Active speakers.

If you were to use active speakers such as ATCs you would have less clutter than now, and would simply run XLR leads from your 552PS. You couldn’t run an Ethernet cable to active speakers as they’d need a dac and renderer included. That said, the Linn Exakt speakers work that way, but the wires come from the controller such the KDS Exakt, rather than from an Ethernet switch. If you went active with Naim then it’s a matter of running four or six speaker cables and more power amps, which is when having the electronics in another room would logically come into play. 

Thanks Nigel,

As I mentioned, I haven't really had the time to think this one through, and though I was aware of the Linn solution, I don't see me making that move.

It's really only come up with a possible house move, where the lounge area would lend itself to a pair of remote floorstanders, but would preclude the XLR lengths required, especially in the case of my present Super Luminas!

It was simply a thought I had yesterday afternoon, and which has been nagging ever since, but it seems not to be possible.

Oh well. 

I believe the active Dynaudio speakers include amps and a DAC so are fed by just mains and an ethernet cable. I heard them three years ago (I think) at the Bristol show (the floor-stander model) fed by a UnitiServe and they sounded pretty fine to me.

Update: Just checked the Dynaudio site and yes, it is the Focus XD range that have the amps and a DAC in them. They look pretty tasty. 

Thanks Nigel, I’ll investigate those, though the whole thing depends on the house move first ........... or should that be that the house move may well depend on getting the speakers right?

Priorities and all that! ????????

The remote speaker requirement lends itself to non-traditional solution of many black boxes and cables, especially if you want to go Active.


like the Linn offering, Meridian active speakers might be worth a look........ again just Ethernet and power.
Centre & multi-channel options if that appeals

nigelb posted:

I believe the active Dynaudio speakers include amps and a DAC so are fed by just mains and an ethernet cable. I heard them three years ago (I think) at the Bristol show (the floor-stander model) fed by a UnitiServe and they sounded pretty fine to me.

Update: Just checked the Dynaudio site and yes, it is the Focus XD range that have the amps and a DAC in them. They look pretty tasty. 

I use active Dynaudio XD 600s...mine are hard wired using SPDIF cables (digital).The first speaker (master) is fed from my N272 digital out,then the second speaker (slave) is fed another digital SPDIF cable from the master,so the two are connected to each other with that cable.Both speakers have their own power chord that must be plugged in.Wiring them this way allows you to get the maximum sound quality available (24/192).There is also a wireless option,which has a max file rate of (24/96),in this case,you would only need to plug the power chord in for each speaker,but need to add a (connect box),which transmits the wireless signal from your source.The signal can travel through walls,I think up to 100 feet,like any Wifi signal.I do not have a connect box myself,but have heard the Dyn Xeo 4 model using a wireless transmission,and it sounds every bit as good as hard wired.Check the Dynaudio website,there are plenty of models to choose from,Xeo and XD are the active home audio lines.I went for the best one they make,it has four 150 watt DAC/amps inside,so 600 Watts per speaker,awesome sound,I have also home demoed the XD 200,which are really good too.The XDs were originally in a dedicated home theatre I had in my old house,but I have since moved to an apartment,so they are in the same room as my Naim 2 channel system,so they are connected to my N272 also.Highly recommended,stunning accurate lifelike sound,that would outperform a lot of multi box systems.

Thanks for the answers so far chaps, it seems that this might be possible after all.

I've checked out the Dynaudio website, and will contact the nearest dealership once I know whether the house move is looking likely or not.

Thanks again.

Dave, should you go active, I know of a very good home for your Neats where they will be well looked after.

No need to thank me.

Early d

Alba1320 posted:

But what of your beloved Neats, Dave?

Early days yet, pending the possible house move, but it's just that the internal layout would really suit a pair of remote floorstanders, with, quite possibly, the MF9's retaining their place alongside the system in another room. 

It would be nice to have both! 

nigelb posted:

Dave, should you go active, I know of a very good home for your Neats where they will be well looked after.

No need to thank me.

dave marshall posted:

Early d

Alba1320 posted:

But what of your beloved Neats, Dave?

Early days yet, pending the possible house move, but it's just that the internal layout would really suit a pair of remote floorstanders, with, quite possibly, the MF9's retaining their place alongside the system in another room. 

It would be nice to have both! 

I have both in the same room,and all you have to do is mute one,turn up the other...same source,same music.Depending on your mood,it is nice to have options readily available,my XD 600s are 4 driver floorstanders,with full range sound down to 20 HZ,while my Naim/Sopra 1s are a great standmount,which have a different sound,but I like both...a lot.I can also play both at the same time if I want,and the XDs could be moved to another room,making a completely separate listening experience,same source....using a connect hub.If you have a patio,or deck,you could even move them outside for a party,and have world class sound out there,as long as you have a hydro connection out there.

I've just visited the Dynaudio website, and guess what?

