Stereophile Home Electronics Show Report in New York
Posted by: bdnyc on 04 June 2002
For Innovative Audio, I wanted to thank all of the visitors who came by the three Naim demonstrations in the show last weekend. I also wanted to thank the folks at Naim North America who did such a great job in presenting the new equipment. They were also aided and abetted by Doug Graham and a team from the UK who were a huge help, as well as a pleasure to work with.
Naim and Innovative presented in three different rooms. We had a full Naim system showcasing the 552 and the new SL2's, which were at points in a stereo, and later in the weekend, we combined systems to showcase the wonderful AV2 in a full Naim 6.1 theater. This was a uniquely musical approach to home theater that, I think, surprised many people. In a second room, Naim's lower priced system delighted many listeners who found out how musical a Five series system based on Allaes could be.
Finally, as noted elsewhere in this forum, Dynaudio North America was using a CDS II, 52, 500 system to showcase their official debut of the Confidence 4 loudspeakers. This was one of the finest big systems on display in the show, and the buzz on this system was incredible.
Many visitors told us how much they loved one or the other of these demos. If you are interested the Stereophile website includes more show reports.
For those of you who missed the show, check out these wonderful new Naim products at a dealer near you soon.
Bruce Deegan
Innovative Audio New York
Naim and Innovative presented in three different rooms. We had a full Naim system showcasing the 552 and the new SL2's, which were at points in a stereo, and later in the weekend, we combined systems to showcase the wonderful AV2 in a full Naim 6.1 theater. This was a uniquely musical approach to home theater that, I think, surprised many people. In a second room, Naim's lower priced system delighted many listeners who found out how musical a Five series system based on Allaes could be.
Finally, as noted elsewhere in this forum, Dynaudio North America was using a CDS II, 52, 500 system to showcase their official debut of the Confidence 4 loudspeakers. This was one of the finest big systems on display in the show, and the buzz on this system was incredible.
Many visitors told us how much they loved one or the other of these demos. If you are interested the Stereophile website includes more show reports.
For those of you who missed the show, check out these wonderful new Naim products at a dealer near you soon.
Bruce Deegan
Innovative Audio New York
Chris West of Naim Audio North America was the guy with the digi cam. Expect the images real soon.
Later
Doug
P.S. Change the month and the weather.
Later
Doug
P.S. Change the month and the weather.
Hello,
Thanks Bruce, good to see you and all the Innovative Guys. Hope y'all enjoyed the "Studio 552" party on thursday night ...reviewing the vigital (DV) tape I made - it would appear that you did Next year..... streaming quicktime video feed via NANA's website ??? Plans are already afoot 
)
OK Chris and Doug.....collating jpegs as time permits (serious catch up mode after shows ...especially when end of month....aaarghhhh!).
I need to find another good and user friendly place to park pix on the internet with links....any recommendations (yeah I know, our own website)....calling DD come in your time is up;)
Later...
cw
Thanks Bruce, good to see you and all the Innovative Guys. Hope y'all enjoyed the "Studio 552" party on thursday night ...reviewing the vigital (DV) tape I made - it would appear that you did
Next year..... streaming quicktime video feed via NANA's website ??? Plans are already afoot )OK Chris and Doug.....collating jpegs as time permits (serious catch up mode after shows ...especially when end of month....aaarghhhh!).
I need to find another good and user friendly place to park pix on the internet with links....any recommendations (yeah I know, our own website)....calling DD come in your time is up;)
Later...
cw
I copy that dD...
over and out
atb
cw
over and out
atb
cw
.....let the show begin.
thanks Dave
thanks Dave
Modeling one of Naim USA"s new fashions for the summer of 2002...Siobhan West.
Series 5 neatly tucked on twin shelves underneath Axent
A variety of promotional items on display at the show--hats, shirts and the odd custom item...
Siobhan West models the new caps
A buzzroom at the show--the Naim / Dynaudio Acoustics room
David Dever
P.S. Gary, we all have Macs--wait 'til Chris digs out his footage!
Great, OK for starters...
Gary, thanks for the offer of space (especially from a fellow Mac enthusiast!) - looks like we'll be ok though.
