Royd RR1s

Posted by: Steve B on 23 July 2001

I just reconnected my Rega Kytes after having Royd RR1s on loan for a week. What a turn off!!

The Kytes sound so dry, cold and unmusical I had to switch off.

The Royds are quite simply, the most musical speaker I have ever heard. That’s quite a statement considering I previously owned Kans, Saras and Isobariks and have heard SBLs (the early versions) active and passive on 3 occasions. Acoustic instruments in particular sound so natural and “in the room” but not “in yer face”. Even with my modest system – Cambridge CD5, LP12/Ittok/10x4, Nait 1 there is so much emotion that I’ve re-evaluated what I really want from a system.

True, the Nait 1, Royds don’t give me the “Kick Ass” slam the 250/Bariks used to, but that to me is more “HiFi pyrotechnics” than music, and can become tiresome after a while. I really feel I could get into other music (Jazz, more classical and even Opera) with my current system and the RR1s on the end, which is exactly what I want.

I’ve also discovered that “front end first” doesn’t always give the best results. The Naim CD5, which I demo’d at the dealers was a big improvement over the Cambridge, but putting the RR1s in place of the Kytes was an even bigger improvement.

I’ll be placing an order for a pair as soon as I can.

Steve B

Posted on: 24 July 2001 by Mike Hanson

I'm really looking forward to hearding the new Royd models. I've been told a great many good things about them. The only negative point so far is that they aren't designed to play as loud as the old ones. I don't know whether that's true, though, and seems a little silly.

The RR1 and RR2 are supposed to be showing up here soon, so I'll be giving them a listen.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-