New to Naim and in need of advice!?

1/naims amp are not supposed to be biwired.I thought naims plugs (for speakers), were banana plugs...
2/282/HiCap/250mk2
3/I don't know the living Voice Avatars

...of course the 202/HiCap/200 or 202/Hicap/250mk2 are very nice set up as well!

If you got a CDX2+XPS2, I would recommand the 282 as a preamp.

Of course the 202/200 will work with your existing wire, but you may not be getting anywhere near it's best. It's worth getting some NAC A5 with Naim plugs if you want to give the Naims a fair chance (it's not expensive).

There's no real problem using standard banana plugs in Naim Amps, so for test purpose just try your existing wire.

I'm not sure of the price of your Chord gear but the 202/200 should give you a flavour of what Naim will do, Just bear in mind it's somewhat lower in the Heiracy than your Chord Gear.

I have no experiance with Living Voice, so can't comment, but it appears other speakers may be a better match, however in your room who knows. At the end of the day if the 202/200 sounds terrible then I expect you won't be experimenting much further. Just bear in mind the 202/200 with need a while to warm up and settle before giving it's best.


Let us know what you think, as it's interesting hearing what people used to a different presentation think.

Thanks for the advice guys, i hope to pick up some NAC A5 on ebay as i would definately like to give the naim gear a good chance to shine. I found that the CDX2 took ages to settle in, It was ok at the start, but i was pleasantly suprised by just how much it has improved over time. Im guessing that the amps will be the same, but hopefully as they are about a year old i should have a headstart??

Ive found the presentation of the CDX2 to be very addictive, and i have found myself enjoying music for being music again!! Reading that last comment back it sounds mad, but it amazing how easy it is to fall into the trap of just playing the music that makes your hifi sound good rather than the other way round..

Im not very good at using the correct technical terms to describe what ive heard, or for what im looking for... but from my perspective the CDX2 added some drive and pace into my system that put simply gets the toes tapping... i guess that the famous pace rhythm and timing thing working its magic?! At first it almost sounded edgy if thats the right word, but as the player settled in and i adjusted to the new sound i became addicted!
For anyone interested i demo'd the CDX2 at home back to back against the new meridian G08 and it just blew the meridian away, so the choice was an easy one to make. I recently added the XPS2 which to be fair is still going through the warming up and settling in phase, but already its earned its right to stay! What a difference yet again, i found it has opened things up to yet another level, but if there is anything i have to say against it, its that in my current set up it has everso slightly softened the presentation. I dont know if anyone will understand or will have experienced what ive described??? but that initial kick that i first described as edgyness is now missed a little!!! This is where i hope that some naim amplification can help??? I realise that i still have to give the XPS2 more time to settle in, and i also realise that unless i found a very accomodating dealer i could never be able demo the amps long enough to get the most from them. In a nutshell thats why ive decided on experimenting by buying secondhand, so that i can get this next step right in my own time. Hopefully judging by what i see on ebay/hififorsale.com the demand for used naim is pretty high so im crossing my fingers that ive not taken too much of a risk. The only risk i think i might have is finding out i need to dig deep into the overdraft for a NAC282/252 NAP300 ish set up!!

Thanks again Hawk

Quote:-

The only risk i think i might have is finding out i need to dig deep into the overdraft for a NAC282/252 NAP300 ish set up!!
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and then don't forget a nice pair of Neats to finish it off,
I see a bad case of up-graditis coming on!


Regards


NB

NB I think you might be right.. How do i explain it to the bank manager? Is there ever a cure for up-graditis??? apart from ones that come in very expensive black boxes that cost more than an average 5 year old family car! One thing for sure though Naim holds its value better than most tin boxes with a wheel in each corner!

Hawk,
Its daunting when you first start on the path to naim nirvana. If I can offer you any advice its this, use the cables provided and alway use NAC5, as naim have designed it to work as an extention of the equipment. Naim have spent years of research , perfecting there cables. So do the right thing my friend and use Naim, it's safe and reliable, and its not expensive unlike some.
Good luck
BillyJ

Just bought some NAC5 on ebay, so thats one problem out the way... when the postman arrives anyway!? Thanks Hawk