Upgrade

Why not listen to a flatcap and compare to different speakers. If you can try and borrow them for use at home over the weekend. Esp with speakers as in dems the most impressive speaker is not generally the best and rooms make a huge diffrence.

To err is human; to really foul it up requires a computer.

Good advice Stuart.
I will try to borrow a speakers and try it in my room.For the moment I´m thinking Epos speakers

MY system : Naim Nait 5 amplifier,Naim CD 5,B&W 601 speakers,Naca5

Nuno

you are wasting your time with all these minor upgrades.

You are obviously a man who wants the best.

I therefore suggest you settle for no less than

CDS3/552/500/DBL's.

I suggest that you start saving your Euros each week and report back here when you have saved it all up.

In the meantime, we do not expect to hear from you.

Regards

Mick

Nuno,

While I have not specifically heard B&W 601 speakers with Naim source/amplification, I find them rather dull and lacking in excitement. Epos, IMHO, is quite another story - I own the M12 and am very satisfied with what they do on the end of my Densen Beat 100 which I'm told sounds similar to the Nait 5.

Best,
Thom

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Nuno

you are wasting your time with all these minor upgrades.

You are obviously a man who wants the best.

I therefore suggest you settle for no less than

CDS3/552/500/DBL's.

I suggest that you start saving your Euros each week and report back here when you have saved it all up.

In the meantime, we do not expect to hear from you.

Regards

Mick

---

Good Evening Mick,

I feel you ambition scale is quite low sir, why stop at the CDS3, after all the reworkings and call backs for product 'Sort Outs' have been achieved, I feel you should raise you factor a little, by upping the bar, so to speak.
Having heard the 552 and being suitably under whelmed, and for the pretty extorsionate price as well, a Spectral would suitable impress you I feel, also while the Nap 500 is a admirable stab at the Hi-end Market, it is seriously under powered Hence why I have recently accquired another one, 2 now much better, also proper speaker control, but it does have the 'Bounce' like nothing else, but I would Strongly suggest a Wadia 861, Takes the CDS2 apart quite easily, and with all the extra's (sound wise) plus the money you save on not having to buy a pre-amplifier an obsolute Bargin (IME).
So please,while your staunch surport of Naim is pleasing to see, you must realise their are much better products out there, and for less money Mick, although I grant you there amplifiers have that 'Certain' sound, that is just not done by anyone else.

Kind Regards David

Well Balanced Beings Promote Harmony In Music and Soul

Hello Tom
As soon as possible I will hear Epos M 12 with my Nait .You
are rigth B6W are a dull speaker.I´m looking for more exciting sound

MY system : Naim Nait 5 amplifier,Naim CD 5,B&W 601 speakers,Naca5

Nuno !

I have had Epos12 for years with Nait2, but now I listen Intro2 and only what I can tell you is that Intros are miles better than Epos.
Epos is very hungry speaker and lack MANY of good qualities which Intro deliver.
I strongly suggest you to make a home dem with Intros, I also belive that you will buy them.

Good luck,

Ozren

Nuno!

Congratulations to your new cd! It has been fun to read the posts from you and other forum members about your problems deciding what cd-player to buy.

Nuno!

Congratulations to your new cd! It has been fun to read the posts from you and other forum members about your problems deciding what cd-player to buy. About loudspekers: are you happy with the b&w? If so it might be an idea to have a listen to a flat-cap. I can only speak for the nait 3r and it benefits hugely from a cap. I first added a flat and then a hicap. The hicap is of course better but the flat-cap was a huge improvment!

I believe that if you like your speakers or at least think thay are ok, this might be something to try.

Good luck and enjoy the music.
Bjorne

I find that the bass performance with Intros is a little woolly. Naim do make wonderful speakers, but the Intros are not wonderful, imho.

Ty JM Lab 806s - just the ticket in Nuno's sistem.

Regards,

Steve.

Nice to see another Densen amp user here!

