Separates advice from newbie

If you don't intend to upgrade any further after this purchase and require streaming as your main source then I would wait to hear the new naim uniti range. These are all in one units that only require speakers. They are due for release between now and the summer, if you don't mind a bit of a wait. 

Forget about mains conditioning, and try to get a dedicated circuit installed from the consumer unit, or better still a separate dedicated consumer unit. Also install unswitched wall sockets for your system.

If that's not feasible buy a Graham's Hydra if you have multiple boxes to power. Use the search facility for more info. on this topic.

Firstly, thanks graham, got that covered! I'm a spark and today ordered two new consumer units, one intended for audio av on one RCD and nee stereo on second. Non switched plugs are interesting, would never have thought of that. Thanks. 

Secondly, mr Happy, thanks also for the heads up. Do the uniti's have external optical input so I can run Sonos in if I wanted party made with all the other stuff now bits I have around house? Also, is the dac and amp in uniti's as good as separates.

what about speakers, any thoughts.

What if I used a shielded cable from consumer unit and connected the shield to earth! Am I getting silly?

Not sure of the exact specs of the uniti range but there seems to be lots of excitement about their release and high expectations of their performance. The specs can easily be found on naims website, under products.

The mains is an essential upgrade as far as im concerned as it will give a huge lift to whatever you connect to it. I also installed 2 extra consumers, one for hifi and the other for av. Both were memera, and you could clearly hear a difference from using other makes, which I had on the van to try. The radials are 10mm t+e to each piece of kit. The hifi sounds great but the surprising thing was the lift in picture quality on the av equipment. 

Never heard of memera before! I ordered Wyler today, releuctant to change. Wow 10mm! Okay! My av and audio will be on the same consumer unit just different rcd's. That'll be alright won't it?

The ideal is to have a separate CU just for the stereo - nothing else. Run the earth back to the meter rather than piggy backing off the existing CU. I have a memera too, but they have been taken over by Eaton. An unbroken run of 10mm2 to unswitched sockets is ideal. 

If I were you, I'd get to a Naim dealer and listen to options regarding equipment. 

I've had the pleasure of listening to the new Uniti Atom at 2 Naim demonstrations.  The first was with Sopra 1 speakers at the 2016 Indulgence Show, the second at the factory with Sopra 1 again.

To be fair to the Uniti Atom, a £1,600 all-in-one into £6,000 of very revealing loudspeaker is a slightly cruel mismatch.

However, in the context of a £3-4k system, a Uniti Atom + more modest speakers, NACA5 cable etc. makes a great deal of sense.

In addition to the larger system, we have a mac mini - DAC-V1 - NAP140 - PMC DB1i system at home.  Based on these limited auditions, I suspect that a DAC-V1 + power amp combination would ultimately prove to be more musically rewarding than the Atom.  After all, the retail price of the electronics will be higher and the power amp is physically separated from the pre-amp & dac.

Either option should form a very smart start point for your conversation with a Naim dealer.

Happy auditioning!  FT

Wylex was one of the consumer units I tried. The memera made a very noticable upgrade, even though that sounds a bit mad. As HH said mem (who made the memera range) are now Eaton. You can still get the memera units and accessories on that well known auction site, used of course. Ive bought a few spare mcbs and a spare 100A 30mA rcd for my existing units. 

I've had a look at the Eaton site and they still have CU's described as Memera; are these the ones. Had a look at the auction site but couldn't find any metal clad ones that are pre eaton.

It suprises me that connecting the earth to the main earth terminal would be any different to piggy backing of 1st CU. I would make senses to me if we're talking about a dedicated TT earth for Audio. I guess much of this stuff doesn't always seem logical but it's real!

Ill return the Wylex's tomorrow. I couldn't bear to think that I'd missed a trick for the sake of the cost of return postage.

Also thinking about installing BG Electrical dual pole Type 1 SPD at source. This wouldn't have a detrimental effect on sound would it?

The Uniti Star seems good but I get why the Nova would be better given the removal of the CDROM and the improved amplification.

I reckon you should try the Uniti range out. The Superuniti got me going ok, couldn't really fault it but the upgrade bug did kick in. A power amp added to it at a later date made a big difference.

