500 DR upgrade time

Thanks DB. It was the great deal on offer that forced the home loan. Plus the investment in the full loom and new speakers last year that made me think I owed it to myself to hear the difference. I wasnt disappointed. The grip and authority were beguiling so the 500 is here to stay. 

How long is your amp away for to be upgraded? Mine was serviced last year so I do not need that.

Hi all,

Harry, I was wondering if you had any further news? You have gone very quiet...maybe that tells me all i need to know 

Haha. I wish. 

Nothing yet. I expect it will be soon now.

I will keep you posted

The dealer has kindly lent us a 250.2 so we have music, which is the most important thing.

Harry posted:

Haha. I wish. 

Nothing yet. I expect it will be soon now.

I will keep you posted

The dealer has kindly lent us a 250.2 so we have music, which is the most important thing.

I beg to differ Harry, the most important thing is having a DR500 playing music!!!!!

Yes. But I wouldn't wish to appear ungrateful for the loan.

It's not been 100% plain sailing with my DR'd 500. Bearing in mind that I had the PS re-capped too; about 5 weeks into the run-in period (early last week), the sound went dead, and then almost immediately (the next day), harsh and nasty.

I wanged my iPod into the 552 on 'Random' for several hours whilst I was out for most of the day, and that seemed to settle things down. The DR fettled NAP 500 is now (at 6 weeks into power-up) sounding better than ever.

The above might be of some interest to those of you who experience similar bumps in the road.

John.

I'm expecting a few - when I get my hands on it!

Now Harry?

We visited the dealer this week. No  sign of the 500 yet. I am told that the factory is saturated with work and things are moving, if slowly. This is not such a problem for me. Naim are of finite size and resources, neither being gigantic, and I would much rather they did it well than felt obliged to rush it - not that they would.  Two and a half days to disassemble a 500, before any modifications begin - I'm told. I wouldn't want someone doing it with one eye on a clock and/or being constantly given the hurry up.

We missed the Statement, which had departed the week before and we met the mini MuSo, which for its size sounded impressive, not just in projection and size of sound but also in musical communication. We'll be getting one for the out building., 

Harry posted:

We visited the dealer this week......

We missed the Statement, which had departed the week before and we met the mini MuSo...... 

 

Might be the beer but this made me chuckle. 

SJB

We certainly laughed when we heard it!

It's that good.

Not cheap though.

Harry posted:

 I am told that the factory is saturated with work 

 

That is excellent news, isn't it? 

analogmusic posted:

Harry posted:

 I am told that the factory is saturated with work 

That is excellent news, isn't it? 

Except that work load saturation could have as much to do with corporate restructuring and job culling by Vervent Audio than a real increase in production. Maximizing the bottom line and all. Hopefully employees associated with Ovators have been reassigned to other tasks.

Harry posted:

We missed the Statement, which had departed the week before and we met the mini MuSo, which for its size sounded impressive, not just in projection and size of sound but also in musical communication. We'll be getting one for the out building., 

 

Lucky it wasn't the other way around!

analogmusic posted:

Harry posted:

 I am told that the factory is saturated with work 

 

That is excellent news, isn't it? 

I think so. It seems they are selling lots (possibly a pre price rise effect) and the world is queuing for DR modifications.

Graham Clarke posted:

Harry posted:

We missed the Statement, which had departed the week before and we met the mini MuSo, which for its size sounded impressive, not just in projection and size of sound but also in musical communication. We'll be getting one for the out building., 

 

Lucky it wasn't the other way around!

Hahahaha. Well, that's always possible and probably best avoided. The S1 Pre is the real danger. It's attainable (but of low index of justification for us). The full rig is more of a no brainer. We'd buy another house and rent it. Besides which a car for me is a higher priority at the moment. It's that time again.

joerand posted:

analogmusic posted:

Harry posted:

 I am told that the factory is saturated with work 

That is excellent news, isn't it? 

