I is back!

Posted by: Dev B on 22 July 2001

Greetings everyone,

What's been going on while I have been away eh? Big boy Hanson has past the 1000 boredom barrier, you lot are discussing the looks of amps!, Top Cat has asked a thousand turntable questions and still hasn't made up his mind, and where is Vuk?, the Mana forum has a 'gothic' Naim forum look - nice, and shit I missed the Naim BBQ, oh dear.

Anyway I am moving 'dahn sarf' this week and my system gets packed up on Tuesday, after being up and running (i.e not powered down for about nine months or so). Until last week the system has really been playing music beautifully. Jawed came up for the weekend recently and declared that it was the best SBL system he had ever heard. I was really touched

However, last weekend I went to London to pick up the keys to the new place and stayed at Jaweds partly becasue I hadn't heard DBL's for such a long time. Suffice to say, DBL's are magnificent aren't they? They bring such an ease ot listening, SBLs sound 'shouty' in comparision.

They are marvellous, although you do feel they would work better with a more meatier amp. Ther is a hint of box colouration which some recordings/rooms tend to bring out. But overall, their strengths are so prominent you forget such details.

Coming back to SBL's was a disappointment to be honest, after a weekend with a good speaker, you feel a bit shortchanged.

Also on Monday, my CDS2 started to misbehave, it won't read a lot of my CD's and is starting to sound a bit bright/edgy too. Nothing has been touched or changed so I suspect the puck is starting to fail. I've tried blu tack etc, but it still is misbehaving. The sodding thing won't even play my Grooverider CD which is, frankly, unforgivable. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Or does it need to go back to the good doctors at Naim.

It seems my recent 'LP12 is great' experience has made some of you think I have 'repented', 'come back to the fold', blah, blah, blah. Nonsense. I just want to say that this is the only LP12 I have heard in the whole of my short audio career that sounded great, so I still think high mass is best and for 99% of the time the Well Tempered still kicks major butt, and most of LP12 are still 'a bag of poo'. So there I feel better now.

John C if you are out there, reading this, please remember that I am still a member of the cult. Do not lose the faith, all these digital sinners will one day realise the error of their ways.

But I am still looking for a cool LP12 if anyone wants to sell me one and the spare cash that I am going to liberate from the sale of my WT/SBL's is going to the 'Dev gets big speaker fund' (all donations welcome please).

Anyway,thumpasaurous peoples!!! I am summoning you to the groove while I return to refunkatise the planet.

Dev B (still on the wheels of steel)

Posted on: 22 July 2001 by Top Cat

I'm getting there, insurance money is sorted out and so it's simply a case of getting the best £4K rig I can (the Lingo survived the accident - actually, no, it wasn't even IN the accident, as it was on a seperate shelf and should liberate £350ish s/h once I find the box). Added to the insurance pennies and I am sure I'll end up with a heck of a system soon... real soon...

John

PS. Why are you moving dahn sahth?

Posted on: 23 July 2001 by Frank Abela

Dev,

I am going to liberate from the sale of my WT/SBL's is going to the 'Dev gets big speaker fund'

Did I get you right? Are you selling the WT?

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 23 July 2001 by Dev B

Yep, I'm bored. It's brilliant but a bit to clinical. It maybe the cartridge though, the Arkiv has been going for 2 years and maybe I need something with a bit more 'romance'.

see you soon.

Posted on: 23 July 2001 by Andrew Randle

quote:
It's brilliant but a bit to clinical.

Similar to a Townsend Rock, eh?

quote:
It maybe the cartridge though, the Arkiv has been going for 2 years and maybe I need something with a bit more 'romance'.

You can't get much more romantic than an Arkiv if it is matched with an Ekos and LP12. To me, the Aro is too analytical - to the point that I prefer the presentation of my CDX.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Posted on: 23 July 2001 by Frank Abela

Dev,

I thought it had fantastic resolution and pace etc. but it just didn't involve me as much as with other decks, and that was with a dramatic fullsome cartridge like the Te Kaitora!

I've not yet heard another deck with anywhere near the same positive attributes. Strange how a piece of equipment can get it so rigth and yet not be right at the same time. Bizarre.

DBLs: It's the sheer scale that gets me. They have a similar presentation to the other Naim speakers, but they present such a BIG picture it's uncanny.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 23 July 2001 by Rico

quote:
Also on Monday, my CDS2 started to misbehave, it won't read a lot of my CD's and is starting to sound a bit bright/edgy too. Nothing has been touched or changed so I suspect the puck is starting to fail. I've tried blu tack etc, but it still is misbehaving. The sodding thing won't even play my Grooverider CD which is, frankly, unforgivable. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Or does it need to go back to the good doctors at Naim.

Dev

I had a similar experience recently, with same concerns as yours. Had cleaned the platter, puck etc... even tried rotating the rubber pads in the puck - no avail, I still had random, non-repeatable skipping. A quick call to Naim, and Paul Desmond kindly sent a puck (Thanks, Paul!) - it seems to have sorted the problem - with the limited time I've had to listen lately, I've heard no probs.

So try the puck - most likely cause of your probs.

Welcome back to the pleasure dome!

And here's a thought - does it worry forum members to see posts dwarfed by the sheer size of the following disclaimer? confused

Rico - let them eat Kans.

Posted on: 23 July 2001 by Steve Toy

Kans - those tiddly little speakers that work best on those huge Custom Design light-weight walking frames!
I suppose they work as part of a sub-sat speaker system!

It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve

Posted on: 24 July 2001 by Dev B

quote:
I thought it had fantastic resolution and pace etc. but it just didn't involve me as much as with other decks, and that was with a dramatic fullsome cartridge like the Te Kaitora!

I think you are onto something here Frank. I was listening to it last night (it gets packed up for the move tonight) and it has fantastic resolution and pace it is just so fast, the detail is explicit and it has a super tight bass, but and there is but, but I am not sure what the but is, if you know what I mean.

Unless someone offers me a lot of money for it, the WT stays and I am trying to get my mits on a mint pre-cirkus, LP12, Aro, Armageddon, Troika that I wil use with a Mana table as my alternative table.

I have managed to source the last PT top plate in existence, and will use this with te deck.

There is only one solution for this analog die hard - have two decks!

quote:
DBLs: It's the sheer scale that gets me. They have a similar presentation to the other Naim speakers, but they present such a BIG picture it's uncanny.

Apart from the scale, which you do adjust to, I think the word that summarises them best is dynamic freedom. They may have the same tonal balance as SBL's, but SBL's shout in comparison.

The only problem with DBL's is that there is just a whiff of box coluration - try some Carl Cox, you can hear it, it needs a meaty amp. But it is a magnifcent speaker. Hopefully NBL's are close.

cheers,

Dev

Posted on: 24 July 2001 by Martin M

Dev, I agree with your analysis of DBLs. They can be a little unpredictable! However in my experience once you 'get' DBLs, NBLs won't do (I guess that if you 'get' NBLs, DBLs won't do either...). They have a go at having the DBLs dynamics but for me just don't deliver the freedom of musical expression the DBLs conjure up on a regular basis(often from surprisingly mundane source material). Give it a go, but I think you loft space is going to be filled with 7 large cardboard boxes some time soon.