Simple, clean and laid back. No strain or hardening at higher volumes.

Factory gain setting is lower than I'm accustomed to; works fine just the way it is, just not the norm. It's probably better because it puts the dial at 12 o'clock at a very average listening level.

I purchased this for a smaller bedroom system to be used with the Apollo and Sonus Faber Electras. It's a very nice piece of gear, very neutral and melodic... just like it should be. The tone is great and transparency is good.

Customer Service

I hope I never need it !!

Similar Products Used:

I tried the Music Hall, Cambridge, Primare and Arcam before settling on the Rega.

Brings the music forth. Each part relating in a new way. Nice Phono stage included. Very convenient top performing integrated unit.

NONE AT THE PRICE

This unit is the Mira 3 latest version which removes the "link switch" which Rega claimed to help the performance. I understnad this was something "tweakers" were already doing to the unit to make it sound better. As the previous reviewer states the unit is good performance all around and value. Like him I found the preamp gain a little low (11.5 is the factory setting), especially on phono. I raised mine to 15, it is easy to do just ask your dealer or Rega how to do it. The amp has pretty good build in a sturdy case and some heft when you pick it up, but the plastic panels and knob remind you it is afterall a lower priced amplifier. However a stepped resistor volume control, ample power supply and good onboard phono stage all included let you know where the money went. Mate this Amp with the Apollo cd player and what a combination- detail, rthym, soundstage all top notch while remaining musically involving. Exciting but not over bright either. Very easy to use via the remote. You could spend way more and not do as good. This latest Mira with the new Apollo have a real synergy, listen to them together. With the wrong source the Mira does not show all its potential. I have used alot of gear, some pricier, some exotic (tubes), but the Rega does some things better than anything. Now I know what the Rega gear sounds like in tandem. In comparisonto other designs it is no better or worse really, just completely worthy on its own terms. I also keep a Sugden A21 for seasonal use, which gives a sweeter sound but lacks the excitement of the Rega. Both are good in their own way.

Customer Service

The sound organisation and my dealer were first rate customer service.

Similar Products Used:

Conrad Johnson MV55
Pass labs Aleph
Sugden A21

Build quality like a tank! Warm and dynamic sound.

No headphone socket. It emits a lot of heat, you can cook an egg on it!

I bought my Rega Mira integrated amplifier in 2001. I paid it 800,00$ CDN. I have the 1999 model which looks like a BBQ. I listened and compared the Mira with some amps in the same price category as Arcam and NAD. When I listened the Mira for the first time, I knew it was the right amplifier for me. It sounded warm, soft and dynamic. While I was listening Buddy Holly "Reminising", I felt a strong emotion and I said to myself "What a fabulous amp is". The treble is soft and clear. Medium is warm and realistic. Bass is enjoyable and warm also. It is build like a tank with its aluminium frame. It has a good MM preamp for my Rega P25 turntable. I like the remote control. It is a good match for analytical and detailed sources with neutral speakers. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a headphone socket. Lastly, it emits a lot of heat, in this case you should use a fan next to it! In sum, it's a musical amplifier which meets the competition for the musical performance.

Similar Products Used:

NAD and Arcam.

Very detailed , musical ,emotional

One has to buy remote separetely

I have got the new Rega Mira 3. What a amp this is . Very musical , brings out plenty of details from my ordinary budget Sony DVD player. This amp is less talked , not much in publicity war like that being adopted by NAD , Roksan ,etc.I upgraded from NAD C320BEE, a good budget amp but sound was not detailed and refined and you miss the emotion s of singer. Heard many amps in my quest for good sound , like NAD C370, NAD C372,Roksan Kandy KA MkIII, Cayin TA-30 tube amp etc . The amp has got a nice built.

Similar Products Used:

NAD C320BEE, NAD C370, NADC372, Cayin TA-30, Roksan Kandy KA MkIII etc

Smooth, refine and should have pretty good bass if you got sensitive speakers with 8 ohm load. Very easy listening to it for long hours.

Horizontal arrangement of the speaker binding posts is not a wise design. Seems like the British always like to do things in their own special ways. Like the DIN connections of the Naim gears.

