Finally Active Ovator 800
Posted by: Patrik on 07 July 2013
thanks for the clarification DB. I never cease to be amazed by the amount of care you take in installing and fine tuning your system, as evidenced by all the experience you have built up with your Ovator speakers -- 600 then now 800.
Not just on his speakers but the rest of the system too. I am sure many people have learnt a lot about attention to detail from many of DBs posts over the years.
DB, congrats on the new acquisition. I hope they come on song quickly for you! 
J
Congratulations DB. Enjoy.
It would seem your back survived the installation. They are beasts to move.
Gary very kindly invited me to come and hear his recently installed 800's yesterday. He, and some of you will know that I've never much cared for the Ovator 600's - in his 'active 500' system or anywhere else I've heard them.
The 800's in Rosewood look huge and quite magnificent, and I think I actually said "Wow" when I walked into the large listening room. Gary has placed them further off the back wall than his 600's - necessitating extension of the oak-plank flooring on which they are sited.
Allowances must be made for a very new pair of 800's with only a few hours use, but I was very pleasantly surprised from the off. Bigger 600's they most definitely are not. This is a very different sounding loudspeaker to me. They are more agile than 600's and portrayal of the entire frequency spectrum is in a different league. Resolution of the textural information of instruments is probably the best I have ever heard.
The bass stops and starts on a dime; is even throughout its range, and subterranean bass is deliciously clean and unfettered. The dynamic swing is phenomenal - loud stuff (on a 'proper' recording) 'happens' in a quite shocking fashion. The sound-stage is the biggest and best I have ever heard from any Naim system. Those huge cabinets disappear.
On Nitin Sawhney's 'Beyond Skin' I was hearing percussive noises which appeared to be coming from behind me. It was a very immersive listening experience.
The mid-band is much more detailed, layered, transparent and expressive than on the 600's - smooth and seamless too. The top end has more life than I've ever heard from the 600's but is still slightly muted for me. I'm not talking about comparison with familiar traditional tweeters - I'm talking about sitting in front of a steel-strung acoustic guitar or the cymbals of a drum kit at a live gig, and the 800's not delivering the absolute clarity and sparkle in the top end I hear from real instruments.
Loudspeakers divide opinion like nothing else in the Hi-Fi chain, and my perceived 'lack of top end sparkle' criticism will be be someone else's ' smooth and seamless treble' positive attribute.
Some photos - which will as usual, open larger in a separate tab or window.
System overview.
Gary in spike adjustment mode - for scale.
Another system overview.
The 800's have for me, had the effect of balancing up Gary's system beautifully. Those lovely piles of Naim electronics (it's really just a CD player!) sound to me like they needed a more expensive loudspeaker to do them justice.
So; a sort of 'Ovator hater' epiphany then - albeit at a price. I'm really pleased for Gary. He has a beautifully cohesive musical system with obviously more to come as the 800's run-in.
The other nice thing is that (correct me if I wrong Gary), the 800's seem to be, at this early stage at least, less tweaky than the 600's. Gary is of course much more attuned and critical of his own sound; detecting nuances of changes. The performance in my hours with the system yesterday remained pretty stable - and consistently very good to my ears.
Well done Naim. This is one very special loudspeaker.
John.
PS. I recently heard Naim's demonstration pair of 800's active on three 500's at a local Hi-Fi show, and quite frankly thought they sounded poor. Proof again that shows are not the places to make absolute judgements on performance. Gary's brand new pair of 800's, meticulously installed and set-up (along with the rest of the system) sound like a very different pair of loudspeakers.
Well I'm glad you enjoyed them!
I usually allow a lot of time to get used to large chamges in performance when I make a significant system upgrade - but these seet to 'fit' in a way hard to describe; it is almost as if Naim designed them together as a system.
Still a lot of run-in to go, as a brand new snaxo as well - the previous snaxo took several months to run-in to full potential, but this is sounding good already.
It may look like I'm praying to the speaker, but was checking spikes...ok perhaps a little preying too! 
G.
Congrats Gary, beautiful looking speaker . How about an 800 gathering per chance ??? ATB & enjoy Peter
Looking good Gary. 
What distance apart are they and what is the listening distance? Did you have to set them different to the 600s?
Steve
Steve - you know that you hanker for the 800s - give in
Gary, what on earth did you put in John's tea?
When DB and I went to hear the 800s at the factory next to the 600s (and on a double-psu's CD555, as I recall) we were staggered at how different they are to the 600s. Quite remarkable, in fact, and it's fantastic to see such convergence of opinion.
I would certainly agree that the sound at our show was some way off the level achieved in Gary's room when we did the home trial. The limitations of short set-up time in an unfamiliar location at our show compared poorly to the known quantity of where the 600s worked best as a starting point. Even then, it was not until 1700 hrs the following day that the positioning breakthrough was made and, on delivery day, lateral movements of 5mm or so were making tangible differences to timing, resolution and realism.
Thank you to DB for being such an, erm, dedicated customer!
Alastair
Quite remarkable, in fact, and it's fantastic to see such convergence of opinion.
Unless John was just being polite - no I don't think so 