Will Naim ever make a decent subwoofer

Yeah, it's called a DBL. Oh... you also get the treble and mid-range in for free.

Andrew

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

Andrew: at $18,000 I don't think they're throwing in the midrange and tweeter for free. Pretty expensive for a sub

Arthur Bye

Are $18'000 expensive for an excellent subwoofer offering mids and trebles for free ? I think I'll transfer your post to Krell, with their "Master Reference Subwoofer" that sets you back $40k or so. And as I can't imagine a subwoofer sound good when there's only one, you need two of these horrible huge boxes that look like 100000 Volt-transformers.

Come on, we all dream of a pair of active DBL's

Bernard

Bernard,

Rumour has it that Darth Vadar was buried in one of those muthas.

Andrew

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

Darth Vader aside, you need a largish room for DBL's (and NBL's), for those of us who are not so fortunate I think a sub (theoretically) could be quite a good thing.

So how about a naim designed sub - with a 250 inside a sealed cabinet and one of the DBL's 15in drivers. Yours for £2.5k.

I did a search and it seems that a few people have used a REL sucessfully (Jawed and Paul Murray). I suppose I could borrow one from Robert Ritchie as a try out - he has some sort of REL Q200E in the shop.

Dev

Andrew,

Darth Vadar (and his brother) are alive and kicking in in my living room, looking remarkably like a pair of Watt monitors/Puppy subs.

Cheers

Don

A Puppy

Dear Don
Surprised (and pleased)to find another Watt/Puppy user on this forum. Do you use Naim amps? Have you had any of the Wilson upgrades?
Malcolm

Rockingdoc,

I've had the Watt V/Puppy 2 combination for 2 years now, after Isobariks for about 20 years. I bought them second hand, in gloss black. They were clearly better than any of the competition at that time and IMHO still are.

The Watts are connected with reverse polarity to the Puppies; and the puppies with reverse polarity to the power amps via the main input to the puppy crossover. The watt/puppy connection is via MIT cables. The puppies 'have paws' or 'acoustical diodes' ie spiked feet with spacers. I'm not aware of any other mods-please elaborate.

I use NAC5 cable (10m) to connect them to a pair of 135s/SuperCap/52/CDS1 all on BASE stands and IMHO the system sounds superb, much more dynamic, spacious and powerful than the Briks with excellent tonality of musical instruments and voices.

However, I still feel that a more powerful amp is needed than the 135s to eliminate some 'shouting' eg with female vocalists at high listening levels and to drive the bass with more authority. I had intended to find a second hand Krell FPB 200 or 300, but then along came the NAP500 which does eliminate that 'shouting' etc when driving B&W N802s so might also drive the Watt/Puppies but will add another £5k to bill!

At present I have a recently serviced 250 doing nothing and I keep wondering whether to try bi-amping (but Wilson won't tell me how to do this safely, saying it won't sound right) or whether to get a Naxo/hicap and try an active set-up - any adivce welcome.

What are you driving your speakers with and how do they sound?

Cheers

Don

Dev, the Wheelsmeister, wrote:

quote:

---

I did a search and it seems that a few people have used a REL sucessfully (Jawed and Paul Murray). I suppose I could borrow one from Robert Ritchie as a try out - he has some sort of REL Q200E in the shop.

---

RELs still represent superb vfm and performance, and will work exceptionally well - however, the Q200E is not the REL to accompany a decent Naim system with - think more along the lines of Studio or Stentor; they may not appear to be much more powerful (they are, but in different ways) but they are subtle and fast (if located and tuned properly) and produce the deepest bass I've ever heard in-room.

However, they seem to work best with standmounts - full range speakers may have a degree of overlap in the roll-off and therefore you could end up with too much bass. A lot of time spent positioning and tweaking levels is required.

There's a tiny band of 'in tune' with a decent sub, but in that small zone, magical things can happen. However, don't expect magic from cheaper subs, e.g. the Q200E, however great it is for movies... likewise the Linn Seizmik, which was very, very, very disappointing (I heard it for the first time last week and couldn't believe that Linn are asking what they are for it- utterly destroyed by any decent REL!)

ANyway, off for a cuppa,

John

I'm just about to invest in a Rel Strata 3 for the AV setup at home - but how do you think it would sound with my B&W 805s (CDX/CDPS, 82 2HCs, 2x250s)?

I know you'll say try it and see but I'm wondering if I should be bothered

And. . . please excuse my ignorance, but how would I connect the thing?

Don
At first I had 72/hicap/140, but this was clearly outclassed by the Wilsons and sounded very 'shouty' due to lack of power. I then went into big Americana amps and was never happy. I now use Sugden Masterclass, which sound great, very full and rounded. I am using a single stereo Masterclass (3300 GBP), but it can run out of power and I may upgrade to a mono pair (3300 GBP each, but the stereo can be converted to mono free). I think the Sugdens are a musical bargain, but many will be put off by the looksl.

I believe Wilson have upgraded the Watt mid-range and tweeter units, and these are available as an upgrade to existing customers (don't know the cost). Upgrading the 'tails' interconnect has also been advised by Wilson. I'm finding Wilson and the importers a bit uncommunicative at the moment (I'm trying to buy new foam grilles).
regards

RockingDoc,

I was aware that Wilson offered to upgrade Watt3s to full Watt V spec which involves a factory return, replacement of mid-range and tweeters and a rebore of the seating holes. I havn't a clue what it would cost - heart-stopping probably. Mine were modified from 3 to V before I bought them.

I heard they also offered to update the 'Tails' and to supply the acoustic diode spikes, again as an upgrade to the Puppy 2. Mine came with the spikes and MIT cables. I think for something like £800 they would swap the cables for Transparent he he he he!

I've never found the UK importers helpful, but i've telephoned Wilson and e-mailed them, always with polite and helpful replies, even if they won't tell me how to bi-amp.

To my ears, they still sound fabulous and despite NBLs and N802s comming along afterwards, I still haven't heard a speaker that I would swap to.

If (or when £££££) I aquire a more powerful amp, I will post a note about performance

Cheers

Don

Has anyone heard the new Rega Vulcan? If anyone can make a lean, mean subwoofer I figure it'd be Rega...