AV2 review.
Posted by: Tony Lockhart on 02 May 2002
My latest HFN arrived today...
'..one of the finest sounding surround decoders I've heard'
And it's tested with the new centre speaker and naim wiggly amp boxes!
Tony
'..one of the finest sounding surround decoders I've heard'
And it's tested with the new centre speaker and naim wiggly amp boxes!
Tony
Posted on: 02 May 2002 by Jay
What month is that? I gather HFN is Hifi News?
Jay
Jay
Posted on: 02 May 2002 by Tony Lockhart
June edition. Should be in shops Friday 3rd. Yep, Hi-fi News.
Tony
Tony
Posted on: 02 May 2002 by Morri
I have had my AV 2 for a couple of weeks now and I have to say it is absolutely spectacular.
I am running it with a 82/supercap, 250, 2 x 140's, a Rotel 985 DVD player and Castle speakers- Howard S3's (F),Richmonds (R),Keep (C) and Sub.
The AV2 has replaced a Rotel processor (RSP 986)and the diffrerence is amazing. Particularly noticable is the separation around the room, producing a feeling of enourmous scale while picking up every subtlety in enourmous detail. Speach is presented with such clarity making for a presentation of the programme which is increadibly easy on the ear. Add to that the usual Naim dynamics and you have a very impressive piece of kit. I am certainly enjoying it and would recommend it to any one.
I am running it with a 82/supercap, 250, 2 x 140's, a Rotel 985 DVD player and Castle speakers- Howard S3's (F),Richmonds (R),Keep (C) and Sub.
The AV2 has replaced a Rotel processor (RSP 986)and the diffrerence is amazing. Particularly noticable is the separation around the room, producing a feeling of enourmous scale while picking up every subtlety in enourmous detail. Speach is presented with such clarity making for a presentation of the programme which is increadibly easy on the ear. Add to that the usual Naim dynamics and you have a very impressive piece of kit. I am certainly enjoying it and would recommend it to any one.
Posted on: 07 May 2002 by Jonathan
Morri,
Im very interested in the AV2 and would welcome some additional information from you as to how it works. Especially as my system is similar(ish) to yours. I have an 82, 2x hicap, 250.
Specifically:
a) How easy is it to switch between AV mode and just using the 82 to listen to CDs (I used to use a surround processor but got fed up with having to rebalance the sound levels every time I switched to AV).
b) How do the two 140s work? one for rear speakers and one for the centre perhaps? Why chose this over the 175?
c) Any other hints or tips?
Cheers
Jonathan
Im very interested in the AV2 and would welcome some additional information from you as to how it works. Especially as my system is similar(ish) to yours. I have an 82, 2x hicap, 250.
Specifically:
a) How easy is it to switch between AV mode and just using the 82 to listen to CDs (I used to use a surround processor but got fed up with having to rebalance the sound levels every time I switched to AV).
b) How do the two 140s work? one for rear speakers and one for the centre perhaps? Why chose this over the 175?
c) Any other hints or tips?
Cheers
Jonathan
Posted on: 07 May 2002 by Manu
The AV2 in/out AN3 should be plugged in an In/Out of the 82, input 4,5 or 6. You will have to turn volume up on the 82 (12 o'clock) when listenning to an AV source.
To listen to an audio only source, on the 82, turn down the volume to the proper level and select this input.
You have no choice, to adjust the volume level each time you switch from AV to audio and vice-versa. New preamp ( 112, 552, Nait5) have a unity gain feature to avoid this.
I've tried to compensate the front speaker level on the AV2, it doesn't sound well.
I use a 160 for center channel. I started by bi-amping the center, now I have added a NAXO.
I use a home made center channel, having almost the same tweeter as Naim, (mine is the standard version).
Using 2 second hand amps can be cheapper than a 175. However the 175 way will use less boxes (begin to be an important factor at this number of box level )
If you want to listen to a CD in surround mode (what a bizard idea!) select CD as record source (on the 82) select the input where the AV2 is plugged (on the 82) and select the input 3 (you will label it "PRE") on the AV2.
More complicated to explain than to do!!
With a programable remote control, all this become single keystroke operations.
Emmanuel
[This message was edited by Manu on TUESDAY 07 May 2002 at 20:52.]
To listen to an audio only source, on the 82, turn down the volume to the proper level and select this input.
You have no choice, to adjust the volume level each time you switch from AV to audio and vice-versa. New preamp ( 112, 552, Nait5) have a unity gain feature to avoid this.
I've tried to compensate the front speaker level on the AV2, it doesn't sound well.
I use a 160 for center channel. I started by bi-amping the center, now I have added a NAXO.
I use a home made center channel, having almost the same tweeter as Naim, (mine is the standard version).
Using 2 second hand amps can be cheapper than a 175. However the 175 way will use less boxes (begin to be an important factor at this number of box level )
If you want to listen to a CD in surround mode (what a bizard idea!) select CD as record source (on the 82) select the input where the AV2 is plugged (on the 82) and select the input 3 (you will label it "PRE") on the AV2.
More complicated to explain than to do!!
With a programable remote control, all this become single keystroke operations.
Emmanuel
[This message was edited by Manu on TUESDAY 07 May 2002 at 20:52.]
Posted on: 19 May 2002 by Morri
Johnathan,
just seen your question and I see Manu has covered the set up issues. I use the 140's (one for the center, one for the rear) as at the time I went into surround I already had a 140, adding a second seemed a logical way of getting an extra power supply. At that time there wasn't a Naim alternative. The center channel 140 is Bi-amped to the speaker which makes for an increadibly dynamic response.
Hope you enjoy it.
Morri.
just seen your question and I see Manu has covered the set up issues. I use the 140's (one for the center, one for the rear) as at the time I went into surround I already had a 140, adding a second seemed a logical way of getting an extra power supply. At that time there wasn't a Naim alternative. The center channel 140 is Bi-amped to the speaker which makes for an increadibly dynamic response.
Hope you enjoy it.
Morri.
Posted on: 20 May 2002 by Paul Stephenson
THe journal is the "Essential Home Cinema"