Dynaudio Focus 260 with XS2

analogmusic posted:

If callas01 on the dynaudio forum is happy with Uniti2 (70 watts) and Focus 260, and says he gets superb bass, then you have nothing to worry about.

The trouble is, one person's idea of superb bass isn't necessarily the same as another's: I've read people claim to get superb bass from speakers where that is a physical impossibility, their imptpression of superb bass being, for example, accentuated bass harmonics, bur very 'tight'. It will also depend on the room, and indeed the amp control, so that is not quite an assurance, unless you know the person and how they assess music/bass and how similar their room might be to your own...

However, I think the main problem the OP has described  is actually diminished midrange rather than whether bass will be adequate, and that concerns me because it is bass speakers usually have most difficulty with and where rooms can have major peaks and nulls, and treble where rooms can be overbright or dead with either too little or too much absorption, whereas midrange tends to be more doepwn tonwhether the speaker does it well or not. 

I have no personal familiarity with Dynaudio, but am under the impression their midrange is generally well regarded, but IIRC they sometimes get described as being over bright. That is making we wonder if, in your room, they are suffering from too much top end, and some resonances boosting the bottom end, leaving the midrange sounding weak by comparison. What is the shape of the room, and the main dimensions, including height? How is it furnished - carpets and lots of softvfurnishings and drapes, or all hard surfaces, etc?

Marksnaim posted:

I really wouldn't get too hung up on power ratings and other specifications. That really won't tell you much about the ability of an amp to deliver a musical performance from your speakers. Naim amps traditionally have always appeared lower power rated than competitors amps but the reality is they can often outperform amps with much higher power ratings.

 

Indeed, the comparison of power ratings across manufacturers might be very misleading. When buying our XS2, we also compared it to Arcam's A39 (with its 120W per channel). As one would expect from somebody in the Naim forum, I thought the XS2 had much more fire... 

Innocent Bystander posted:

analogmusic posted:

If callas01 on the dynaudio forum is happy with Uniti2 (70 watts) and Focus 260, and says he gets superb bass, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

I have no personal familiarity with Dynaudio, but am under the impression their midrange is generally well regarded, but IIRC they sometimes get described as being over bright. 

No with respect I am sorry to say you are mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

analogmusic posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

analogmusic posted:

If callas01 on the dynaudio forum is happy with Uniti2 (70 watts) and Focus 260, and says he gets superb bass, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

I have no personal familiarity with Dynaudio, but am under the impression their midrange is generally well regarded, but IIRC they sometimes get described as being over bright. 

No with respect you are completely mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

+1 I only know the Emit and Excite ranges -- but these I wouldn't describe as being bright. Fairly transparent and neutral. Well, as you would expect, since they are coming from a studio monitor background...

analogmusic posted:

 

I've tried focus 260 with DAC V1/100, 202/200, 282/250 and 552/500.

As I said, the confidence line of Dynaudio is the hi-end one.

I am way over-amped and overs-sourced with focus 260, I need a Confidence C2, with my rig.

 

An aside in this thread, Analogmusic, if the OP will bear with me, I'm a bit confused as I was under the impression from posts elsewhere that you considered the speakers to be pretty unimportant, and cheap ones are plenty good enough...  (though you did hint at lusting after DYnaudio Confidence and SF Stradivari) Are you starting to feel a need for better speakers, costing rather more than your source?

My room is some 30m2, the ceiling is 2.5m in height, mostly hard surfaces all over. 

Amused posted:

My room is some 30m2, the ceiling is 2.5m in height, mostly hard surfaces all over. 

Length and width?

Innocent Bystander posted:

analogmusic posted:

 

I've tried focus 260 with DAC V1/100, 202/200, 282/250 and 552/500.

As I said, the confidence line of Dynaudio is the hi-end one.

I am way over-amped and overs-sourced with focus 260, I need a Confidence C2, with my rig.

 

An aside in this thread, Analogmusic, if the OP will bear with me, I'm a bit confused as I was under the impression from posts elsewhere that you considered the speakers to be pretty unimportant, and cheap ones are plenty good enough...  (though you did hint at lusting after DYnaudio Confidence and SF Stradivari) Are you starting to feel a need for better speakers, costing rather more than your source?

sorry again, with respect, I am not "lusting" after Stradivari (although it is an awesome speaker), nor confidence range. I actually never used that word.

Yes someday if a good (and I mean it has to be very damn good) deal comes up, maybe I'll buy C2, but till then focus 260 does a great job, but it isn't a hi-end speaker. I am not sure yet. I suspect NACA 5 is another bottle neck in my system. In any case I have spent money on source, then amps and last to upgrade is the speaker, but it is all so very enjoyable I am in no hurry at all. I hope I was able to convey the spirit of speaker last....?

But let's not hijack the OP thread..... Big decision he needs to make.

analogmusic posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

analogmusic posted:

If callas01 on the dynaudio forum is happy with Uniti2 (70 watts) and Focus 260, and says he gets superb bass, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

I have no personal familiarity with Dynaudio, but am under the impression their midrange is generally well regarded, but IIRC they sometimes get described as being over bright. 

No with respect I am sorry to say you are mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

I seemed to recall that from somewhere, but no matter, just might have helped explain the misding midrange

To OP : I also own the Chord Mojo, and it is a very excellent source, really able to bring the best out a Naim amp.

This game to my ears (in my humble opinion) is more about musical engagement rather than frequency extremes, and Mojo does a fantastic job in both areas.

