

on short listening sessions it was fine but for extended sessions  at decent volumes it had its work cut out to keep it cool

 

 

Edited by Josipg
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I have a similar issue with Brio-R. The root cause is that Rega amps are not designed with enough current driving capability. Therefore it will be overheat easily when driving current demanding low impedence speakers by stressing the her own circuitry. Adjusting the bias from the optimal factory present value is just a way to mask out the problem by lowering the overall amplification quality. That's why properly designed equipments with good current driving capability from Bryston and Krell are better suited for low impedance current hungry speakers such as Dynaudio. 

Edited by Ernest
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8 hours ago, Ernest said:

I have a similar issue with Brio-R. The root cause is that Rega amps are not designed with enough current driving capability. Therefore it will be overheat easily when driving current demanding low impedence speakers by stressing the her own circuitry. Adjusting the bias from the optimal factory present value is just a way to mask out the problem by lowering the overall amplification quality. That's why properly designed equipments with good current driving capability from Bryston and Krell are better suited for low impedance current hungry speakers such as Dynaudio. 

Mmmmm, for the sake of balance, no. I have little doubt the two brands you mention as an alternative may well be better engineered than a Rega Brio but they do come at a premium. I don't know of anything in the Krell or Bryston ranges that retails anywhere near the $1299 of the Brio. The Brios I have been involved with run quite cool. Yours clearly needs repairing. Return it to your dealer.

 

From an electrical engineering point of view the impedance of the speaker is irrelevant in relation to heat generated by an amp. It is a function of how loud you play it, therefore how much power is drawn from the amp. Sensitivity of the loudspeaker would e a much bigger issue ie. more power is required to perform at a particular level of loudness. (SPL).

 

Of course some loudspeakers have very difficult loads to drive by either dipping very low in impedance, having a very uneven impedance curve etc.

 

Certainly some amps are better at driving a low impedance loads than others but this will tend to result in poor sound quality and a lack of headroom/early onset of clipping more than running warmer than an amp better suited to a difficult load.

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In relation to the OP. Elicits have been known to need a bias tweak. Check your cables and make sure there are no shorts etc and make sure your speakers are ok as both sides of the amp should run at the same temp.

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