Mine is a 2000 version. This is a very good amp for the price especially used. Good refinement, almost grain free. When I use it to drive a pair of Hales Revelation2 which are 86db with 6 ohm load and it gives satisfying results, although kind of underpowered in the bass region, it is very different from other amp with similar power that will give you a very loud, noisy, harsh mid and highs with bass missing when play loud. The Mira still sounds contained with pretty flat response but I got to turn the knob to atleast 11 o'clock to have decent volume. I read about the Mira3 and in the owner's manuel it mentioned that the Mira3 has got 3 levels of gain adjustment function.Factory setting is level 2(11.5 db). I wonder if the 2000 has got this function. If any of you has an owner's manuel of the 2000 can you please check it out? If the factory setting is 11.5 db, I don't think that this amp can play fairly loud even at 9 o'clock(unless it's set to level 3 which is 15db). Atleast not in my case. Afterall this is a very good amp for the money and it beats some integrated amps that I'd owned which are costing much higher. I have not tried the phono yet but the CD department is doing a great job. I kind of disagree with some that this amp has got this in-your-face imaging, I think the soundstaging and imaging of the music determined more by the speakers you use than the amp itself. To me this amp is quite neutral and precise in these areas.

Similar Products Used:

Electrocompaniet ECi3, Arcam A75, Primare A20,YBA Integre, Roksan Caspian, Myryad MI 120,Cyrus 7.

Saved me on my power bill. That's about it

Fragile imput/volume knob. Plastic face

Without a doubt this is the worst experience I have ever had with a piece of audio gear. I purchased the Mira because of all the positive press it has received. The unit arrived DOA with the imput selector stuck on phono. About 10 days later a new unit arrived that worked. After three weeks of very little use I noticed the finish of the alloy face was flaking off. Alloy...one would think this is metal, WRONG! The Mira faceplate is nothing more than black plastic that has some sort of silver painted finish...Cheap! Ok, two weeks later I received a new plastic faceplate, had it installed and used the unit for approximatly 1 minute before it shutdown,DOA, again. Sent the unit back but since it was more than 30 days old I had to settle for repair not a new unit. Four weeks to the day the unit returned for what said to be a fuse problem. The Mita works now but I am too disgusted with it at this point to use it. For the money there are much better electronics to be had. If you can get by the cheap casework and have the time to put cotton gloves on everytime you want to touch it you will probably enjoy the sound quality. I guess I want it all good sound in a quality cabinet. I have moved up to Arcam!

Timing, pace, rhythm Engaging, cohesive sound Tonal accuracy Powerful beyond its rating

Low volume adjustment a little difficult Tight speaker terminals and inputs

A year ago I got the craving to upgrade my system, that irrestible urge which comes along every five years or so. After years of living happily with a Quad 34/306 combo, Quad 67 CD, and LS3/5a combination I wanted MORE. I started by selling all my gear (yes, I sold my precious LS3/5as - heresy) and searching for a good integrated amp. Since Ohio is an audio wasteland I purchased four used amps on the net and lived with each for 1 to 3 months. The first was the NAD340. This was a sentimental choice because I owned a 3020 in college, all those years ago. The NAD is a terrific amplifier for the money; warm, involving, and disciplined. It does truly lack refinement, though, and is really just an improved mid-fi amp. The NAD makes music happen but doesn''t provide enough background silence and separation to enjoy classic and jazz. I sold the NAD and moved on to the Audio Refinement Complete (purchased used on Audiogon). The AR is an unusual amp. It truly does sound tube-like in the midrange. It''s build is drop dead gorgeous, like a Levinson. Problem with the AR is that it sounds tube-like in every respect. The bass on the AR is somewhat flabby and lacks life. The treble is also rolled off. I really wanted to like the AR but rapidly became disappointed with it. Next was the Musical Fidelity XA-1. This is a very good amp. It is a graceful amp, with good frequency extension and a light, effortless touch with the music. If you can find one used, they''re usually about $350 making it an unbelievable bargain. The XA-1 is an excellent classical and jazz amp. The only criticism I have of it is that it''s fairly weak in terms of power and couldn''t drive the 84db Spendor 3/5s I had at the time. One thing the XA-1 does extremely well is the spoken voice. I hooked it into my video outfit and it did marvelous things with movie dialogue. Voices are incredibly real, with great presence and tone. Still searching, I snapped up a Rega Mira, on a whim, from a dealer in Florida. The Mira is a superb high end amplifier. It has natural warmth and tonal accuracy. It has superior pace and rhythm, equal to that of Naim. It presents music in an engaging and real way. This amp does nothing wrong and a whole bunch of things really well. It is a delightful, affordable amplifier and I plan on keeping mine for a long time.

