A reflection on mullets, falling in love and ignorance...
Posted by: Alonso on 19 June 2018
I thought I'd take a comment Analog made out of the original thread because leaving it there might risk a gem to remain buried, and because its relevance goes beyond a discussion of models and brands
Analogmusic:The danger of falling in love with a speaker without a full understanding of what made them sing in the first place, is huge. Of course one can always live in blissful ignorance, that is until the day you listen to the same speakers properly driven with a source capable of it. Then the penny drops... It is much better to have a balanced system than a mullet. Of course the mullet may sound rather nice, and until one hears those speakers in the right system, one just doesn't know what one is missing.
Analog has actually managed to articulate something I've been struggling to put into words for ages.
When I first heard the SCM40s at home, I felt they were the bee's knees, the dog's testicles, (for our non-native speakers " the best of the best") What was driving them? Exactly what you're dreading, the Nait XS with the ND5XS! (I can hear the pitchforks against the sharpening wheel now) - A text book definition of a mullet system was giving me an amazing sonic experience. Why? because I did not know better. And that is exactly my point, a point that analog managed to articulate "The mullet may sound rather nice, and until one hears those speakers in the right system, one just doesn't know what one is missing"
It was then and there that I discovered the sound I was seeking for years (regardless of the lesser electronics fronting them). Yes, I was cognisant that the system could be improved, that a better source, a better, amp, a better interconnect, a better mains supply, would make things better, but what I was hearing was amazing. Nothing sounded broken, nothing sounded bad, on the contrary, it was blissful. My next experience a few years down the line was with the SCM11 and then the 19, also with my Nait XS, same as above - fell in love even more. During the demo, I swapped the Nait XS with a NAP250, there was more of everything, yes, it was better, but nothing was broken before, it was just degrees of 'nicer'
The point I am trying to make is summed up by Richard in the paragraph below [from another thread], specifically in the underlined section;
Richard Dane :... I feel the NAP250 is as much amp as you would want to put on the end of the Uniti - possibly too much, hence Naim's recommendation of a NAP200. It's not that it will sound bad with a NAP250 - I'm sure it will be great - it's mainly an issue of cost vs benefit. Ultimately the pre section of the Uniti will be the limiting factor.
The problem with the source-first discourse is not that it is incorrect in principle, (Richard's example above illustrates it quite nicely) but that is sometimes presented in such a way that suggests that lesser electronics, when fronting 'better' loudspeakers is a problem. A mullet does not present problem of bad performance' but simply an issue of 'cost vs benefit', where the lesser loudspeaker will impose a ceiling to the better electronics, some people are blissfuly happy with a low ceiling if the ceiling is tall enough for them.