Rega R9 User manual

R9

Rega Research Ltd. England
www.rega.co.uk

Thank you for
purchasing our
product and we
hope it offers you
many happy
hours of musical
enjoyment!
Introduction.....................................................................1-2
Technical innovations.......................................................3-4
Terminal connection port.....................................................5
Setup..................................................................................6
Contents

Rega is a company that enjoys being different. Our
ideas might seem strange at first, but everything at
Rega is geared to fulfil our mission statement, which
is quite simply, “We aim to make high quality
products that faithfully reproduce music and sell at
sensible prices.” For thirty years, Rega has attracted
a faithful following which all share a common bond,
their love of music. We don’t expect fancy
packaging or unnecessary frills and gadgets, but
rather, a vehicle that introduces them to the music.
We hope that you find our goals and techniques
interesting and thought provoking. Who knows, it
might even prompt you to audition what we make. If
so, we trust that you will agree that we are
committed to providing the highest level of musical
performance available.
1
Setup
There is no written rule about
which way you have your R9
loudspeaker setup within your
room.
However, having a side drive unit
on the speaker would suggest
facing the two drive units outward,
away from each other. This can
prevent mid range frequencies
from being directed at each other
and causing potential sound
deficiencies that could occur if the
two speakers were in close
proximity with each other.
Another fairly unusual
characteristic of the Rega R9
loudspeaker is the bass
attenuation and its position within
a room. Placing the speaker closer
to a wall will increase the bass
significantly and likewise, moving
them away from a wall will reduce
the bass. The attenuation link is
there to increase or decrease the
amount of bass. It is a very subtle
difference, but is extremely
effective.
The bass is also affected by the
volume of the music. More volume
more bass, it’s that simple.
So, when setting up your Rega R9
loudspeakers, it is well worth
having some fun experimenting
with the position, attenuation and
volume to really achieve the
perfect balance of sound that you
are after!
Cable:
The best cables to use with your
R9 loudspeakers are:
Rega ‘Quattro’ which boasts
pioneering new insulation material
not known to be used in Hi-fi
before, and is suitable for both
high performance stereo, custom
installation and multi-room\A.V.
applications.
Rega SC42 which winds the
positive and negative conductors
round a central core using spacer
tubes to lower capacitance and to
ensure the conductors cross at
near right angles (to reduce
inductance).
6

The R9 incorporates more technical
improvements than any other
speaker in our range and is easily our
finest speaker to date. Here are some
of it’s technical attributes:
· A four way speaker system unique
to our range, that produces
exceptional sound quality.
· The system is Bi-ampable. This
produces better control and sound
staging.
· The R9 Loudspeaker incorporates
a 'dual tweeter system' designed to
enhance higher registers.
· The newly designed 18dB octave
crossover gives tighter control of the
tweeter drivers and produces a better
tonal balance.
· The R9 utilises the RR125 bass/mid
driver to give greater mid range and
sound quality.
· The quarter wave transmission line
for the bass driver, has improved
airflow using the radius section.
Innovations
· The transmission line incorporates
Rega’s newly designed wool support
system within the cabinet.
· The newly designed bass driver
takes advantage of its natural roll off
frequency response, to eliminate the
need of a complex crossover.
· The bass driver has a unique six
layer designed voice coil, and uses
an aluminium wire to reduce its
weight.
· The crossover is mounted
externally, to prevent airflow
restrictions within the cabinet.
· An attenuator can also be used on
the bass driver to reduce bass
reflections in small rooms.
· The internal wiring utilises Rega’s
High Performance Flat Profile
‘Quattro’ speaker cable to achieve
greater detailing.
· All internal wiring is run in the
corners of the cabinet, to prevent
airflow restrictions.
34
Dimensions of Cabinet
Height 1030mm
Width 170mm
Depth 388mm
Foot print 435mm x 260mm
Weight
19kg

Connections
The terminal connection
port is attached to the rear
of the cabinet offering
easier access for cable
fitment. Moreover, being on
the outside of the cabinet, it
allows smoother airflow
through the cabinet to the
ports.
Bi-Amping
The Rega R9 Loudspeakers
have twin terminal connections
to allow for bi-amping. This
allows you to use a separate
power amplifier to drive the
tweeter to the bass/mid range,
providing greater separation
and control.
For normal use simply use
either the top or bottom pair of
terminals to drive the tweeter
and bass/mid range.
For bi-amping, remove the
bridging connector's, and use
the bottom pair of terminals to
connect to the high frequency
(HF) tweeter, and the top pair
for the low frequency (LF)
bass/mid range driver.
5
Attentuation
Linking these terminals will
result in your Rhea
Loudspeaker producing less
bass. This is particularly
useful in smaller rooms.
No Attenuation
Linking these terminals will
result in your Rega R9
Loudspeaker producing its
normal bass frequency levels.
Linking these will
give attenuation
Linking these will
give NO attenuation Positive Negative
Bi-Amp Terminals
Design
Rega loudspeakers motivated by an
entirely different design philosophy.
The design brief behind the Rega R9
loudspeaker was to create a speaker
that would lead Rega speaker products
in a new direction of improved quality
and performance, including
technologies and design processes not
before used at Rega.
The preferred sound quality from a
loudspeaker is often subject to a degree
of personal opinion. Additionally,
different rooms and different hi-fi
systems will suit different loudspeaker
models. There is also the more
controversial issue of the sound from a
vinyl-sourced system and the different
style of sound from a digitally sourced
system. Likewise, loudspeakers suited
to the reproduction of a more musical
and acoustic style of music may vary in
requirements from the need of technical
and electronic studio productions.
Rega loudspeakers are designed to
meet real domestic and musical needs,
whilst obtaining the absolute best
possible sound quality from a specific
design. No loudspeaker will produce
perfect sounds from all source
material, in any system in any room, or
suit all tastes all of the time.
However, over the two years of
development the Rega R9 loudspeaker
has been created with the utmost care
and consideration, not just for its sound
quality but also its environment; trying
to blend good design with superb
acoustics.
2