Similar Products Used:

Quad solid state, Conrad Johnson MV45, various NADS & Rotels, Musical Fideltiy XA1, Audio Refinement Complete

I'm going to describe the Mira at some length, because it hasn't got much press yet, at least not in the US and it's well worth a listen if you're in the market for amplification in the $500 to $1,000 price range.
The Mira is rated at 61 W per channel into 8 ohms and 91 W per channel into 4 ohms. It's a 'bare bones' design: no headphone socket, no tone or balance controls. There is a phono stage (for MM or high-output MC) and four line-level inputs. There is one set of speaker binding posts. The Mira also has a preamp out and power amp in sockets, for use in bi-amping and so on. A remote control unit can control source selection, volume, and the mute function. It's a system remote, identical to the one sold for the Planet CD player.

If you know what the Planet looks like, you have a good idea of what the Mira looks like (no, silly, it's not a top-loading amplifier). The works are contained in a very solid, black, rectangular, cast-aluminium (as Rega call it) case measuring about 17" x 2" x 10". The case has heat-sink-like vanes towards one end. A plastic panel housing the controls is set flush into the front of this case. Though promotional material boasts of 'top quality' alps motorized volume control, the knobs for the volume and source selector are plastic and do not have a very high-quality feel. The fittings on the back of the Mira are also not of exceptionally high quality. The power cable is tethered. The RCA sockets are not gold plated, and nor are the binding posts, which will accept banana plugs, pins, or LARGE spades (the binding posts are the same diameter as those on my B&W speakers).

I think the so-so quality of the connections is a result of a conscious decision, in keeping with the outlook expressed in the following statement from the manual: "We recommend using good quality [loudspeaker] cable . . . Very expensive cable claiming to use special materials and technologies, along with 'solid core' or OFC types, are not recommended, as they often do not represent value for money." In other words, Rega are trying to make careful judgments about where, at the price point they are aiming at, extra expenditure of money will do most good for the sound. One is free, of course, to disagree with their judgments.

So how is the sound? It's excellent: more below.

I started my upgrade quest when I wanted, no make that needed, to listen to a recording that I had only on vinyl and discovered that my 15 year-old entry-level Dual turntable was not working. Repair or replace? Replace, I decided, and spent $300 on a Music Hall MMF. In the course of the rediscovery of vinyl that followed, I compared the CD and vinyl versions of a favorite, a 1970's recording of Emma Kirkby (soprano) and Anthony Rooley (lute) issued on vinyl as "The Lady Musick" and reissued on CD as "Elizabethan Songs." A couple of things stood out. First, the lute on LP sounded much more like a lute. The CD version (on my system) over-emphasized the treble and almost totally ignored the rounded depth of a lute's tone. Second, on both LP and CD the upper midrange had a real tendency to harden up and become very metallic when Kirkby's voice rose in pitch and volume. Perhaps my B&W DM602 speakers could take some of the blame for this, but it did occur to me too that my ten-year-old Denon receiver and CD player might not be the last word in musical reproduction. What might somewhat better equipment achieve?

I set out to discover, equipped with "Elizabethan Songs" and some other selected CD's and the thought that the main thing was to enjoy the music. The relevant issue here is my journey through integrated amplifier territory. I listened to various of models being fed signals by various CD players and always driving B&W speakers (I had and have no plans to change my speakers any time soon).

