Taking Alan's word for it..

[m@ver1ck]

I've ordered a P3ESR for my 3m * 4m study.

Now to see if my Brio-R is "competently designed and working to original specification", since any "competently designed and working to original specification" amp should be able to run the P3ESR nicely.

;-)

cheers!

{Moderator's comment: assuming that it has a sensible amount of power output, not just two or three watts.}

[m@ver1ck]

50W. I'm sure it will work great. :-)

Alan: Thank you for your outstanding work.

[DSRANCE]

Having heard the two items playing together, I think I can fairly say they *should definitely* work well together :D

[Art K]

Congrats! My Brio-R drives my P3ESR's very well!

[hifi_dave]

The Rega Brio-R is a great little amp and works very well with the Harbeth range.

[m@ver1ck]

Ah, the usual suspects show up again. ArtK, HiFi_Dave. :-)

[hifi_dave]

Ah, the usual suspects show up again. ArtK, HiFi_Dave. :-)

And why not ?

[m@ver1ck]

Will these work well on my desk (on either side of my pc monitor) with me about an arm length's distance away from them, for whem I'm working?

I'll mostly be using these whem I'm working in my study so it makes most sense for them to sit there. I know that these are a mini monitor, but is that distance too little?

I think I did read somewhere on this forum/site that the designers really didn't have much more room when they were doing the design work and so that's the way these were setup during the design phase for the most part. (At least early BBC days).

[m@ver1ck]

And unfortunately, we'll never find out if the P3ESRs work with the Brio-R. I sold the Brio-R before I got the harbeths.

I'm using them with my Nait XS, and they seem to gel exceptionally well. I'll try them out with a Nait 5i soon.

[hifi_dave]

Well, we know how well the Brio R works with the P3ESR !!!

{Moderator's comment: Do re-read Alan's opinion. He says 'Harbeth speakers will work with *any* decent amp in-spec'. The Brio is just one of hundreds of amps that fit his specification!}

[Art K]

Don't know about you but I know... they sound fabulous together.

[keithwwk]

I say no worry on amp. If the naim work then just enjoy the music. Get more musics or give money to charity is better way to spend.

{moderator's comment: we agree. Too much self-indulgence, too much anxiety, too little reward just going over the amplifier-Harbeth non-issue time after time after time. Why are you not bored to tears with this fictitious issue?!}

[m@ver1ck]

I know. That's why I chose the Harbeth.

{Moderator's comment: The simple facts from our side is this ..... if Harbeth speakers are designed to work well with almost any amp, then we can sell more Harbeth speakers and be more successful! Win win! Any other business strategy is bonkers.}

[Kumar Kane]

I say no worry on amp. If the naim work then just enjoy the music. Get more musics or give money to charity is better way to spend.

{moderator's comment: we agree. Too much self-indulgence, too much anxiety, too little reward just going over the amplifier-Harbeth non-issue time after time after time. Why are you not bored to tears with this fictitious issue?!}

I like the moderator analogy in another thread, likening amps to wristwatches. In the modern day, quartz/electronic technology means that these have become very reliable, very accurate, and quite cheap. As have solid state amps. Peter Walker of Quad fame made an enduring statement about amps once - the best amps are straight wires with gain. A classic definition.

Having said that, there is still a market for expensive wristwatches of both the quartz and the mechanical type. Perhaps the latter may be compared to the tube amp fascination of today? People want something on their wrists that speaks of their success in life, and I imagine that similar psychology attends the selection of high end and expensive amplification. Do they get to have better timekeeping wearing a 10000 dollar watch? Do they transform people who are habitually not able to be on time?!

Very few people spend the time/effort/money on getting their speakers to perform better in the speaker positioning and room acoustics part of the system, which is the place where most improvement in the heard sound is to be obtained. Another way to get better sound is to spend the money saved on a decent glass of wine while listening - sound is heard in the brain at the end of the day, the ears too are just transducers, and the effect of a tipple on getting the wine affected brain to think it is hearing wonderful sound isn't to be underestimated! One of my favorite audio tweaks, frankly.

{Moderator's comment: audio amps are very, very, very simple electronic designs. A first class stereo amp can be made from around 40 components. None of those parts has a personality, sonic or electronic. How can these components when wired together take on a strong personality?}

[sgcsg1]

The Brio-r is a great little amp and works great with my P3ESR's and my Stirling V2's.

[Zemlya]

I don’t like analogies because they often overgeneralize the other craft and/or its proponents.

What I don’t get are people who always refer to tubes as “analog” as if solid state is not???