Regards
Chris
Naim USA
Gary, thanks for the offer of space (especially from a fellow Mac enthusiast!) - looks like we'll be ok though.
Regards
Chris
Naim USA
This picture was taken at NANA when we were testing the system prior to the show....
oops... sorry to go prequel on you
oops... sorry to go prequel on you
Concerning sound at the show, the comments we received in general were very positive, both from the press contingent (many of whom came by our rooms), and the wide variety of show-goers. The Naim/Dynaudio system was in a very large and prominent display area, and I believe several magazine writers referred to it as one of the places to make ones sonic reference from first, before visiting the rest of the show ....Here is where I will pat my Naim USA partner Chris Koster on the back, for the fantastic effort he put into setting up the Naim system in the Dynaudio room. I believe he's now recovering from Fraim-elbow....a condition resultant from the 89 mechanical connections required to contruct the Fraim system rack
The NAIM USA (Innovative Audio) rooms:
The first 3 days of the show, we had an Ayre Acoustics DVD/series-5/AV2/Allae/Axent HT system in the smaller of our 2 rooms. In the larger room we showcased the CDS2/552/500/SL2's. The 552 is virtually devoid of any electrical, mechanical, or acoustic interference with the music signal - and therefore beautifully matches the 500. The SL2's are so free of mechanical distortions that they sound like nothing else....This was a system that put a grin on the faces of many music-oriented people we know (and those whom we became aquainted with). There is this sense that one is connected directly to the musical event. Its kinda like driving a car (or motorcyle) that is so "in-tune" (engine/chassis/suspension etc.) that you feel like it's a direct connection between you and the road....
For the last day of the show we switched the systems around. The smaller room had a series-5 stereo system with Allae's. The larger room had the Ayre DVD - 552/500/SL2s - AV2/135(center CH)/Axent - 175/ALLAE x 3 (surround)/REL sub and Fujitsu Plasma. The combined effect of all this kit was a mind-blowing experience.
I took the opportunity of listening to the re-jigged HT system that we put together on saturday, later that night. As the plasma screen was off, I ended up using the Neo-6.1 music mode quite a bit...wow...talk about Saturday Night Live at the Hilton! (sorry if you were trying to sleep at the Hifi show hotel) Well if you want coherent clean and fast sound for HT, look no farther than this!
Best regards
Chris
Naim USA
with special thanks to....
my wife Joan for putting up with my manic behaviour leading up to the show
- for ironing on a load of "Studio 552" and "Naim" T-Shirt transfers I made for the themed party we had the first night....and countless other things for which few will ever know.
Paul Stephenson of Naim...no matter where you happen to be in person, you've always been "there for us" man ...Cheers.
All the guy's at Innovative Audio headed up by Elliot Fishkin, for their help and assistance during this show...thanks!
Alma Wilson of Accent On Music in Mt kisco, NY - for helping with the cocktails etc at our party...
and Dave Wilson ...for being Dave Wilson
Steve "Martini Man" Kregling ...your grace under pressure....for the obvious and some....cheers
Eugene - for helping with show set-up and break-down and for your star turn as our bar-man thursday night...
Doug Graham of Naim - for his energetic support and general good humour - rock on NAIM! let's do this again...(and thanks for inviting me on the "Brit Club" outing)
Gary Crocker from Naim's R&D dept. Thanks for all the interesting insight and for hanging with us at the show. (and for the tip re: the Samsung room showing their rear projection DLP HDTVs)
Steve, Igor, and Murat for responding enthusiastically to the "all hands on deck" bell at NANA (complete with it's DIN socket clapper) when push came to shove with getting 2300 pounds of show freight out the door "just in time"...:eek:
Dave Dever...for the incredible effort (3 hours I believe) that went into making a replica "Studio 552" logo using Adobe Illustrator on his Mac - based on the sign from the famous Studio 54 nightclub around the corner from the Hilton.
Karen Christianson...for arranging the green logo Baseball caps (even though you don't like BB caps) thanks
Ken Christianson of ProMusica, Chicago....for providing much of the sound track to our daily lives...