Except that work load saturation could have as much to do with corporate restructuring and job culling by Vervent Audio than a real increase in production. Maximizing the bottom line and all. Hopefully employees associated with Ovators have been reassigned to other tasks.

The factory and organisation doesn't operate in that kind of culture or model.  They are small, flexible and interchangeable. Like a cottage industry - and I mean that in a nice way. They don't do things like closing departments and going for percentage staff cuts. They train to a high standard across a range of products and retain.  Things and people shift around as demand dictates. That part of the factory which built Ovators is probably now populated with lines of black boxes. and/or components and/or work stations. My dealer is eating well at the moment and doesn't see it getting any leaned this decade. He can't be the only one. Of course, it will only take one strategically placed madman to mire the whole thing.  I see no evidence that such a person is on the premises. Or even in the street outside.

Harry posted:

Graham Clarke posted:

Harry posted:

We missed the Statement, which had departed the week before and we met the mini MuSo, which for its size sounded impressive, not just in projection and size of sound but also in musical communication. We'll be getting one for the out building., 

 

Lucky it wasn't the other way around!

Hahahaha. Well, that's always possible and probably best avoided. The S1 Pre is the real danger. It's attainable (but of low index of justification for us). The full rig is more of a no brainer. We'd buy another house and rent it. Besides which a car for me is a higher priority at the moment. It's that time again.

If the Pre is attainable then I urge you to NOT have a home demo.  Otherwise your hifi fate may follow mine

Hi Graham, how would you compare the S1 upgrade compared to going from 300 to 300 DR?

Rob T posted:

Firstly I just want to thank JN personally for your hospitality yesterday, as always a real pleasure to spend quality time with the like minded, oh and the little added bonus of listening to the Quad ELS was the icing on the cake.

 

 

May I ask if the 500 was used with Quad ELS as I thought this was not possible?

Thanks

Paul

The 500 is definitely not recommended for the original ESL 57, though it will work for a while before the speaker destroys itself, and the 500 in the process. 

Few transistor amplifiers are suitable, but the non-bridged Naim amps are suitable for the ESL 57 ...

Better to look to the kind of amp the speaker was intended for ... Sixteen quality Watts is all that is needed ...

Graham Clarke posted:

If the Pre is attainable then I urge you to NOT have a home demo.  Otherwise your hifi fate may follow mine

It wouldn't physically fit in our room/rack. No, really. It wouldn't. No doubt about it. 

Sound familiar?

Harry posted:

joerand posted:

Except that work load saturation could have as much to do with corporate restructuring and job culling by Vervent Audio than a real increase in production. Maximizing the bottom line and all. Hopefully employees associated with Ovators have been reassigned to other tasks.

The factory and organisation doesn't operate in that kind of culture or model.  They are small, flexible and interchangeable. Like a cottage industry - and I mean that in a nice way. They don't do things like closing departments and going for percentage staff cuts. They train to a high standard across a range of products and retain.  Things and people shift around as demand dictates. That part of the factory which built Ovators is probably now populated with lines of black boxes. and/or components and/or work stations. My dealer is eating well at the moment and doesn't see it getting any leaned this decade. He can't be the only one. Of course, it will only take one strategically placed madman to mire the whole thing.  I see no evidence that such a person is on the premises. Or even in the street outside.

Truly good to hear, and encouraging for the future of Naim. A positive workplace culture has important implications to consumers. A secure, content employee viewed as a skilled craftsperson can be expected to manufacture a better product than one with one eye on the job ads. Not that I have any reason to doubt Naim - everything I've owned from them has been top quality. Just that the new world economy and pervasive outsourcing occurring in the US has many Americans pensive about their own job security.

Harry posted:

Graham Clarke posted:

If the Pre is attainable then I urge you to NOT have a home demo.  Otherwise your hifi fate may follow mine

It wouldn't physically fit in our room/rack. No, really. It wouldn't. No doubt about it. 

Sound familiar?

Close.  More like "Yeah, happy borrowing it for two weeks but please be aware we have no intention of buying one... [Two weeks later]  What's the lead time on ordering?"