Acoustica HiFi Show 2017

SUNBEAMGLS, Thanks for an interesting and informative post. Well written and some nice photos too.

Sunbeamgls

Nice write up,it makes you wonder why they were using a Melco to front an all Naim system

driving the T-707's...rather than the new core?

No quarter posted:

Sunbeamgls

Nice write up,it makes you wonder why they were using a Melco to front an all Naim system

driving the T-707's...rather than the new core?

They often bring non-Naim, non-Acoustica sources.

At around half the price of the Kudos 707s, The floor standing Dynaudio Contours 60 were much more coherent across the sound spectrum. Also they avoid the thin top end which is common to a lot of speakers designed  to make them sound more dynamic.

Naim do themselves no favours using Focal speakers. The Statement system should have showcased the Naim brand but instead it was ruined by speakers that seem incapable of providing a lifelike stable image correct in scale. Instead we were presented with a massive wall of sound spread between the speakers with no sense of location.

sunbeamgls posted:

No quarter posted:

Sunbeamgls

Nice write up,it makes you wonder why they were using a Melco to front an all Naim system

driving the T-707's...rather than the new core?

They often bring non-Naim, non-Acoustica sources.

Hi,

Derek owns an NS01 himself but the Melco was probably lighter to carry up the stairs and he is getting a bit old...

I presume that he "mixes it up" a little so that he doesn't get labeled as being completely Naim biased, hence his outings with Devaliet and Linn, but of course I think that his stuff does sound best on some nice black boxes and last weekend there was good reason for using Naim.

Phil

James T posted:

I also spent a really enjoyable hour in the Kudos room late on Sunday,  their room is always fantastic every year but there was something very 'right' about this system. Superlative sound, tunes (found a great new George Duke track, thanks Richard) and it's always a pleasure to talk to the Kudos guys. It really is an excellent company.

*chuckle* That would have been the sneaky addition of a little black box...

James T posted:

IOther highlights for me were the Dynaudio rooms (interesting demo of the impressive new Contour floor standers comparing different resolutions of files and the Atom / Emit M20 system sounded astonishing for the price) and effectively having the main Naim system room to myself for 10 mins with Daft Punk playing at very impressive levels. Thanks Phil!

Shhhhh! Anyone would think we were having fun...

Phil

Mayor West posted:

What was the system driving the 707's, by the way?

NDS / 555PS / 252 / SuperCap DR / SNAXO / HiCap / 2 x 250DR...

Phil

Phil Harris posted:

Mayor West posted:

What was the system driving the 707's, by the way?

NDS / 555PS / 252 / SuperCap DR / SNAXO / HiCap / 2 x 250DR...

Phil

Phil, are you able to say yet if SNAXOs to activate Kudos speakers will become commercially available? If so will they be available for the Kudos S20A and the forthcoming Titan 606 speakers in addition to the 707s? Presumably existing SNAXOs could have their cross-over tweaked to suit?

Please don't tell me if you will then need to kill me! 

Thanks for the great write up on the 707 Sunbeam. Any idea on the dimensions of the 707 as i've not seen any published yet.

If the 606's come in around the size of the S20 then i'll be a happy chap (and will just need one more box to go active !)

Agreed, great write up sunbeamgls. Also enjoyed the rest of the commentary from the blog.

707 dimensions

1050 x 298 x 370

50kg each. That's a lot

elkman70 posted:

707 dimensions

1050 x 298 x 370

50kg each. That's a lot

Cheers - bodes well for the 606 size 

I understand that the 606 will have 180mm driver rather than 220mm driver of the 707. So I guess a box similar in size to the C20/S20 which also has 180mm drivers.

nigelb posted:

Phil Harris posted:

Mayor West posted:

What was the system driving the 707's, by the way?

NDS / 555PS / 252 / SuperCap DR / SNAXO / HiCap / 2 x 250DR...

Phil

Phil, are you able to say yet if SNAXOs to activate Kudos speakers will become commercially available? If so will they be available for the Kudos S20A and the forthcoming Titan 606 speakers in addition to the 707s? Presumably existing SNAXOs could have their cross-over tweaked to suit?

Please don't tell me if you will then need to kill me! 

The guys in the Kudos room assured me that the 707 SNAXO is available for purchase

Jonn posted:

At around half the price of the Kudos 707s, The floor standing Dynaudio Contours 60 were much more coherent across the sound spectrum. Also they avoid the thin top end which is common to a lot of speakers designed  to make them sound more dynamic.

Funny how we all form different opinions - the Contours were clearly doing a lot of things right, but they just didn't drew me into the music at all. In a big enough room, with an even bigger wallet, I'd take the 707s any day.

Mayor West posted:

Agreed, great write up sunbeamgls. Also enjoyed the rest of the commentary from the blog.

You and the others who have said kind words are very welcome. Makes the effort worthwhile.

Jonn posted:

At around half the price of the Kudos 707s, The floor standing Dynaudio Contours 60 were much more coherent across the sound spectrum. Also they avoid the thin top end which is common to a lot of speakers designed  to make them sound more dynamic.

Naim do themselves no favours using Focal speakers. The Statement system should have showcased the Naim brand but instead it was ruined by speakers that seem incapable of providing a lifelike stable image correct in scale. Instead we were presented with a massive wall of sound spread between the speakers with no sense of location.

It's good to hear that I am not the only one who had this reaction.  I wonder if this is, in part, a consequence of the music being played. What sounds "impressive" with certain types of music can easily become overbearing with others, particularly simply recorded acoustic material.  I know that good speakers should, in principle, sound excellent with all types of material, but speaker design must involve compromises and the trade-offs involved may be programme-dependent.  Dynaudio had not previously been on my radar, but will definitely be on my audition list if/when I go speaker hunting later this year.  PS  I think I confused 30 and 60s -- sorry.

Roger

ChrisSU posted:

It was good to hear the active T 707s, and the Kudos room is an essential chillout zone after the intensity of the nearby Statement/Focal room. I was much more impressed, though, by the passive 552/300/T808 demo a couple of years back. Anyone who says a HiFi show in a hotel room is a bad place to listen to music would eat their words after hearing that.

I, too, was really impressed by the Atom/Dynaudio E20 system. Unfortunately, the two Naim rooms (NDX/282/250 and Nova) failed to impress, and I'm pretty sure this was down to the inevitable Focal speakers again.

The new Russel K 120s were sounding very good. The dem was using CDs in a T + A all in one which I think is about the same price as a Uniti 2, but it drove them well. I did find the bass slightly overbearing, but I suspect these speakers might really shine with some better electronics. 

Interesting how we all hear things differently, I was looking forward to hearing the Russel K speakers and was disappointed.  Still think the star of the show was the floor standing Dynaudio system which I'd be very happy to hear again.