A trickle-down upgrade
Posted by: MDS on 24 March 2013
A recent change of speakers to Focal Electra 1028be’s on my stereo system, see post in Hi-Fi corner, has given me the nice bonus of an upgrade on my home theatre system. Previous Focal dome 5.1 speaker set up, powered by a n-Vi, with other sources being a Sky HD box and Oppo 93BU. The system has now had the benefit of Focal 816WSEs replacing the front left and right domes and a REL Strata II replacing the dome sub. My dealer kindly adjusted all the settings etc.
Rather curiously the first and most obvious improvement I noticed was with speech on stereo TV broadcasts. Voices have more timbre and seem more life-like. Even the test match commentary showed it. Over the past week or so I’ve tried a few movies on Sky HD, DVD and Blu-ray. There’s a clear performance lift which the wife has commented upon too. That said, it's not quite in the way that I expecting. The 816s clearly give more and go down much deeper than the little domes. This is very noticeable in a good way on all day-to-day listening on the Sky box and particularly at low and moderate volumes. But I thought I'd notice the presence of the REL Strata more. I’ve even checked it a few times to just to make sure it's on and it is. And then I play a movie and a heavy transient comes along. Oh yes, the REL sub is there all right! Last night I played Skyfall on Blu-ray and it was excellent! Detail is better across the range and there’s more weight when it’s called for.
I think this is another example where I need to allow my ears to re-educate themselves because I suspect I have become accustomed to noticing the presence of the Dome sub much of the time. Now there's a slight feeling of something missing. But, of course, the Dome sub was more noticeable because it was having to work harder. The 816s are now doing more work than the domes and the REL sub doesn't need to reach up so high. Both the 816s and REL are capable of much more. As a result the sound is now better integrated across the low-mid and bass. The whole thing sounds just so much more effortless.
Next move is an upgrade on the centre channel and I’ve got a suitable Focal centre speaker waiting in the wings but that will have to wait a while because it will need a new TV/system rack to accommodate it. The centre dome will do in the meantime during which I’m going to enjoy this trickle-down upgrade.
MDS
Well rackkit, my n-VI with it's modest 50 watts per channel gives an impression of effortlessness so your 300/145/175 amplification must be very special indeed. Lovely stuff.
And, tonym, a multi 500 system. Goodness me, it must sound breathtaking! 
MDS
The Axess is now being driven with the 145 amp and it's a much better match tonally with the SL2s. I have the Axess set to small in the AV2 settings but wondering what effect the large settings will give.
The Axess/145 combination is a marriage made in heaven! My 145's now gone (I'm using an Anthem processor nowadays) but the Axess remains. I've got mine set to small, but it's worth experimenting - I did have it set to large for a while, that was with my previous SL2s. When I went to DBLs I automatically set it to small but I might well try putting it back to large. It dependes on your sub to a certain extent.
Going to try a Blu-ray film tonight with the Axess/145. It sounded fine being driven with the 175's centre channel so i'll be interested to see how much of an improvement the the 145 is. I'll go with the small setting for now tho. The n-Sub does a great job at not giving away where it's placed and the hum problem seems to have gone away again. No idea what's causing that but hey ho. 
How are you finding the Anthem Processor compared to your old Naim set up?
Well rackkit, my n-VI with it's modest 50 watts per channel gives an impression of effortlessness so your 300/145/175 amplification must be very special indeed. Lovely stuff.
And, tonym, a multi 500 system. Goodness me, it must sound breathtaking!
MDS
I'm not surprised at your NVi sounded great MDS if the 175 is anything to go by. I was using a 175/150 combo before finally setting up the main system and it sounded superb on movies with n-Sats/n-Cent/n-Sub.
I don't think you can go wrong at any level with Naim's amps. As you say, they're effortless.