New Naim gear at the Bristol show

quote:

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"a 112/150 on the new naim racks sounds better than a 52/500 on any other rack... "

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<Big grins> I am sure that a Nait 5 on a Naim rack sound better than a 102/140 on target.

Dev

Me shi,ms are wobblin!

In the price -you can almost choose - a 52 or the new rack....

Arye

Never mind. I have to report I was sorely disappointed by the new speakers - Vivo. I thought the bass was loose and wooly and said so. The guys said don't judge it by the dem room but hey - others sounded OK (see below). Hope they got it sorted by Sunday.

The new stands are quite nice but far too visually intrusive for my liking - I've become used to the tastefully understated looks of the - what do we call it now? - Classic Naim look. And the price - very naughty. If they are trying to reach a bigger market with the 5 series (as I heard them say to someone bemoaning the demise of the 3 series) it seems a bit strange to pitch the pricing at 500-series levels.

For me one of the best sounds was in the Dynaudio Contour room. CDS II - 52 - NAP500 (only one) into a pair of Contour 3.3s. Boxes sitting on Base boards on all-glass Quadraspire racks.

First thing I noticed - the all-glass QS (black uprights) are luverly - I'm no fan of the wood versions. They get an audition chez nous for very high WAF for starters. Spoke to the QS rep and he admitted they don't feature too heavily in their promotions 'cos they major on the wood look. If it sounds any good then we may have an alternative for people who can't get Mana through the door for WAF reasons.

Next - the sound was seriously kickin'. I took 3 CDs to the show - one I just plain like and the other two contain tracks that cause my system (CDX - 102 - 135s - Dynaudio 1.8) problems because of heavy bass lines.

Let's just say that I stayed awhile and many people in the room at the time asked me what the CDs were and wanted to know where to get them - there was some good time foot tappin' going on. The sound was much better than the two lower Naim rooms (didn't make the triple 500 / DBL dem). Even Phillip - the Dynaudio rep - made a note of the CDs - could be good dem material for him.

Interestingly (I think) he said that the only Naim amp that can handle the big Contour 3.3s is the 500. Did anyone catch these babies on top of a pile of Mana fed by Stealth at the last London show? Despite the questionable music I thought they sounded great again.

So I know where I'm headed with Naim Classic and Dynaudio for the time being. Oh yeh - I sprung for two sets of carbon fibre isolators from Stands Unique 'cos their man said money back if you don't like them. Best thirty quid upgrade I've done. Tightens the mid-range and bass and cleans up the treble. Will try these with the all-glass QS and report back.

That's my piece - sorry I couldn't make the Saturday forum session.

Thank you and goodnight.

Graeme

Ciao!

Willem

[This message was edited by Willem van Gemert on MONDAY 26 February 2001 at 22:41.]

I do find it hard to assess equipment playing music which is stunningly recorded and so sounds brilliant on a Dansette.

Rico - sorry you didn't like the Procol track - I was going to put 'Grand Hotel' or 'Repent Walpurgis' on but thought that 'man with a mission' was more accessible to people on first hearing albeit not by any means their finest moment. Which albums have you got?

regards,

Jonathan

(psychedelic revivalist)

Night Train ... Oscar Peterson Trio

Sunday 8pm .....Faithless

Fila Brazillia..A Touch of Cloth

Grandaddy.......Under the Western Freeway

Procol Harum....One More Time

Low.............Secret Naim

Stevie Wonder...Innervisions

Hugh Masekela...Hope

These are all album titles, don't know tracks that were played. Have fun finding them. Thank you all for your contributions.

Later

Doug

Bob.

Nic , hope your cables are running in nicely. I didn't make the show , but I'm guessing that Nordost were running a similar setup to the last Hammersmith show.
I too thought the sounds they were making were very good. So good in fact that I was walking straight past the room until I heard the sounds and went in to have a look.
I forgot to look at what the speakers were but from memory they may have been Phsycic Audio? tall narrow and deep.
Anyway, I think they just have a synergistic system working there. I have heard the Primare 30 series in a few places now and am always impressed.
I actually went to a dealer to purchase them , but they were out of stock at the time, and was persuaded towards the CD5 and nait 5. No regrets, I love them, but I still regard the more expensive Primare units above most other equipment I've heard.

Paul Warman

Andrew

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

Currently, Naim are at the show for three days, with a "closed" forum dem in the middle, ie at 4pm on the Saturday.

We just need to move to a situation where the "open" dem for the rest of the public is at 4pm on the Saturday...

Best;

Mark
(stoked at having cleared the Royd room in about 15 seconds by playing Colonel Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit; is this a record, Tony?)

I think you mentioned Royd earlier in this now very long thread. Can you give details on the new speakers?

Couldn't make it this year, so I'm looking forward to hearing the Vivo. Maybe they should actually call it the Viva to tie in with the Edsel theme. (UK joke)

Thanks.

I also posted a long one in another thread whose title I can't remember! Search on me and Royd!

Best;

Mark

(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)

Wonder what'll be on the menu this year?

P