Show Report

I could hear it from the hallway at Audio Advice Live 2026. It was the sound of music—not an audiophile's wet dream of treble and bass extension, not an AV lover's vision of bombs bursting under the floor, and not active loudspeakers cranking and combusting. No, it was something else indeed.

This sound, led by Nina Simone Sings Duke Ellington on vinyl, lifted me out of my frantic head with an analog-driven life force—grooves giving up their flesh-and-blood waveforms, music flying from a reasonably priced turntable, amp, and speakers that made me relax and feel excited all at once.

This Rega-dominated setup was one of the best systems at the show. It was not a megabuck dazzler with exquisite cabinetry, glowing digital readouts, and promises of sonic nirvana befitting a billionaire, but more an everyman rig that made real music.

It made me bend to Nina's voice, to Duke Ellington's soaring arrangements, and to music committed to wax 60-plus years ago that still holds its spell—all of it fantastically expressed by this all-Rega system.

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