Naim S800's

Thanks Martin, sounds great! Keep us updated as they run in. What is your room and positioning?

Cheers

Rich

Congrats on your new S800s enjoy!

Glad they are delivering for you!

Like all speakers they will run-in, but I found the S800 sounded good from start and just improved. The bass will improve and firm-up - you may think it is great now (I did), but after about three months it really opens-out in texture-rendition and clarity.

Yes - they are big.

DB.

Come on, Martin, let's see some pics of your lovely new S800s.

Mike 

MartinEvs posted:

ive had the S800's for a few days now and I can't stop listening to music! Lots to say but as a first feed back I have to say DB was on the money, straight away they performed beautifully, nothing seems difficult and the stereo imagery is the best I've experienced, best bit is I'm just hearing and enjoying the music, very impressed so far but they are enormous! 112kG each speaker, but luckily also stunning to look at!

martin

Congratulations, with the 112kg they can also be used for your personal fitness :-)

p.s regret to say, but I am not a great fan of the S800, or have not heard them very well at the end of the 800. As they further pronounce the Naim sound signature I think it get's too much.

But again congratulations. They apparently fit your listening preferences.

Hi Martin,

I have some 600s waiting in the wings but i' m feeling a little envious thinking at your new 800s

Very well done, a very smart decision  to catch the ultimate Naim speaker

Regards

Roberto

MartinEvs posted:

ive had the S800's for a few days now and I can't stop listening to music! Lots to say but as a first feed back I have to say DB was on the money, straight away they performed beautifully, nothing seems difficult and the stereo imagery is the best I've experienced, best bit is I'm just hearing and enjoying the music, very impressed so far but they are enormous! 112kG each speaker, but luckily also stunning to look at!

martin

Were they lifted into position with a cane? 

No, just a few strong men! They do come with a set of wheels and a ramp, boxes must cost a few bob on their own!

I wonder if too much is made of the 'Naim Sound', having listened to a fair range of hifi over the years, the only signature I detect from Naim is that you tend to hear the music not the hifi which is why I've grown to love them! The S800's are just another notch up in getting the imagery and sound right, if you close your eyes and listen do you get that lovely impression of being at the perfect distance form a live band with all the little details of fret noises and light drum touches from all the right directions? I'm certainly hearing and enjoying my system now for the musicality and accuracy of the experience, not a particular type of sound. There has been a long history of knocking Naim speakers but I've obviously not taken any notice! Anyway, S800's still improving and growing on me by the day.

Hi Martin.

I totally agree with you, I don't think Naim speakers have any particular sound, but a very "live" like sound with excellent sense of rhythm, and I don't feel you can criticise a product for getting those things right first.

Sorry to ask again but what is your room size and positioning from the rear wall for the S800's? Just wondering if I can fit a pair into my system to replace my nbl's.

Thanks

Oh yes, sorry forgot you'd asked that! The room is about 7.5m wide by 11m long. Not much scope for altering the position of the speakers as I have a drop down screen for films and the Naim system is the stereo fronts (no need for a sub with the S800's!!). The speakers are roughly 1.1m clear to the side walls and 0.43m clear to the back wall. Jason from Naim & Simon from AudioT spent some time experimenting backwards and forwards before we settled on this location. The floor has insulation and then T&G boarding so I might add some concrete screws under the spikes to connect them direct to the slab, need to eat spinach first though to move them!!

Does that all sound sensible?

Do you guys ever have get togethers to listen to each others systems? Would have thought that was sensible, be happy to host a session foa few enthusiasts! I'm in Hampshire.

Cheers

Martin

MartinEvs posted:

Do you guys ever have get togethers to listen to each others systems? Would have thought that was sensible, be happy to host a session foa few enthusiasts! I'm in Hampshire.

Cheers

Martin

Nice offer. I'm pretty fortunate that there's a group of us locally with reasonable systems including one Statement/800 set-up, which I thought was just staggeringly convincing. Another with 135's/Fact 8's, a full active 135/DBL system, a 500 with quad electrostatics, and my 500/DBL system. We get together 3-4 times a year for a good session - mostly when our better halves are away! We tend to explore the local take-away food offerings followed by some beer and/or wine as the music gets louder and louder. Fantastic social evenings with good food, good conversation and good music. What more could you want?

Congratulations on your 800s. Pam and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon and evening at DB's place yesterday and enjoyed his active 800s very much - helped along by his S1 Pre and a brace of 3x500s. We last heard the system a few months ago and boy has it opened up since then. I likened it to someone opening a huge sunroof and unleashing all that detail  and power. Pam summed it up after about 6 hours of listening and chatting, she said I could go on for more!  DB is getting a very immersive sound as you described Martin, if you close your eyes and or switch off the lights you really can imagine that you are right there at a live gig or in the studio. I know it has been a long and rocky road that DB has travelled but his efforts are really paying off.

We have a thriving circle of friends here in Norfolk and Suffolk with some very serious Naim systems and others too to add some variety and we have frequent get togethers between us, listening, chatting and discovering new music, but most of all really close and enduring friendships. Long may it continue.

You will know this Martin as it has been said so many times, you have more, much more to come as the speakers run in.