I used to own Nait XS 1 (60 watts) , at that time I had a B&W 805 S (that is a very hi end speaker capable of jaw dropping performance relative to the size, probably as heavy a load as focus 260), and when I asked Naim if Nait XS could drive 805S, they said yes, no issues. and I found no issues. One of the regrets I have is upgrading to 202/200, as in reality, Nait XS was close to the performance of the 202/200 (when I finally heard them side by side), and I should have spent the money on upgrading to a very good source like NDAC/XPS2. 202/200 is more open, more clear high frequencies and better bass but ... needs a source like NDAC or NDX minimum.  I remember one forum member engelbert used to run CDS3/XPS into 202/200...

Back in 2010, there was no source as good as Chord Mojo in 400 GBP.... 

Anyway good luck, speak to Steve (Callas01) on the dynaudio forum before you make the final decision.

ANALOG  do you wonder what your present system might have made of the 805s you had so much trouble in getting right ?

Is it possible to upload a pic? I don't see the option on my phone. I would like to post a pic of my room for you guys to see what I'm dealing with

Yes, it's fairly easy - you just need to host the picture somewhere - such as Flickr, photo bucket etc...

Instructions can be found in the FAQ here:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...web-into-your-post-1

analogmusic posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

analogmusic posted:

If callas01 on the dynaudio forum is happy with Uniti2 (70 watts) and Focus 260, and says he gets superb bass, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

I have no personal familiarity with Dynaudio, but am under the impression their midrange is generally well regarded, but IIRC they sometimes get described as being over bright. 

No with respect I am sorry to say you are mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

I love that expression 'with respect', which of course really means 'you're talking complete bollocks'. 

Some say the XS is enough, some say it isn't. Some say the speakers are 'high end' (whatever that meaningless description means; actually nothing) while others say that are not. The only way for Amused (who after this will be more confused than amused) is to try the amplifiers with the speakers. Unless that's possible it's all guesswork, regardless of what anyone on any forum might say. 

Can the speaker wires be returned to free up funds? Can the system be tried in another room? After all, it may be nothing to do with the poor old Arcam. 

TOBYJUG posted:

ANALOG  do you wonder what your present system might have made of the 805s you had so much trouble in getting right ?

well yes. I had no idea that all naim amps should have a source that provides signal earthing, so performance was variable. Somedays it was sublime, somedays not, and it was very stressful. Luckily Simon-in-suffolk pointed me in the right direction, and now performance is consistent every day. I will try B&W again for fun, but for instance when I play the vinyl of metallica "the god that failed" there is a drum and lead guitar solo. That is jaw dropping amazing with Dynaudio and Naim, and big smile on my face...  I never really heard this energy with any other speaker brand to be honest (on Metallica)

Ok, here are 2 pics of my room done in AutoCad by my architect.

The speakers are positioned to the sides of the shelf beneath the tv (the shelf itself is positioned to the centre of the wall). The wall is made of concrete, as well as all other walls except the one behind the chair on the left which is a drywall.

To the right of shelf there is a glass door that leads to the balcony, as well as glass windows. There is also a corridor as you can see on the photo.

I will try to get the room basis with exact measurements from the architect. Any suggestions in terms of room acoustics will be much appreciated.

Hungryhalibut posted:

 

 

I have no personal familiarity with Dynaudio, but am under the impression their midrange is generally well regarded, but IIRC they sometimes get described as being over bright. 

No with respect I am sorry to say you are mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

I love that expression 'with respect', which of course really means 'you're talking complete bollocks'. 

 

You're putting words in my mouth. I only said dynaudio is not bright .  I do like  Dynaudios, a lot.

These speakers really can demonstrate what Naims are capable of.... and since Naim don't make their own speakers anymore..... 

Amused posted:

Ok, here are 2 pics of my room done in AutoCad by my architect.

 

Lovely room. Those dynaudios are gonna look more fugly than they usually do. Ripe it up and start again. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

 

No with respect I am sorry to say you are mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

I love that expression 'with respect', which of course really means 'you're talking complete bollocks'. 

 

So now we know what you mean by it!!!

TOBYJUG posted:

Amused posted:

Ok, here are 2 pics of my room done in AutoCad by my architect.

 

Lovely room. Those dynaudios are gonna look more fugly than they usually do. Ripe it up and start again. 

Thanks Actually they blend in rather nicely, the piano black finish is gorgeous. And the actual TV on the wall is larger than the one on the photo as it as a 65" one

Innocent Bystander posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

 

No with respect I am sorry to say you are mis-informed, Dynaudio is anything but bright. 

I love that expression 'with respect', which of course really means 'you're talking complete bollocks'. 

 

So now we know what you mean by it!!!

That's what it means, and it's why I never use the expression. 

Not directly comparable but I've heard Focus 160 on the end of a Nait XS... I felt that they seemed to be pretty power hungry and would have definitely have benefited from more juice. It wasn't a match made in heaven in my opinion.

Mayor West posted:

Not directly comparable but I've heard Focus 160 on the end of a Nait XS... I felt that they seemed to be pretty power hungry and would have definitely have benefited from more juice. It wasn't a match made in heaven in my opinion.

Thanks, good to know opinions differ. However, I am even more confused now  

Amused posted:

TOBYJUG posted:

Amused posted:

Ok, here are 2 pics of my room done in AutoCad by my architect.

 

Lovely room. Those dynaudios are gonna look more fugly than they usually do. Ripe it up and start again. 

Thanks Actually they blend in rather nicely, the piano black finish is gorgeous. And the actual TV on the wall is larger than the one on the photo as it as a 65" one

Please post pics of your final installation. In situ. And your findings of it. 

Cheers.

jug

I will post pics of my final installation after I go back home, I am in Italy at the moment and will stay here until Thursday.