First up were a Marantz PM68 and Rotel RA931 both driving DM603's with a Marantz CD48 providing the signal. It was quickly clear that sound vastly superior to that of my current system was readily available. It was also clear that among available components there were big differences in character to be explored. The Marantz integrated gave vastly improved rendition of the Kirkby/Rooley recording, both by adding upper bass to fill out the lute's sound and by smoothing out the treble and upper mid-range. The Rotel, however, was more detailed even if rather weaker in the bass and with an overall dryness of tone.

My next stop let me listen to some considerably more up-market stuff. This time the integrateds were the Audio Refinement, the Creek 5250SE (at about $1200 easily the most expensive amp I listened to), and the Arcam Alpha 9. The speakers were DM305's and the CD player was an Arcam (the Alpha 7, if memory serves). The first of these that I listened to was the Audio Refinement. The first few things I listened to on it sounded pretty good, nothing at all objectionable, certainly. Then I started to play "Well you needn't" from Monk's Music. The way the Audio Refinement handled this made the amp my standard from then on-that music really came alive. It's hard to analyze the sound to say what it was about it that made it so excellent. Certainly the bass mumblings under Monk's piano intro were well rendered, and Monk's shout at the end of his solo was clearly "Coltrane! Coltrane!." And then Coltrane's sax tone was very real. But the sound was better than the sum of these things. Let's just say it made music that I really wanted to listen to.
Comparatively, the Creek was perhaps even more detailed, and it perhaps rendered the tricky treble and upper-mids of the Kirkby/Rooley even better, but it just sounded a bit dry and flat after the Audio Refinement. And the Arcam made almost no impression at all in this company.

I would highly recommend the Audio Refinement to anyone who can pay $900-$1000 for amplification and who doesn't need a phono stage or wants to use an outboard one. I reluctantly decided that the cost of the amp plus separate phono stage was more than I could justify. So on we go . . .

The next store had the Yamaha AX592, the Cambridge Audio A3i, the NAD C340, and I think a couple of Marantz models too. The salesman here made an impression by refusing to let me audition the Cambridge Audio, which he claimed did not have the capacity to drive DM602's. I seriously question whether this is so, since the speaker's are not a difficult load, rated at 8 ohms with a sensitivity of 90 dB, and the salesman drastically understated the amp's rated power (30 watts, I believe he said, as opposed to a rated 60 or 70). I did listen to the Yamaha and the NAD. The Yamaha I did not care for. In another of my CD's, one of Mitsuko Uchida's recordings of Mozart piano sonatas, it had the curious effect of apparently separating the treble from the rest of the sound. The NAD was much better. May be a little over warm, but even though it does not include a phono stage it's a good deal at $400.

The next salesman I encountered was a real Arcam fan. I listened to the Alpha 7 integrated and CD player driving DM602's and found them a little lifeless. A Marantz PM57 was set up in the same room, so I asked the salesman to switch to that. He agreed but said it was a waste of time, and he was right. In another room the Alpha 8 combination was set up, this time driving DM603's. Again I was not highly impressed. The Mozart piano recording came out as kind of muddy, "Well you needn't" lacked life, and Rooley's lute came from several rooms away. In the same showroom as the Alpha 8 was a Rotel set up with the RA971 integrated amp and the RCD930 CD player. Again the salesman said the comparison was a waste of time, but this time he was wrong. The RA971 is a really nice sounding amp, detailed but not nearly so dry as the 931 I had heard. And the RA971 had much better bass too. Compared to the Arcam it gave a livelier more present sound. Strangely, though, although the RA931 includes a phono stage, the RA971 does not. Probably the separate phono stage that Rotel sells to match the RA971 is pretty good. But it's an extra expense and also an extra box, which I didn't really want to deal with.

With that my showroom options were exhausted. But there were still a couple of integrated amps that I wanted to try. One was the Audio Analogue Puccini, which has been glowingly reviewed all over the place, and the other was the Mira, which, as I said at the beginning, has not had much press but was included in Gramophone's Hi Fi Buyer's guide recommendations: " Superbly constructed. Has a well controlled quality; extracts lots of musical detail and presents it in a coherent, articulate manner." I could get either from different mail order suppliers on a "return within 30-days for full refund" kind of deal. Which to try out? The Puccini's advantages were its reviews, the fact that its phono stage is switchable between MM and MC, and (arguably) its finish and looks. The Mira's advantages were a somewhat higher rated power, a remote control, and its size-I prefer components that are heard and not seen, so the compactness of the Mira appealed. I decided to order the Mira, with the Puccini as a surely-good-sounding alternative should I find the Mira wanting.

