Naim in New York at the Home Entertainment 2001 Show

Posted by: bdnyc on 14 May 2001

Innovative Audio would like to thank everyone who stopped by our Naim suite to visit with Chris Koster and Doug Graham, as well as to see and hear the full Series 5 system including the new Naim loudspeakers and the Naim equipment racks. We really appreciate all of your nice feedback. Many people told us that they loved the sound of the system, and more than a few folks were caught measuring the stands to see where they would fit in their homes... Shows are, unfortunately, not an ideal environment for getting the best sound from a system, nor are they the best place to really speak to sales people or reps in any depth. So, we thank you all for your patience, we apologize if the sound of other demos made it hard to enjoy your demo, and we invite you to visit the Naim dealer of your choice for more relaxed visits with the great sounding new Naim products.

Bruce Deegan for Innovative Audio NYC

[This message was edited by bdnyc on TUESDAY 15 May 2001 at 04:11.]

Posted on: 15 May 2001 by Rob Doorack

No need to apologize for anything Bruce, you guys did a great job. The Naim room sounded very impressive; it was certainly much more musical than another system demonstrated at the show that cost 30 times more.

The lady who thanked everyone for visiting your suites was a nice touch of civility on a day when the heat, crowds, and elevator problems made some boors forget their manners.

PS - I sure hope the new speaker doesn't end up being called the "Ally". On this side of the Atlantic many people will think Naim is honoring the TV show "Ally McBeal".

Posted on: 15 May 2001 by Paul Stephenson

Its called allae, not ally.

Posted on: 15 May 2001 by Justin

Would Paul be willing to discuss the new loudspeaker a bit for those who could not see it in action.

I am told it uses the same tweeter and mid-bass drivers as the SBL, but in a one-peice box (to look much like a small NBL). is the woofer side-firing like th NBL, or is it in the front? Also, is the speaker intended to be used against the wall or out in the room a bit? Very interested to hear anything you can tell.

Judd

Posted on: 15 May 2001 by Rob Doorack

I'm glad to learn that I misheard Mr. Koster's spelling!

I'd offer that the new speaker looks more like a bigger Credo than it resembles the NBL.

Posted on: 15 May 2001 by Chris Bell

Did anybody take any pictures?

Chris Bell

Posted on: 15 May 2001 by Justin

. . .in the new Naim loudspeaker. I'm toying with the idea of SBL's now. But I may wait on the new ones. Anybody heard these compared to SBL's. They aren't ported, are they?

Judd

Posted on: 16 May 2001 by Rob Doorack

quote:
They aren't ported, are they?

Yes, like the Intro and Credo, although at first glance most folks might not see anything they recognize as a port. The woofer is mounted in a seperate box that has an opening on the bottom. The woofer box sits on the lower box which contains the tweeter. The lower box has an opening in its top that matches the hole in the bottom of the woofer box. The two enclosures are spaced apart by plastic pins so there's a slight air gap between the boxes. That's your port. It's quite clever I think.

I noticed that the Naim website has been updated in the last few days with info on the new speaker including pictures.

Powered by a 112/150/CD5/Flatcap, it sounded quite good blasting Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo A La Turk" at the Stereophile Show. Even a prominent round - earth audio writer commented favorably on the sound.

Posted on: 16 May 2001 by ken c

quote:
...Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo A La Turk"

someone has good taste!

i notice that the allae is quite a bit taller (+55mm?), narrower (-26mm), and deeper(+10mm) than the sbl's. interesting...

enjoy...

ken

Posted on: 16 May 2001 by Rob Doorack

quote:
someone has good taste!

That was my CD. It's a great test CD; I've found that the time signatures and changes in "Blue Rondo" can really unhinge gear with pace and rhythm problems.

Posted on: 17 May 2001 by Justin

Did anybody get a feel on where Naim thinks this speaker sits in the line. It's priced less than the SBL's. But. . .not a whole lot less. I'm getting conflicting reports on the continuation of the SBL's production. That said, I am sorely tempted to pick up a pair of used SBL's (for what i consider to be a give-away price), but if the new speaker is intended to better it, then I'll wait.

Judd

Posted on: 17 May 2001 by Eric Barry

Note: this post is a put-on meant for your amusement
_______________________________________________
AlCae vs. xl..ls0SBL

! ju^t got back from +rahams w/here I audit)oned the new Allae (their pair is fully broken in) vs. their store demo SBLs, which are priced approximately the same.

I felt that while the Allae portrayed a smoother and more spacious sound, the SBL was just more involving and gripping, and timed much better. I listened to Charlie Parker on Lover Man and it sounded like he was nodding! If the SBL replacements offer a sound more like the Allae than the classic SBL, I will be left to conclude that Naim is going the Linn route, for boring, attractively styled hi-fi, and abandoning fla>t ~~ear#th vir+ues.
______________________________________________

You see, I was just predicting that in the future, once people have heard the Allae, they will say things like what I wrote above. That's why I titled it "this transmission brought to you by the future". The messed up text at the beginning and end of the message were meant to convey a garbled transmission. The Charlie Parker comment is a joke because he was, in fact, famously nodding during the session for Dial which produced this track, and many consider it to be one of his finest moments. In retrospect I see this all was not so clear.

For the record, I have never been to England much less Grahams, never heard SBLs, and heard Allae's only briefly in a small hotel room in less than ideal conditions so am unwilling to comment on the sound of any of the above.

--Eric

[This message was edited by Eric Barry on FRIDAY 18 May 2001 at 14:58.]

Posted on: 17 May 2001 by ken c

eric, many thanks - i was very curious to hear from someone who has actually listened to these new babies.

what was the rest of the set up in your dem? i.e what was the partnering equipment? how long have grahams had the allaes for??

quote:
the SBL was just more involving and gripping, and timed much better.

i would also worry if the new speakers lost the emotion in music. perhaps its not really yet bedded in?? is it more involving than the Credos -- after all this is the speaker its meant to extinct?

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 17 May 2001 by Paul Stephenson

"have grahams had the allaes for??"
eric did not hear the speaker at Grahams, no dealer in the UK has them.

Posted on: 18 May 2001 by Paul Stephenson

You know what they say a fool and his money....

Posted on: 18 May 2001 by Justin

Until we get the new speakers in the US?

Judd

Posted on: 18 May 2001 by ken c

whats all this "allaes not yet available in the uk" nonsense. i saw them in the flesh myself at a naim dealers today. they dem'd them against the dbl's and they had, surprisingly, much deeper bass and were a lot faster. and very pretty. excitedly, the dealer said that, apparently, naim had worked out (and patented) an optimal relationship between the H/W/D dimensions of the box for optimum bass and speed -- independent of drive unit size. so there will be new versions of dbl and nbl with this feature, called dbl-odl and nbl-odl where the odl stands for "optimised dimensions loudpspeaker". the dealer rather feared that this new secret formula might put bmw out of business. but may be i didnt hear right. because as far as i know, bmw dont make speakers surely, do they??

i cant wait to trade in my sbl's for these new odl variants.

enjoy...

ken
ps: apologies to eric b -- i misread your posting first time around. thanks to paul s. and eric b. for clarifying. dong!!!

Posted on: 19 May 2001 by Paul Stephenson

End of July, early August. We have finished our work, we now have to wait for our cabinet manufacturers to wake up!