Forget Sonos if you are serious about streaming, especially high resolution audio files.

SuperUniti (or it's new twin) would be a good place to start - high quality straming board, good amp. Ideal place to start. In fact I still use my SuperUniti - this was the first piece of Naim kit I bought.

I'm confused. Claudious and Chameleon Claude. Are these two different people, or one person with two IDs?

Claudious/Chameleon Claude, please note forum rules. You have mail.

Beware using an spd. Many years ago when I used to use a 4 g trailing lead for the hifi I tried one with surge protection and it killed the dynamics. The music just sounded flat.

You may be able to get your supply company to fit a 100A service fuse if your tails are 25mm  assuming you don't already have one fitted. The 100A is a noticable step up from the 60A with optimised mains.

Its pointless to compare Sonos to Naim . Its £249 for a 'Connect' not £3k or so. In fact through a naim v1 it sounds pretty good and certainly not a 1/10 of the quality. Judging by the tech issues described here the other difference is that Sonos actually works all the time!

sjw posted:

Its pointless to compare Sonos to Naim .

Yet you went right on ahead to do so.

sjw posted:

 Judging by the tech issues described here the other difference is that Sonos actually works all the time!

As opposed to what?

I have to defend Sonos a little! The Eurex for sound mod to Sonos is £1k, it's had amazing reviews. Turns Sonos into a reference player apparently. So a model Sonos with a v1 and nap100 is probably better in sound quality than a one box solution even if it is made by naim. I know I speak with little personal experience but I think the mores Sonos connect is probably way way better than you guys give it credit for.

as for the whole electrical issue I now find myself needing to changing the main fuse as all my tails are 10mm and my don't think the current distribution box will accept anything larger. That said it would take anothe two 10mm's but 2 x 10mm doesn't equal 1x 20mm. Any thoughts.

i think for the purposes of my plasma tv, Xbox, must, router etc I'll stick with Wylex. I'll buy another 6way men CU for the new kit, whatever it ends up being.

still no thoughts on ascent sierra 2's, maybe it a us thing and. It many have found there way over the pond!

Wyred for sound!

Claudious posted:

I have to defend Sonos a little! The Eurex for sound mod to Sonos is £1k, it's had amazing reviews. Turns Sonos into a reference player apparently.

And it's still stuck at red book quality. I love Sonos and use its products but understand its limitations too. I'm quite happy to use a Connect as an additional source into the main system but not as its prime source. There are much better alternatives. Anyway back on topic 

Adam Zielinski posted:

sjw posted:

 Judging by the tech issues described here the other difference is that Sonos actually works all the time!

As opposed to what?

We all know that the Tidal implementation on Naim streamers is not the best available.

I think that Cloudious is on a good path with his eyes shifted towards the Dac V1 and Nap 100. Pricewise a very good combination which could also be a starting point for further upgrades. Limitations are that no analogue sources can be connected to the Dac V1 and the Nap 100 might not have sufficient power for large speakers in large rooms. However, the Nap 100 is a gem in the line-up of Naim given its price.

All you need to add is a streamer like MicroRendu if you want hifi, or lets say a ChromeCast Audio or the Sonos Connect if you want convenience by support for many apps / protocols. Optically into the Dac V1 et voila, Cloudious and Agrippina can have a party again.

Lol, I like it!

on the electrical front, my provider has agreed to upgrade my meter and all the tails from 10mm to 25mm. They've also agreed to put an isolator switch after the meter for easy CU isolation. Very exciting, my wife doesnt get it though!

I'm going to take every bodies advice and get down to my nearest naim dealer. Im torn between the naim streaming environment and the separates with upgraded Sonos. I think the  latter probably.

but which ever way, it'll be mostly about naim..love it!

Sorry to labour this thread but I have a couple of questions for MR. HAPPY!

1) When you say 10mm radials, is this a reference to the surface area of each conductor is this the diameter of the conductors? (Newly qualified spark I should have added, me that is)

2) does the rating of the MCB affect the sound or do I just rate it appropriately which is probably 6amp.

Thanks again