They are a very decent alternative to Naim, and have a similar sound. They certainly do all that PR&T thing, and they can hold a tune too.

Regards,

Steve.

Steven,

I'm in the process of trying to persuade my brother into buying a B200/B300 combo - my problem is that I haven't actually heard it Could you offer some insight as to how B200/B300 compares to B100? I believe you use Rega speakers - do you know of other succesfull speaker choices with the Densens?

Thanks,
Thom

Nuno

I have been in a similar situation to you since buying my Planet 2000 (I did not have your patience to save for a CD5!!).

I was going to start looking at speakers, but then a friend lent me a Hicap!!

With a hicap my existing speakers made sounds that I did not think possible!! Now I am saving for a hicap, for when I have to give this one back to my friend!!

Try a hicap on the nait and/or the CD5, and you may not need to look at new speakers for a while!!

Simon

1) B100. 5 Musical points on an arbitrary scale.

2) Biamped with B300. This deepened the bass a bit and separated out instruments and backing vocals better. 8 points on the scale.

3) Swap B100 for B200 preamp. Significant increase in dynamic headroom, cohesion, more independent basslines that seem to drop beneath the floor, bigger and deeper soundstage, big grin on my face. Surprisingly, SPL headroom also increased significantly. 17 points.

4) Swap B300 power amp for the B300XS. I think I needed a new CD player, or an XPS to my existing one first, but more bass control, deeper bass, and dynamics further improved. More revealing of weaknesses upstream. 20 points.

If you swap the B100 for the B200/300 you'll be very happy indeed.

As for speakers, they'll drive virtually anything, but Ruark CL20s with Chord Odyssey cable work a treat.

Regards,

Steve.

[This message was edited by Steven Toy on MONDAY 16 December 2002 at 19:01.]

Alex,

I am indeed loving my QS Ref stand. The bog seats replaced the shelves sans holes back in March at the special upgrade price of a tenner a shelf.

To avoid cofusion, there are three types of QS stand:

1) Q4 standard.

2) QS Ref prototype without the holes.

3) QS Ref with holes, affectionately refered to as "bog seats."

The designs are all modular, unlike M*** so you can add more shelves when you need them.

QS Ref won't have as big an impact as Mana, but if set up properly should make a big improvement to your system notably to image focus, bass extension and control, and tunefulness of course.

Regarding the latter, it beats M***.

Here is a FAQ I posted back in February regarding setup of the QS Ref table:

Start by attaching the spikes to the runt shelf - the sharp ends should touch the floor and not the shelf! [stating the obvious]

Remember that the runt shelf should be rigid and not have any aluminium decoupling rings between it and the rods supporting the shelf immediately above it.

Add the first of two sets of short rods, tigtening with finger and thumb, and place the next shelf up onto these rods.

Level the bottom two shelves with the Mana Spirit Level or equivalent, and it will then be unnecessary to make further levelling adjustments to the top shelf.

Al other shelves should have the aluminium rings acting as spacers inserted into the holes of each shelf before the rods are inserted - or the plugs in the case of the top shelf.

Tighten each rod with just the finger and thumb, and no more for QS Reference.

(Tighten each rod hand-tight for QS Q4 Standard.)

Ensure that each spacing ring is of identical length to the others in each set of four per shelf.

In my case, one spacer is slightly shorter than the other three with one set, so that particular set is used immediately under the plugs for the top shelf, as there is no shelf above which needs to be level.

The top shelf uses the second set of shorter rods immediately beneath the second set of adjustable spikes which are identical to those immediately under the runt shelf.

If the stand is completely level at base, it should be possible for the threads to these spikes to be fully retracted (which is more beneficial to sonic performance than if these spikes are extended to facilitate further levelling.)

Both the spikes under the runt shelf and the top shelf can be levelled using the pin supplied which is inserted into the hole immediately above the taper of each spike.