Michael posted:

We have a thriving circle of friends here in Norfolk and Suffolk with some very serious Naim systems and others too to add some variety and we have frequent get togethers between us, listening, chatting and discovering new music, but most of all really close and enduring friendships. Long may it continue.

You will know this Martin as it has been said so many times, you have more, much more to come as the speakers run in.

congratulations Martin! i had the pleasure to visit Mike and then J.N later same day to listen to their fab systems -- (first time i heard the NBLs at Michael's and Kudos Titans @ J.N's). long drive there -- but very rewarding outing to compensate. i have yet to visit TonyM, SteveJ, Peter Rantzau -- and a few other others...

Old age and driving long distances dont quite go together :-)

enjoy

ken

Michael posted:

Congratulations on your 800s. Pam and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon and evening at DB's place yesterday and enjoyed his active 800s very much - helped along by his S1 Pre and a brace of 3x500s. We last heard the system a few months ago and boy has it opened up since then. I likened it to someone opening a huge sunroof and unleashing all that detail  and power. Pam summed it up after about 6 hours of listening and chatting, she said I could go on for more!  DB is getting a very immersive sound as you described Martin, if you close your eyes and or switch off the lights you really can imagine that you are right there at a live gig or in the studio. I know it has been a long and rocky road that DB has traveled but his efforts are really paying off.

Every HiFi Enthusiast wishes to 'arrive' at his ideal speakers some day and I love my S800s for their musical abilities. They provide scale and depth to the music when it is there on the recording and disappear sonically (but not visually ) . I find on complex live recordings with a lot going on it all gets reproduced without any fuss and sounds easy - the dynamic-handling of full-range, low-bass to high frequencies, in  music in a musical way without drawing attention to the speaker, rather than the music is the best I have yet heard done anywhere. It sets a performance standard that I hope other speakers will meet and perhaps better.

As with any system, the Speakers are but one part of the end-to-end chain, but they are rather more important than I realised until I had my S600 vs S800 demo at the Naim factory before purchase. I was shocked at how much better they were - the comparison was actually silly. The Active S600 sounded lovely and musical, it is what I knew and owned at the time, but compared to the Active S800 they could not produce the big easy sound-stage with sumptuous detail. That demo was pre-Statement and pre-DR500 - and it was convincing - it convinced me.

It is a shame they are not being made anymore and it is the last stock being sold-off, but it is the story of Naim.
Many good friends have their cherished discontinued Naim speakers and would not be parted from them, nor do I blame them.

Enjoy yours!

DB.

I too am a bit envious.  With S800s going out of production, it is soon going to be very hard to find places to listen to them.  I had thought it would be something I might get to hear when I finally made it to the factory.

Hi Martin and DB, I too plumbed for the S800's which was why I was asking so many questions to you both. They arrived Wednesday and set up that night with new snaxo bmr. They could not have been easier to transport as I did it with my 12 year old son. 

They look incredible and sounded excellent from cold, positioned a couple of times and think I now have the sweet spot. Just loving it as they run in.

Talk me through the run in if you get time.

Cheers

Rich

Hi Gavin.

It's 9m by 5m wide with 3m height.

Cheers

Rich

RICHYH posted:

Hi Martin and DB, I too plumbed for the S800's which was why I was asking so many questions to you both. They arrived Wednesday and set up that night with new snaxo bmr. They look incredible and sounded excellent from cold, positioned a couple of times and think I now have the sweet spot. Just loving it as they run in.

Talk me through the run in if you get time.

They are easy - no run-in 'nasties'. The bass will really emerge properly after about 3 months or so as really special, but until then you have 'normal' good bass. Later it becomes really solid and you get 'shapes' of low bass you don't normally hear - textures in the low frequencies revealed due to the very low harmonic distortion and excellent linear phase these speakers are capable of.

The BMR will just gradually get clearer and resolve finer detail over time - you should not notice any problems.

Set-up in the room does matter, but nowhere really sounded 'bad' with the S800 - they are less critical than the S600 in that respect. I have mine very wide apart, well away from rear wall and side walls.

Enjoy - and post some pics!

DB.

Many thanks again, Darke Bear, for taking the time to answer so consisely.

Richyh

One of the things that I'm noticing is the that you don't need to play the S800's loud to enjoy them. I've found for some years I've been compromising on the volume required to bring the music to life and then feeling the sound gets over strained/uncomfortable at times. With the S800's there is just no reduction in the enjoyment as you turn them down, you still have all the detail and musicality, difficult to describe properly but I don't have that sense of let down as I turn them down! Couple of weeks in I think the wife has grown used to the size and the sound stage is improving - no going back now!

How do you add photo's??!!

Martin

You need to upload the pictures to something like Photobucket (if you put their app on your iPad you can take pictures with the iPad and upload). Then click the direct link in photobucket. Then, in the reply box on the Forum, click the little mountain and post the direct link. 

Hi Martin,

I told someone yesterday the exact same thing about playing it quieter and getting great enjoyment, as I am notorious for playing loud this is a very good thing.

My wife too, is starting to get used to the size and I can't wait for the soundstage to improve even further.

thanks

Rich