Dealer personal systems

In my experience, the dealers always use the same system at home, that I am interested in - by accident.

Let's see what they say from the horses mouth rather than speculate?

On a Naim forum I would imagine blue bearded Linn/Naim heavyweights having a solid disposition here. ....but yes they are all running devailet or Densen in all probability... Maybe even Arcam and Marantz...

UnitServe SSD/Dac/555PS-DR/552/500/S600's.

SL interconnect and standard Naim cables.

Changed to this combination in 2011 after running CD555/555PSx2 and Magneplanar 20.1R's

Cheers

Rick.

My mother always told me sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. l have always ignored her and, like you, rely on it to bring order to fantasy.

Bring back the Toby Jug. What's with the modern art Avatar. You have not gone weird on us have you?

None. No time as work takes up alot of time. Work and then sleep. 

Anyway, I am off to bed now 

Thanks

Rick @ Musicraft

There are a few factors that will influence a dealers system that could make it less than worthwhile to know What they use. One might be that your sales person may not own the shop. if they are on a retail wage they may have a very modest setup despite possible mates rates for Naim sellers. Also, they have access to all this great gear at work.  If they want to listen surely they would play music before or after closing, or between customers.

The other factor could be similar to a chef, at home he probably eats McDonalds to avoid cooking.  Apply the same to your dealer, maybe.

However, I know that Chord's Rob Watts was a big fan of his own Hugo until he needed to spend time designing the Dave thing.  Lawerence Dickie ( B&W nautilus and Vivid) uses Devialet after previously using his own power amp. Mr Lew Johnson of CJ used a CJ CA200 at home for a simple one box amp solution Rather than on of his companies multi box solutions.  

Maybe the question should be, what do the Naim designers listen to for relaxation at home?  

Rick originally posted:

"UnitServe SSD/Dac/555PS-DR/552/500/S600's.

SL interconnect and standard Naim cables.

Changed to this combination in 2011 after running CD555/555PSx2 and Magneplanar 20.1R's"

Hi Rick,

Undoubtedly, a very good system indeed, although one thing intrigues me. Being a long time fan of Magnepan speakers, I am intrigued to find out why you moved from a pair of Magneplanar 20.1Rs to S600s.

Now, if money was no object (and without going into the realm of obscene cost), and if I had a listening room to take full advantage of them, the Magneplanar 20.1s would be pretty much at the top of my want list (I currently use MG 3.6Rs). Could I ask why you decided to make the move to S600s? System synergy, lack of space, or simply that you prefer the sound of the S600s?   

Going back to the original question, I would assume that most Naim dealers would be a little reluctant to admit that they favoured another brand for use at home, or indeed that they are happy with a low to mid-end Naim system, so the responses may be a little skewed. 

My dealer, in the late 70's, didn't have any gear at home. When asked about this, he stated that hi-fi was no longer a priority for him.  The other guy there, said that Haymarket Publications mags, were good, only for use as temporary speaker stands.

a few years ago, my then dealer came to optimise my then LP12/NAC52/250/SBL system. when he had completed the fettling -- he said "your system sounds more or less like mine at home -- i hope you dont mind me hanging around for a while longer to listen some more as it ill take me sometime to get home tonite"

perhaps things have changed since then...

enjoy

ken

Hi Hmack,

I lived happily with the 20.1's for 8 years. An amazing speaker that deserves it's true hi-end status. I had mine on Myre stands in a dedicated listening room.

On well balanced recordings the 20.1's were superb, their pure ribbon tweeter being untouched by any other high frequency transducer I've heard so far. They do scale very well and make instruments appear very life size. A piano through the Maggie's was special indeed. I have not heard the 20.7's, but from what I've read they are even more seamless than the 20.1's now that the bass and mid panel is a quasi ribbon.