When the Mira arrived I plugged in to it my chosen CD-player upgrade-the Rega Planet-along with my turntable and Kenwood cassette deck. Here are my conclusions about this combination playing the recordings I had been using during my shopping explorations:

On the Kirkby/Rooley CD this was easily the best combination I had heard. Not only was Kirkby's voice it's true, non-painful self, but Rooley's lute was genuinely lute-like, with both the bright sheen of the strings and the full body of the tone realistically and musically presented.

Monk's Music "Well you needn't" was not revelatory as it had been on the Audio Refinement, but all the instruments were well presented and the horns were readily distinguishable in the ensemble passages (not trivial, since the recording has them all jammed into the left channel).

The Mozart piano piece was the best I had heard it. As in Rooley's lute, the treble and the mids were well integrated.

On Ry Cooder's "Buena Vista Social Club" the male voices were clear and characterful. The interestingly different percussion sounds in the bass and the mid-range were clearly distinguishable from each other. The sound stage was well presented. Actually the effect of the Rega combination on this disc was similar to what had happened on "Well you needn't" with the Audio Refinement. Suddenly there was a tangible sense not just of music but of music making-real people playing real instruments.

On Sofia Gubaidulina's "Offertorium" played by Gidon Kremer (violin) and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit the orchestral textures were clear and in a believable sound-stage. Gubaidulina has a fondness for very high pitches on the violin and these came across cleanly and without grain. On the Rega combination this was a compelling performance.

Now may be the combination with the Planet gives the Mira an advantage over the other amplifiers I had listened to, but the musical clarity that I was hearing in this amp held up listening to LP's on my Music Hall and even to cassette's on the not very distinguished Kenwood cassette deck. When I plugged the replaced Denon DCD620 CD player into the Mira for comparison, the results were certainly less pleasing than they were with the Planet. But I think even that combination was more musical than all but a small handful of those I had heard while shopping-and those combinations featured classier CD players than this old Denon.

So that's the long story about the Mira. The short version: it's a solid, unobtrusive piece of equipment, with a clear, musical sound and with the compromises-inevitable at the price point-made in the right places.

Openness; powerful delivery; exciting with the right music

Brutal and unrefined; poor build; difficult integration outside an all-Rega System

Being the very happy owner of a Rega Planet CD player and having read so much about Rega components' synergy, I decided to give the Mira a try when the time came to let go off my modest, weak and congested sounding Creek 4330. At the same time my favourite dealer lent me a Primare A20 MkII, which I have reviewed here at Audioreview, so I won't mention it here.

When I installed the Mira I had my first major disappointment: it is a very poorly built amplifier. The rather cheap binding posts are buried in the back panel, making it impossible to connect anything but banana plugs, and the connection is really weird, with the left speaker terminals on top of the right speaker ones (an open invitation to short-circuit); the RCA input sockets aren't gold-plated, looking and feeling rather ordinary. This is one of those amps in which all the money has gone into the circuitry inside, which is not bad at all, but some do better, both inside and outside. The Creek's binding posts look a million dollars compared to the Mira's, even though the Creek is much cheaper. Now compare the Rega to the Audio Analogue Puccini, at the same price!

When I turned the Mira on I was surprised (favourably, this time) to see that switching relied on "intelligent" circuitry, with a sophisticated protection circuit. After a few seconds, a moment of witchcraft: the source select control began to move by itself, providing a small light show at the same time. That's quality stuff for sure!

Enters the music. I put the sensational
Underworld's "Beaucoup Fish" CD (my musical tastes aren't very "audiophile", I reckon) under the Planet's lid and turned the Mira's volume control to 10 o'clock, thinking that'd be a reasonable, or even low volume. Well, to my surprise I almost blew my speakers! This amplifier goes really loud!

