The British company Rega presented unusual floor-standing speaker systems Rega Aya , the fruit of more than ten years of research and development. What’s unusual about the new Rega Aya speakers is not the shape of the cabinets, which “were developed in conjunction with a British company known for creating bespoke furniture and installations from concrete.” A distinctive feature of the new product is the material from which the speaker housings are made. This is the so-called GRC – glass fiber reinforced cement.
Concrete has been used to make speaker cabinets before – Rega was not a pioneer in this regard. But, nevertheless, such an exotic material is rarely used in audio technology, despite the fact that it has excellent acoustic properties for acoustic enclosures – it is very hard and inert for sound waves. The disadvantages arising from the advantages include heavy weight.
Rega claims that the use of glass fiber in the GRC material solves this problem – a single Rega Aya speaker weighs only 14.1 kg, while maintaining – and even “increasing” – structural integrity. For Rega, this method was a way to create “the ideal loudspeaker enclosure that enhances performance and offers exceptional value for money.”
The Rega Aya floor-standing speakers are made in a 2.5-way configuration with a bass reflex port located on the front panel. The new product is equipped with a proprietary ZRR tweeter, a 5-inch (12.7 cm) MX-125 woofer/midrange driver and a 7-inch (17.8 cm) RR7.8 bass driver. The stated sensitivity of the model is 89.5 dB with a nominal impedance of 6 ohms. Each column measures 87.1 x 25.8 x 21.5 cm.
Rega Aya speakers are offered in a single steel gray finish. The recommended retail price of the new product in the UK is 1,499 pounds sterling , in other countries – 2,295 US dollars . Traditionally, Rega speakers do not come with protective grilles, but these can be purchased separately for £80 per pair