I changed to the S600's for a very simple reason. Enjoyment. Are they better than the Maggie's...most certainly not. Just different. With the 20.1's it was at times hit and miss with regard to how they would treat a recording. Their sheer resolving ability meant lesser quality recordings could at times be distracting rather than engaging to listen to. I wondered too, if the 500 wasn't bringing enough juice to the party as the Maggie's will take all the current you can give them. 20.7's on the end of Statement anyone?

The S600's (for me), with their slightly rounded top end and lesser resolving power make more of my music library enjoyable to listen to. I find they also have a greater physicality (which is typical of good cones over panels) and boogie factor. In short, I listen to a wider variety of music through the Ovator's than I did the Magnepan's.

I would love to have the space and budget to run both as they are just such different speakers.

Cheers

Rick.

HI Rick,

Thanks for the explanation, and I can certainly understand your decision. Perhaps with the 20.1s you can just have "too much of a good thing".

Strangely enough, I think you might be right about the amount of juice the 500 delivers, despite the undoubted overall capability of the 500. With my own lesser Maggies, I have achieved a greatly more 'effortless', relaxing and controlled sound by moving from a similarly rated (power wise only) set of monoblocks to a modern power amp with a significantly higher power rating. Whilst my old venerable Primare 928s were pretty good in their day, they would hardly be a match for the 500, but I have discovered when choosing my new amp that every last bit of power helps. I am sure this will apply even more so with the 20.1s or 20.7s. 

It would certainly be interesting to hear the 20.7s at the end of 'Statement'. 1450W into 4 ohms - the mind boggles! Unfortunately, my bank manager would just laugh at me if I had so much as a demo of this combination.

I am sure you will continue to enjoy your system.

Cheers       

Yep, or the next step up.

I do run a Nait 2 in one room, have 2 of them... In the other room I have a bolt down Nac-12 dual rail, bolt down Snaps dual rail and a bolt down Nap-250... Oh and there is a 32.5 and a Nap-110, and a Nap-160, and a Supercap.... 

 

Originally Posted by gary yeowell:

I think all Naim dealers in reality, run Nait 2's at home, but tell customers they run 272/250DR's.

 

The dealer I am thinking of is a CD555, 52,SC,135x2 type of guy.

When I was on a visit to the factory with other dealers from the US many years ago, one of the things that really stood out for me was that, in sharp contrast to most other brands I had experience with, almost everyone in that group owned Naim components in their home systems.    While this may not really have been a representative sample, I would guess that most Naim dealers have had Naim products, or even full Naim systems, in their homes that they enjoyed for their own listening pleasure.    If you were to restrict the topic to products other than speakers, I would think the percentage of Naim dealers who use their products would go up even higher, as it would for customers.  

While they never ended up being a speaker I owned, I still fondly recall the experience of hearing the DBL six pack system at CES, where JV and Chris West hosted a group of listeners that weekend who got to enjoy a system that had the rare quality of bringing music to LIFE.   I recall this experience more vividly than countless other systems I have more recent experience with, even though there are certainly many other talented designers committed to excellence in high end audio, and many other excellent products on the market.    The sound of the Talking Head's Stop Making Sense at concert volumes when I first made my way into their suite has always stayed with me.    

The common thread in the community of music lovers, in my mind, is not what products they use, or which brands they come to favor, but that they are choosing to listen to music at home when there are so many other choices in modern life.

Good listening,

Bruce

It's in my profile, as it should be for anybody...? Anyway, here it is:

Michell Orbe/Naim ARO/Dynavector XV-1S, Panasonic BDT-500, Naim SuperLine, NAC282, Hicap2, NAP250-2, Naim SL-2s. Hutter racks. Cabling: Chord Chrysalis for BDT-500, Naim NACA5 for the speakers.

You may wonder about the Panasonic BD player. I used to use a CDX2 and sold it as I thought I was going streaming, but I have been holding out while I figure out what I really want to do with my system as it's getting a bit long in the tooth now.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Lovely post Bruce! ATB Peter