The Studio - Open Evening, Workshop & Clearance

Just a reminder about the above event, kicking off tomorrow.

Jason Gould from Naim will be there to offer advice answer your questions...

Richard

Hi Richard

I'd love to go along to this, but I'm getting that pompous voice saying "the number you have dialled has not been recognised".

Malheuresement, I have checked, and you have the same number as their website. Do you by any chance have another, or might it be okay just to turn up..?

Cheers

Rod

Rod

Sorry that you're having trouble with The Studio's contact details. We will check and perhaps update if appropriate.

There will be no problem in you turning up. I'm sure that Peter Coles and Jason will be pleased to see you. I believe that they are expecting people around lunch through til late evening tomorrow and all day Saturday.

Doug

Cheers Doug (you're working late..!)

Email contact was successful, so I shall be there, and looking forward to it. If I can leave my credit card at home, that is (no chance)

All the best

Rod

Many thanks to Jason, Peter and Ted for an enjoyable demo and evening.

The Nait5i / CD5i / Ariva combination is every bit as good as people say, and I had to play some stuff at home on my return to make sure my collection of boxes is performing as well as it should (it is).

There are other threads here about the pros/cons of Naim moving to introduction/"budget" equipment, but if it further's the company's success, turn over and reputation then it has to be a good thing for all of us. I imagine there was similar talk about the very first Nait, although I am not quite(!) old enough to remember.

I am sort-of glad I cannot make it to the Studio today to hear the 5 Reference kit for fear of making me depressed at its out-of-reach price nature, but I would recommend anyone who can get to N London to go along and meet a very nice bunch of people indeed...

Thanks all round

Rod

So, did your credit card stay in your wallet then?

Hi Rasher

Just about is the answer. Which is quite some result. I have ordered some cds from the Naim store as a consequence of last night. Hardly extravagant. Nowhere near shoe territory, price-wise, so as Basil Fawlty said, I think I got away with it alright...

Hi,

Just to let you know that I attended the 'studio' event as well and I'm glad I did, as I had an excellent time. When I woke up I did'nt really fancy the idea of travelling up to North London.
An hour and three quarters hours later, I finally arrived, where were all you guys ? I thought the London boys would be in attendence at least !
Anyway I was given a warm greeting by Peter and Jason and a forum contributor John Bailey. There was wine and sandwiches too be had and shortly afterwards, I was given a free Naim Audio 'polo' shirt (black ash finish) and a Naim Aro mouse mat ( this unfortunately is not Naim like, as the mouse lacks pace and timing , perhaps it needs running in?).
Unfortuately/fortunately the event was quite poorly attended ( I got all of Jason to myself! ) and visitors only just surpassed the number of Studio staff and Naim personnel at times. One of the first visitors had a fetching bicycle moustache and another Gentleman looked like a Greek version of Des Lynam. He insisted on playing his favourite Greek recordings, became impressed with the just installed CDS3 and tried to get his wife on his side to purchase a CDS3, who could'nt understand what all the fuss was about.
Shortly after this, I killed the atmosphere in the room by playing one of the stranger tracks in the REM canon called 'Hope'from the 'Up' CD, which has become of one of my favourite 'bass torture' CD's.
The Studio's listening room was quite different sounding from mine being open and airy (mine is pretty rich sounding with big sofa's, carpet, rugs and furniture) whereas their's is sparsely furnished. It took a while to get used to the sound and initially the CDS3/252/300/Allae's did not really impress. Yes, it revealed alot of detail and had good PR&T, but the sound lacked weight and depth. Jason, then reconnected the burndy which was twisted and the sound improved accordingly. My REM torture track now sounded less boomy than it was originally and started to make more agreeable sounds. Jason then gave me and John another tip by bringing out the sofa away from the back wall, which once again proved a worthwhile venture.
Unfortunately the Arriva's did not arrive. Apparently Roy Gregory has found an eleventh hour tweak, so it was not to be seen. Presumably , this will mean the release of the speaker onto the market is delayed.
Then it time was time for unquestionably the highlight of the day, the implementation of the 552 into the system. Playing the Rem tracks 'Hope and 'Suspicion' again, along with Beck, the system was totally transformed. Vagueish bass lines now had bags more detail and texture, the sound filled the room enormously (so much so that I looked at the volume on the pre-amp, to find it had not been altered, but it sounded like it had been raised by 2 numbers). Michael Stipe's vocal now had enormous presence in the soundstage and all sorts of rythmic and musical nuances leapt out , to be easily heard, but not in any clinical sense. Dynamic contrast was vastly heightended and was shown to full effect on a Joni Mitchell track as played by Ted ( from the studio ). The 552 is every bit as good as NB said and an absolute music making meisterwerk.
Thanks once again to Peter, Ted , John (for his company) and the excellent helpful Jason for his enthusiam, knowlegde and patience for my barraqe of questions.
A jolly good time was had by all and I highly recommend you all attend the next time.

Regards,

Rod

Just a quick follow up to Rods posting as he’s pretty much covered everything already – many thanks to Peter, Ted and Jason for a really enjoyable day, and to Rod for a really good chat.

Rod – numbers did increase somewhat later in the afternoon.

To those that stayed away it was our gain as we had pretty much exclusive access to the CDS3/552/300 and all the knowledge of the Studio and Jason to back it up. Cable dressing a Burndy, moving sofas, cables, upcoming products (no we’re not going to tell you what we now know because you really should have been there), Naim factory folk law and more.

To Rods review I would also add that there was considerable improvement going from a CDS2 to a CDS3 in terms of refinement, the Allaes are certainly very capable and the CD5i a bit of a bargain at it’s price point. The 552 is a star. Oh and then the NAP300….

Since Christmas I’ve bought a CDX2 and Allaes from the Studio and been delighted with my choices, the personal service and the sound advice received.

A couple of final notes, did anyone go to the Calexico/Amparanoia concert at the Royal Festival Hall last night? Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Secondly my Naim mouse mat lacks pace and timing too – for analogue (ie mechanical) mice only I think. I shall keep it as a memento of the day.


John.