Volume aside, the first thing that struck me about the Mira was the incredibly wide, open soundstage it produces. Later on another welcome surprise: the fantastic sense of timing and pace it provided with up-beat music like Les Rythmes Digitales' "Darkdancer", making for a very exciting listen.

This is an amp that sounds far more powerful than its rated power output, and has an "in-control" kind of sound, extracting loads of taut bass from electrically demanding speakers, and always sounds like it will never run out of oomph. Besides, it has a neutral midrange and the treble is smooth, though I found it could be better extended. One thing is sure, it is a musical amp, never sounding too soft nor too analytical.

The downside is a rather upfront, unsubtle presentation that made refined tunes like the George Cables Trio "Woofin' and tweetin'" or Kid Loco's "Relaxin' with Cherry" sound rather ordinary. Besides, it caused some recordings otherwise quite pleasing on the ear (such as Lamb's debut album) to become unlistenable, making me think again about their sond quality. The Mira sounds quite aggressive with less than perfect recordings. To say it's revealing is not enough: this amp is relentless and unforgiving.

I packed it back and returned it after a few days. If I had chosen the Mira, most of my discs would become unlistenable, not just for their recording quality but also because of the Mira's in-your-face delivery that failed to please me. Maybe it didn't gel with my speakers (the ProAc Tablette 50s), or maybe it is designed to appeal to different musical tastes. In either case that does disqualify it as an all-rounder.

Being completely sold on the Planet CD player, I was truly disappointed about the Mira, especially as ALL reviewers here rated the latter five stars. I stuck to the more refined and dearer Primare, which is a completely different kind of animal. The least I can say is I'll never regret my choice!

Given all this, you might expect me to rate it very low. Well, I won't! Why? 'Cause with the right music and the right recordings, the Rega Mira is a cracker. Its rhythm and timing, allied to its monstruous energy (or should I say brutality?) and musicality make it perfect for having loads of fun listening to rock and dance. It goes very loud and is sure to keep our feet tapping all the time. If you like rock and dance, and like your music loud and exciting without losing Hi-Fi's magic, look no further: the Rega Mira is your amplifier.

Similar Products Used:

Creek 4330 R, Primare A20 MkII

Detail, musicality, punch & rhythm, value

Slightly harsh on brighter recordings, a slight lack of weight in the bass.

After much research and shopping I decided to purchase, the Rega Mira integrated amp, Rega Planet CD player, Energy e:XL 16 speakers, and replace my Rega Planar 2 cartridge with the Rega Elys. I have had this equipment in my home for about six weeks.
Rega Research has done a supurb job in delivering an extremely affordable integrated amp that gets almost ever thing right, with only a few minor drawbacks.

It is interesting to me that there are only a few reviews at this web site for the Mira amp while the Planet CD player has over 100 reviews. I do not know why so many people purchase the Planet but overlook the amps from Rega. The combination of the Mira and Planet is, I believe, one of the great values for audiophiles looking for good sound at the lower end of the price spectrum. After reading several reviews in audio publications that ranged from a few that were somewhat favorable, to many that were highly favorable (none of the reviews were negative), I bought the Mira and Planet without giving much thought to any other choices. The only other equipment I auditioned carefully was the Naim Nait 3 with the Naim 3.5 CD. The Naim combination is over twice as expensive and the improvement in overall musical enjoyment was minor to almost none.

The Mira is very musical and brings out the subtleties in the music that can go unnoticed in lesser systems, and has great punch. The remote that comes with it in the US is good and can control an entire Rega system (Amp, CD player, and tuner). I think that early versions came with a cheaper remote. The only minuses are a slightly etched sound and grain in the treble on some brighter recordings, and while the bass is firm with good attack it lacks just a little weight and fullness. However my feeling is that this was a conscious design compromise by Rega in that to improve these minor faults would either make the amp a lot more expensive or have caused a sacrifice in the incredible detail and "rightness" of the over-all sound. I can more than live with this compromise because it is so minor. At this price, this is an amp is simply amazing.

Similar Products Used:

Naim