not a thead about nasty stuff, Rico discovers the NAP90 (ricosystem III)

Now that I have your collective attention, its time to talk about Ricosystem III.

No, I'm not on drugs! Here's the bullet-pointed summary for those executives amongst you, followed by a piccy for those of the pictorial persuasion. We'll then wrap up with a brief discussion of the merits, and a few more piccies.

I know you'll all enjoy pointing out all the shortcomings of this system, but it has much going for it.

• It's low-budget
• It's compact
• It's not demanding on setup
• It even features non-ferrous equipment support (for those of you gone to the dark-side). Hey - I can even make the bog-seat mod without the use of a router by folding in the box-flaps, and save another £100 in the bargain!
• It features the most under-rated Naim amp, the NAP90.

And here it is:

Yes thats right, Rico favouring a NAP90 after all the years of slagging it off. No, this is not a revelation, just a pleasant surprise. The NAC62 & NAP90 were kindly lent to me by a friend, and the speakers (AudioMark AM18's) lent to me by the designer. The NAP90-2 has been upgraded to 90-3 status, and is run via a black SNAIC. The Philips CD502 (aka "plastic fantastic") belongs to another friend, and is the cornerstone of his earlier system before he scored an all Naim system in the UK.

This system is certainly a rule-breaker! Set up as plonked down in the room, a real bitser. The winning thing here (apart from the outstanding synergy with Naim amps acheived by employing the fabulously musical CD502) is that the speakers have been optimised for the 90. Ever heard a 90 sounding really fast? Ever thought a 90, or a ported speaker could do PJ Harvey? Hell, this one does! OK, we're not talking the ultimate in refinement here, but loads of music in our lounge while whats left of Ricosystem II swims its way around the world to be married up to Ricosystem I. Jah Wobble's bass runs upset the player a bit - it just can't make that much sense of the complexity of the bottom end, so it just fluffs it. And we're probably lacking some scale here, although I suspect some improved bracing of the non-ferrous support would help things. The real culprit must be the speaker cabling, a case of "what was to hand" which in this case was some 5 metre lengths of RICO4 (1.2mm TPS 3-phase power cabling, solid core, with bananna terminations) left over from rounder-earth days. I'm sure NACA5 would improve things. I'm really keen to try the CDX in this system once it arrives - although a properly levelled support will be a requirement for CDX operation.

Source-firsters will understand why the MD player sounds more like a Japanese hifi, requiring a lot more heft on the volume dial to make scale... but allows me to groove out atop the ladder with paintbrush or roller in hand whilst Hooky runs through his stuff on Power Corruption and Lies. Yep, it's all music to paint rooms by. Groove Armada's Hello Country Goodbye Nightclub (did I get the order right on that one?) is not at all bass-shy, with the sub-lines wining forth. Sola Rosa sounds well funky, and when I run out of CD's to play (I have the traveller's version of desert island disks - the 20-disk Case Logic folder, packed in a hurry, along with a few aquisitions along the way), the Sony portable tuna makes good sounds.

So here's a chance for ya'll to knock yourselves out - point out all of the "issues" in the setup of Ricosystem III, and which rules I've broken. Glittering Prize: Whoever makes me weep tears of shame gets further details of the AM18's by way of a reward. Oh hell - I haven't said wood yet. Huhhh hehh heh heh huhhhh.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed the homage to Greg Beaty. The towel really works, but I have found the colour paricularly important - any other would not contrast favourably with Naim Green.

At any rate, the moral of the story is not to write off the NAP90. With careful speaker matching, it really can deliver a load of musical enjoyment, and more importantly, FUN. Kan owners will know what I mean. For those interested in the AM18's, there will be more details on a forthcoming website - it's a self-build speaker that works on Naim - awesome!

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

System Detail including Ricosupport.

[This message was edited by Vuk Vuksanovic is our friend on MONDAY 19 November 2001 at 19:55.]

[This message was edited by Better off without Vuk? I think not. on MONDAY 19 November 2001 at 20:01.]