My regular Naim dealer is also a Dynaudio dealer ................. oh dear. 

Dave, if you have a listen to the Focus XD range, I would be interested in your thoughts.

Considering you are dispensing with costly pre/power amps, streamers and DACs and squeezing all these into a speaker cabinet, they should sound crap. But they don't. They really don't.

nigelb posted:

Dave, if you have a listen to the Focus XD range, I would be interested in your thoughts.

Considering you are dispensing with costly pre/power amps and DACs and squeezing all these into a speaker cabinet, they should sound crap. But they don't. They really don't.

I'll more than likely set up a demo at Acoustica, just to get a feeling of how they sound.

Even if the house move doesn't go ahead, it'll still be a worthwhile trip to find out, ........... and the coffee's pretty good.

Checking out Dynaudio, I didn't realise they were now Chinese owned.

I love the idea of the Dynaudio active speakers, however seems to be optimal with a digital only source. As I’m not prepared to dispense with vinyl it seems I’d need to retain preamp, hicap, some bespoke analogue  leads from hicap to speakers etc. and with resulting redundancy in the actives - I’m not sure if overall sq then suffers as well.

That or a decent real world ADC shows up on the market. 

I heard some Dutch and Dutch 8c recently, Active with integral DACs etc and very interesting Acoustic ideas . 

They sounded absolutely fantastic IMO which went against all my intuition of everything packed all together. I gave them serious consideration but ultimately felt it wasn’t quite the right time and a young company ( back up etc ). I do feel systems of this type will be the future sooner than later and not just down to next generation of Audiophiles. They sound great too . 

I also think the future will be active speakers and a linn-like digital solution for room correction and personal preferences (honking strong bass that shakes the room anybody?).The problem with developing it is by the time most of us are convinced it's a good way to go we have a huge assortment of boxes,wires,speakers - too much to replace all at once

A couple of things I will add,first,the XDs also have analog inputs on them,it is just that the analog signal is converted to digital in the speaker.I have/use a Teac PD 501 CD/DSD player,which plays native DSD,and I feed the XDs with the analog outs from the Teac,the resulting sound is very very good.We trust Naim and other companies to convert digital to analog,so why can’t a company do equally as good a job converting analog to digital?...The simple answer is we can,and Dynaudio have done it very well with these speakers.I have not tried a turntable with my XDs,since I do not own one.Another thing is,when I first got my XDs,I used my (then) Unitiqute 2 as a digital source (SPDIF),which I thought sounded good,but when I had a demo of the N272,from the first song,it was quite obvious how much better things got,I also heard an improvement when I later added the XPSDR to the 272.So Dave,if you get a chance to demo the XDs,try a couple of different sources,see if you are hearing improvements like I do with better streamers.I would imagine an NDS would be the ultimate source into them...until the ND 555 comes out.I know it is possible to play a turntable into the XDs too,I just have not tried it...yet.

NOQUARTER, this is all very encouraging, and I intend set things up for a demo at my dealer, who will be able to replicate my present setup for a meaningful comparison .

Onward and upward, as they say.

I doubt they will equal your current gear Dave,I plan on one day just having my XDs and a streamer,but I like tinkering with different gear also,which is why I built a second 2 channel setup (Naim).You have some serious high end gear there,so unless you are looking to get rid of all the boxes,I would not expect the XDs to equal or better what you have.That said,they do an outstanding job for a minimalist approach to this hobby.Go have a listen,and report back.

Cheers, NOQUARTER,

I'm thinking that I will keep my existing setup, in a dedicated music room, and the idea of ethernet enabled active speakers would be in addition to that, in a separate, fairly large, living space.

It's quite encouraging to learn that the technology exists to have a go at this, when it was only a random thought, this time yesterday.

The fun just never stops. 

dave marshall posted:

I'm thinking that I will keep my existing setup, in a dedicated music room, and the idea of ethernet enabled active speakers would be in addition to that, in a separate, fairly large, living space.

 

Just a comment here: you need to be careful / define what you mean here.  Several speakers (at a high level) such as Linn and Meridian use Cat5/6 cabling to supply a digital signal to their speakers.  This is not however “Ethernet enabled” in that you can just connect them to your home network and directly access music stored on your NAS as you would do with say a MuSo; you still require a separate streamer / other source(s).

The Dynaudio manual shows that the speakers connect with a digital or analogue cable rather than an Ethernet, so you would need to connect them to an output from the system. That’s how No Quarter described it above. It’s not just a question of plugging them into an Ethernet socket and everything just working - they are not effectively a giant pair of mu-sos. 

Hi Dave - it sounds like you want ultimate quality in the dedicated room with your conventional system but just want good quality sound in the living space. How about something like a 272 with some active speakers or a Nova with passives. Very good SQ from both solutions and still fully controllable all from the Naim app rather than needing another app / control solution for the living space system.

James