With the top shelf, insert the spikes into the shelf, insert the spacer and the plugs, tighten with the finger and thumb, and gently lower the shelf with the spikes now attached onto the four shorter rods, which in turn, should be inserted into the shelf beneath - not forgetting the four spacers.

Ensure that the amount of torque applied to all four shafts above the spikes supporting the top shelf is equal when turning with the finger and thumb.

[Alex, this bit above is important, and I'm wondering if your dealer got it right]

If this is not the case, and the threads are fully retracted, either dismantle the rack and start again, or make fine adjustments to the length of each shaft supporting the top shelf with the adjustment pin.

Wipe away any beads of sweat from your forehead and start to load the equipment onto the shelves, starting from the bottom.

Remember to place "brawnier" components like PSUs and power amps on the lower shelves, and the "brains" of the system, i.e: source components and preamps on the upper ones, with the very top shelf reserved for your primary source component.

Ideally, two racks should be used, so that the CD player, and the preamp can both enjoy being on a top shelf.

Turntables can go on wallshelves.

Atttach all interconnects, speaker cables and mains leads, ensuring that no wire touches another, the rack, or the walls.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Steve.



Regards,

Steve.

[This message was edited by Steven Toy on MONDAY 16 December 2002 at 19:52.]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geoff A: Just one question: Why didn't you want mine?? Mrs Geoff and the Poodle were also rather upset by this.

---

Particularly since the whole bunch of you came over to Portugal areoporto.

My hunch is Nuño is scared of doggies. And you may not know this, but glamorous women like Mrs A can be intimidating (especially when you don't have a lotta naim).

Herman

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nuno Baptista:

B&W 601 are the weakest link of my system

I think that the above statement is not entirely accurate, 'cause it's a matter of personal orientation and taste. Of course there are a lot of better speakers, but definitely it must be a strong cohesion between them and the rest of the system. One of the alternatives which I suggest to consider is Linn Kan. I heard them with a similar system, before changing my previous pair of speakers (Monitor Audio 3) and compared also with much pricier models (i.e.Dynaudio Audience and even Contour series) I still prefer them. Of course you must take into consideration room acoustics and musical tastes.
Good luck,
Constantin

Nick,

you have to make some allowances for Nuño's English. So in the opening post "After I buy" should have been: "Having bought" or something.

On December 4 Nuño wrote (I restructured some of the orthography):

"I´ve just bought a new CD 5. It´s playing right moment and it´s really good!"

http://forums.naim-audio.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=67019385&f=48019385&m=3691997855&r=8601959306#8601959306

It's been a rocky ride for all of us, so don't try to spoil it now.

Herman

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Nuno

you are wasting your time with all these minor upgrades.

You are obviously a man who wants the best.

I therefore suggest you settle for no less than

CDS3/552/500/DBL's.



Mick

---

Mr Parry, sir

Stop shilly shallying around.

When I want music I insist that the original musicians come to Lacey Acres, at a time to suit me. If they are dead then that can be a problem, so I simply demand the master tapes.

Anything else is a compromise.

Mike.

Shall we all make a small contribution and buy Nuno a decent sistem for christmas!!

It would stop all hi dilly dallying around but would we miss out on his wonderful posts?????

Regards

NB

But now the semi-official flatearth orthography is 'sistem', the ! is optional.

seems like jùpiter didn't catch on tho'.

Whouddathunkit!

Peter

I think My B&W are holding back the cd 5.I´m going to try first a Epos M12 and then after change speakers I will try to find some s/H hi cap

MY system : Naim Nait 5 amplifier,Naim CD 5,B&W 601 speakers,Naca5

Quote:-

I think My B&W are holding back the cd 5.I´m going to try first a Epos M12 and then after change speakers I will try to find some s/H hi cap.



Nuno

You could be right!!

Go for it and buy the M12's you will notice quite an improvement. Then spend loads of time appreciating your new speakers before contemplating your next upgrade.

Regards

NB