Anyone DIRECTLY compare Linn Pekin and Naim NAT 05 tuners?
Posted by: Jaybar on 04 April 2001
Jay
I suggest that you talk to Linn and Naim dealers in New York (there are a bunch of them), and arrange for one of them to lend you the tuner to take to the other's. Then you can compare them for yourself. Of course, if the test location doesn't have a good antenna, or has problems with RFI, etc., then you still won't know.
This leads to the inevitable solution:
Borrow all the tuners you can (I suggest at least 17). Also take a trip to the local pawn shops and grab a few more for. (That's where I bought my current tuner, a Sansui T-505, for only $35US.) Don't forget to beg, borrow or steal six or seven antennae (whips, strips, ...).
Drag all this stuff back to your apartment (which doesn't have a balcony or windows for hanging), and hold a tuner marathon. In the end, you'll be an expert, and you can tell all of us what we should be buying.
Who knows? Maybe my pawn shop Sansui is the best tuner in the world, and I can stop my own search.
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
Did you have crab apples for breakfast? Your reply seems a bit over the top even if the question has been asked more than once.
Jaybar,
I haven't tried one myself but Naim tuners seem to get universal praise, and not just here. I would think a NAT05 to be a safe bet.
Joe
quote:
Did you have crab apples for breakfast? Your reply seems a bit over the top
This forum already has the same questions repeated too many times. When it's the same question from the same guy, it gets a little annoying.
Besides, we haven't had a good scrap on the forum for a while.
On top of it all, who would want to buy a tuner called a "Pekin"? It's sounds like someone from Georgia saying "Pecan". (Speaking of pecans, I could go for a piece of pecan pie right now.)
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
Jaybar, if you want to attract further attention to the question you've already posed, just add to the original thread... that way we'll at least save some server space.
Do let us know how you get on - it would be interesting to know if the Linn switchy-PSU f*%cks up the Naim equipment in your system. I agree that procuring loaner equipment for a back-to-back trial is the best idea.
As regards stacking your kit, I would view this only as a short-term solution. A separate shelf per item is recommended, and separate stands for source/PSU's etc when you get well up in the stratospheres of both kit and appartment space. HTH.
Rico - all your base are belong to us.
I didn't realize that Jaybar has asked the question so recently. All the same, I still think Mike's reply was a bit over the top, almost Mr. Pigian one might say.
Joe
Maybe it would have been appreciated more if I added a emoticon to my original reply.
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
What do I mean by difficult. I live in an area that is between two bridgesm facing a lot of high rise office buildings. When I started out with my first system in 1982, I tried a tuner and gave up on reception. No matter what tuner I tried. Therefore, I was extremely cautious.
The sound is quite fine, not edgy, very refined. Maybe lacking a bit in PRAT, but since I could not compare it to the Naim, I cant say. Also since I got a new rack (Zoethecus), I had to turn off all my components, which undoubtedly effects the sound. Things should improve immensely with warm up. The tuner's sound should also improve when I get my Linn Silver IC's and an upscale MIT power chord. Unlike Naim, I find that Linn benefits from power chords. I will report as the system "cdooks" so to speak.
Rico, you asked about the effects of the Switched mose power supply on my Naim gear (CD 5). Not only does my Tuner have this PS, but also the Linto. YES, it does effect the PRAT slightly in terms of less involvement, but not greatly. The PRAT gets more adverely effected when I use stock power chords on the Linn gear as MIT stuff has a good deal of filtering.
Jay
Well this time, I am using a Magnum Dynalab ST-02 antenna, installed behind the drapes snd it works like a charm.
quote:
Well this time, I am using a Magnum Dynalab ST-02 antenna, installed behind the drapes snd it works like a charm.
Jay
I was about to ask you that - another point to the ST-2, huh? Pleased to hear you can now get Howard Stern in all his, err glory! Which stations should I tune in to for music when next I'm in NYC - that is, if my mate has a tuna in his gaff!
Rico - all your base are belong to us.
BTW, I just got a new Zoethecus rack. Simply marvelous with Naim, Spectral and Linn gear. However.....
They have two size racks. One roughly 23 x 25 for larger "American" style gear and the other for UK Gear. she shelf size is 14 x 16 of the UK gear rack. Its not really wide enough for the series 5 gear, unless you place the gear back a bit in the shelf, so it clears the wooden (sand filled) pillars.
Sonically its GREAT but costly. Its all wood and sounds very different than the normal target type stands.
Thanks everyone for helping
Jay
You said;
quote:
Who knows? Maybe my pawn shop
Sansui is the best tuner in the world, and I
can stop my own search.
I frequent resale shops often, mostly shopping
for LPs and musical instruments, and come
across absolutely killer used hi-fi occasionally. My searches also turn-up alot of junk which I end-up throwing away because they sound like complete shit or have a drop-out in a channel, etc. I once had the model Sansui tuner you mention and it did sound almost as good as my Creek. My current tuner is a Lloyds which bettered the Sansui and the Creek. It is
actually a clock radio which I soldered a 75
ohm connector to and a DIN lead. It is also
double cool because I can switch on the
clock-radio power-supply and wake-up to music
on my hi-fi!! I once found a Sansui turntable
which didn't work for $5. and after installing
an old LP-12 belt and a Linn felt mat it
sounded great so I gave it to my son. When I put the Cirkus in my LP-12, I took the old bearing and inner platter from my LP-12 and put it in the Sansui(it was a direct replacement only needing a hole drilled through the bottom board. It blew away a Rega3 I once picked-up at a pawn shop. When my son has friends over, they can't believe a cheap vinyl woodgrained(so circa 1974) turntable can sound so much better than a CD!!
Anyone else have recommended "pawnshop" or
"flea market" Best-Buys?
Ron The Mon
BTW Mike,
If you don't have the patience to ignore a
thread, hi-jack it and piss him off back!!
[BTW Jay,
The Pekin sucks and will blow-up any day now as they're all defective with that new Linn Lirpa power supply.]
Jay
Jay
Sorry, I thought you were in on the joke. Lirpa is "April" spelled backword, a late April's Fool's Day joke.
I've heard whatever Linn tuner is in the module for their integrated. It was at a friend's with an ST-2. It sounded OK. I heard an older Kremlin in my system. It sounded really good and picked-up a station in Kentucky crystal-clear but after the novelty wore off I realized it did not sound as good as an NAT-01.
Ron The Mon,
Saving For An "01"
It's setup in my office right now. One thing that it does is "drop out" whenever the signal is strong and there are sudden peaks. Is this truly a problem with signal strength (for which I need an attenuator), or is my tuner headed for the junk heap (or back to the pawn shop)? BTW, the AM band doesn't work at all, but I'm not inclined to listen to AM radio so it's not really a problem.
-=> Mike Hanson <=-