Active Briks at last!

Mark, You don't hang around! Sincerely hoping that it's everything you wish for.

Chris

Thanks Chris. I hope so too. My wallet is now well and truly drained and my back is killing me from lugging the Briks and various bits of furniture around. 

Also just realised that I've always been running my Briks too close together. I did the same thing 25 years ago. That's probably why I didn't think they could image. I had to move the right hand speaker about 2 feet to the right and moved the rack inside in order to make the cables reach. All of a sudden...IMAGE!!! Well, fancy that, nice bonus. You learn something new every day!

Bonus. And substantial speaker wire savings too  ;-)

Would it be true to say you prefer the SC on the Snaxo than the 282? I would have thought the other way round so that you can feed the best possible signal into the active bits.....    But you are the one with the experience.

C.

No I prefer the SC on SNAXO. It was a winner on the IBLs anyway. But I also know how much of an improvement it made to the 282 vs the HCDR. I suppose another SC will be calling to me at some point. For now I'm happy however (and skint). KB's Hounds of Love getting a spin now. Fabulous having Ms Bush in the lounge with me.

Marksnaim posted:

No I prefer the SC on SNAXO. It was a winner on the IBLs anyway. But I also know how much of an improvement it made to the 282 vs the HCDR. I suppose another SC will be calling to me at some point. For now I'm happy however (and skint). KB's Hounds of Love getting a spin now. Fabulous having Ms Bush in the lounge with me.

Great Mark, glad you finally went active. So far it looks the the Forum has been on point with the SC, Please keep us informed as they warm up! 

I don't know from experience, but the Active gang, always said they preferred the SC on the Snaxo, I guess it might have something to do with the Burndy! 

Enjoy you Music.

Allante93! 

Tried every conceivable combination of NAC102, NAXO, SNAXO, 2 Hicaps and a Supercap (with and without Burndy) driving 250s into SBLs. All are vintage olive.

The combo I preferred was/is 102+HC, SNAXO+SC+Burndy.

Congrats, Mark!

We need pix!

I am envious. ( still never heard an active Brik yet )

kuma posted:

Congrats, Mark!

We need pix!

I am envious. ( still never heard an active Brik yet )

+2

Share the Joy!

Allante93!

Allante93 posted:

kuma posted:

Congrats, Mark!

We need pix!

I am envious. ( still never heard an active Brik yet )

+2

Share the Joy!

Allante93!

Thanks guys. I'll post pics when I've got the glass shelving finalised, hopefully next weekend. In the meantime I've popped Nora Jones on after a lovely day out and well...something has warmed up. I suspect the snaxo. There's an openess and clarity that is reminiscent of my IBLs. I'm sure there's so much more to come, everything is just plonked together at the moment. Two 250s are stacked directly on the Supercap, horror of horrors!!! But even so it sounds fabulous. I often think with the warm up issue that the the thing to manifest last is the clarity. Bass and speed come pretty much straight away but then it starts to open out. The sonics are the same but presented in the right context with the right space around them. And of course, not forgetting the lovely "Inky blackness" that the DRs bring to the table. 

So, finished at last. A bit of a squeeze for now but sounding excellent. Initially had the two 250 DRs stacked directly on top of the Supercap which wasn't ideal. The addition of an extra shelf has meant that each item (other than the Snaxo and HCDR) has it's own shelf. A full strip down and reworking of the cabinet meant that I could get screws into the foorboards to get everything isolated and dead level. something that I've found makes a condsiderable difference in the past in tightening up the sound. The spikes for the speaker stands rest in the screw cross heads and the feet of the cabinet just sit on top of the screws. My back survived moving the Briks and the stand top spikes are engaged and tightened up. The only down point was that the iFi Power Supply for the DV75 blew up so I'm back to the original wall wart. That was a bit dissappointing for something only a few months old.

Config is now, from the bottom, 250.2 (Bass), 250DR (Mid), 250DR (Treble), Supercap (For Snaxo) , 282, HCDR (For 282) and Snaxo. Amp interconnects are all standard naim Snaic and Burndy, power lead all Naim standard and Witch Hat N2 speaker cable. So room for future improvement is now down to waiting for a bigger room, dedicated mains supply, cable upgrades and SCDR for the 282 (in that order probably) Oh, and maybe DR upgrade for the last 250.2. That should be it unless I win the lottery.

Very happy with this as it stands it though.

Congrats, I have my HCDR on the market, but Thanks to you, I might take it off, and just purchase the SCDR!

Have you played with the 362, adjust pods?

I hear they're pre set for Briks, but DB, and others suggest further adjustment to suit one's listening environment.

 But enough of that, how do they sound???

On advice from Naim I purchased a new DBL set up Snaxo which apparently works fine with Non modified Briks. As it's only been connected for a couple of weeks I'm letting everything run in before trying any fine tuning. The treble 250DR is new also so that needs to go through run in. I'll be honest though, apart from the first day, I've not noticed much in the way of change to the sound. But then I've been changing things around quite a bit. For now it's a case of enjoy the music. Everything is benefiting so far, Jazz, classical, rock, electronic, no weak spot that I'm aware of. Vocals are really "in the room" which I love. Bass is gut rumbling deep but totally controlled, no overhang or boominess. Image isn't bad, not much depth, I put that down to room and siting limitations. Speed is fantastic. I'm used to the presentation of IBLs, which are about as fast as they come, but the active Briks come respectably close.

if you are getting a Snaxo hang on to your HCDR for the 282 and put the SCDR on the Snaxo. You won't regret it.

Enjoy!

Hi Mark,

re the ifi iPower supply, I have a 50% infant mortality rate with mine, so it is evident that a lot of them do fail quickly.

I also checked with the UK distributor of the DV P75.  He assured me that the large wall wart that comes with the P75 is NOT an SMPS.  It is a linear power supply that they ensure comes with all UK spec P75 phono stages.

So, if you swap your iFi iPower out and put the P75 wall wart back in, then you are effectively taking an SMPS out of your mains circuit.  That should be a good thing.

Best regards, FT 

Foot tapper posted:

Hi Mark,

re the ifi iPower supply, I have a 50% infant mortality rate with mine, so it is evident that a lot of them do fail quickly.

I also checked with the UK distributor of the DV P75.  He assured me that the large wall wart that comes with the P75 is NOT an SMPS.  It is a linear power supply that they ensure comes with all UK spec P75 phono stages.

So, if you swap your iFi iPower out and put the P75 wall wart back in, then you are effectively taking an SMPS out of your mains circuit.  That should be a good thing.

Best regards, FT 

Interesting, I'll not be getting another one. Although I did think it brought something worthwhile to the sound. Anyway, sounding fine with the standard DV supply for now.

Cheers

Mark

Oh yeah, it's the Burndy output on the Snaxo.

 I e/

Allante93 posted:

Oh yeah, it's the Burndy output on the Snaxo.

 I e/

Input. ��

Marksnaim posted:

Allante93 posted:

Oh yeah, it's the Burndy output on the Snaxo.

 I e/

Input. ��

Wink smiley, to clarify.