The guys at www.berda.com for producing the "Naim-Get real!" glow-in-the-dark BB caps, and having them arrive on the doorstep for me to pickup at the Belvedere Hotel in NY...
and last but not least...my 3 daughters for their inspiration ....and that of those who could not be present... wish you were here 
[This message was edited by Chris West NANA on WEDNESDAY 12 June 2002 at 02:38.]
The NAIM USA (Innovative Audio) rooms:
The first 3 days of the show, we had an Ayre Acoustics DVD/series-5/AV2/Allae/Axent HT system in the smaller of our 2 rooms. In the larger room we showcased the CDS2/552/500/SL2's. The 552 is virtually devoid of any electrical, mechanical, or acoustic interference with the music signal - and therefore beautifully matches the 500. The SL2's are so free of mechanical distortions that they sound like nothing else....This was a system that put a grin on the faces of many music-oriented people we know (and those whom we became aquainted with). There is this sense that one is connected directly to the musical event. Its kinda like driving a car (or motorcyle) that is so "in-tune" (engine/chassis/suspension etc.) that you feel like it's a direct connection between you and the road....
For the last day of the show we switched the systems around. The smaller room had a series-5 stereo system with Allae's. The larger room had the Ayre DVD - 552/500/SL2s - AV2/135(center CH)/Axent - 175/ALLAE x 3 (surround)/REL sub and Fujitsu Plasma. The combined effect of all this kit was a mind-blowing experience.
I took the opportunity of listening to the re-jigged HT system that we put together on saturday, later that night. As the plasma screen was off, I ended up using the Neo-6.1 music mode quite a bit...wow...talk about Saturday Night Live at the Hilton! (sorry if you were trying to sleep at the Hifi show hotel) Well if you want coherent clean and fast sound for HT, look no farther than this!
Best regards
Chris
Naim USA
with special thanks to....
my wife Joan for putting up with my manic behaviour leading up to the show
- for ironing on a load of "Studio 552" and "Naim" T-Shirt transfers I made for the themed party we had the first night....and countless other things for which few will ever know. Paul Stephenson of Naim...no matter where you happen to be in person, you've always been "there for us" man ...Cheers.
All the guy's at Innovative Audio headed up by Elliot Fishkin, for their help and assistance during this show...thanks!
Alma Wilson of Accent On Music in Mt kisco, NY - for helping with the cocktails etc at our party...
and Dave Wilson ...for being Dave Wilson Steve "Martini Man" Kregling ...your grace under pressure....for the obvious and some....cheers
Eugene - for helping with show set-up and break-down and for your star turn as our bar-man thursday night...
Doug Graham of Naim - for his energetic support and general good humour - rock on NAIM! let's do this again...(and thanks for inviting me on the "Brit Club" outing)
Gary Crocker from Naim's R&D dept. Thanks for all the interesting insight and for hanging with us at the show. (and for the tip re: the Samsung room showing their rear projection DLP HDTVs)
Steve, Igor, and Murat for responding enthusiastically to the "all hands on deck" bell at NANA (complete with it's DIN socket clapper) when push came to shove with getting 2300 pounds of show freight out the door "just in time"...:eek:
Dave Dever...for the incredible effort (3 hours I believe) that went into making a replica "Studio 552" logo using Adobe Illustrator on his Mac - based on the sign from the famous Studio 54 nightclub around the corner from the Hilton.
Karen Christianson...for arranging the green logo Baseball caps (even though you don't like BB caps) thanks
Ken Christianson of ProMusica, Chicago....for providing much of the sound track to our daily lives...
The guys at www.berda.com for producing the "Naim-Get real!" glow-in-the-dark BB caps, and having them arrive on the doorstep for me to pickup at the Belvedere Hotel in NY...
and last but not least...my 3 daughters for their inspiration
....and that of those who could not be present... wish you were here [This message was edited by Chris West NANA on WEDNESDAY 12 June 2002 at 02:38.]
John Geisen, of Wellington Audio in West Palm Beach, FL
John, thanks for your presence, (and assistance during the half-hour "organised chaos" system switcheroo we did on saturday evening). One can never have to many friends
Chris West
Naim USA.
John, thanks for your presence, (and assistance during the half-hour "organised chaos" system switcheroo we did on saturday evening). One can never have to many friends
Chris West
Naim USA.