New kit...
Posted by: Top Cat on 19 March 2001
After a lot of deliberation and attempts to audition pretty much every amplifier setup between £1000 and £2000, I have made a purchase.
In the end, the candidates were Naim 102/250 (over budget, I know ;-) versus Crimson 640 monoblocks. It was a difficult decision, because both setups are so good, but I have decided to tread the path less travelled and have plumped for the Crimsons.
The reasons are largely due to its performance-per-pound, which I believe is about as good as it gets - it certainly represents the best amplifier that I heard under £2000, and to my ears was better than the 102/250 amp setup.
My requirements were simple: I wanted an amplifier of conventional height (to fit in a standard Mana rack), capable of driving the most demanding speakers without fear of meltdown, with a marriage of PRaT and Round Earth qualities. The ability to be controlled by a remote was important, but not so much that it swayed me from my final choice (which has no remote).
In some respects, I really quite fancied joining the Naim camp, but ultimately figured I'd have to go to a NAP500 to get the kind of power I was getting from the monoblocks (200wpc, enormous current swing), and the obvious comparison (135s versus the Crimson) would have been pointless given the price difference. Thus, the comparison was between the 250 (and 150, as this was convenient) and monoblocks.
First disclaimer: I'd have been happy with any of the amps I demo'd. They all had loads going for them and all represented tangible improvements over the Arcam 10 amps I currently have.
Second disclaimer: I really really thought the Naim combo would win - I even wanted this to be the case, to justify the extra expense.
Ultimately, though, on the basis of PRaT, musicality and enjoyability, they were all very good. The Crimson won, pure and simply, because it had an authority to its sound which the 250 lacked (relatively speaking), plus the fact that it has vast tracts of power to drive the Neat Petite/Gravitas speakers gave it a head start.
The 250 had a certain sound which appealed - I felt it was more forward in its presentation, perhaps emphasising the upper bass and midrange more than the Crimson.
The Crimson seemed to have more air in the treble and a deftness of touch which made me come to the conclusion that it sounded more like Naim than the Naim 250 in its dynamism and pace.
I picked up the amps on Friday, and have been running them continuously since - one good use for CD players, then, is breaking in amps! I had to get my cables converted across to fit the Crimson connections, so I borrowed an expensive Van Den Hul cable which sounded awful. For a while I thought I'd made one monumental mistake. However, it seems that it was the cable (it was plodding and muddy sounding, no drive and a bit 'Arcamesque' if you will). When I got my cables back on the Saturday, it came alive - I use DNM Reson, and the Crimsons use all-DNM components, including DNM wiring, so there is definitely a synergy there, more than I heard at the dealer's.
The solid-core mains cables add a bit of weight to the sound, and everything is coming together nicely. Sure, being new units, they're not all there yet, and they need to warm up, but their virtues are shining through. I'm constantly impressed with the power capacity - I can switch the monoblocks off and still get good sounds coming out of the speakers for around 2 minutes after powering them down, such is the design of the 'blocks. I know that such power is excessive - I mean, how many speakers have a 1 ohm load? - but it's nice to know that the headroom is there.
Another plus is the frequency response - effectively DC to 300KHz +/-1Db, I believe, which is better than the 20-20KHz I left behind. I don't know if the Petites go much above 20KHz, but it's nice to have that capability for DVD-A or whatever the future brings.
Downsides? No remote.
So, I've done it, and my last chance to own another bit of Naim kit will be the CD player replacement which I intend to do later this year or early next - my new amps certainly shine the spotlight onto the flaws of my player, and only the LP12/Lingo/Aro/Asaka shows what it's *really* capable of...
So, if anyone's looking for a capable amp to audition along with Naim when they next come to upgrade, give the 640s a whirl. Just be warned, like a 250 they take some time to come on song - a few hours at least, probably overnight is best - my dealer was able to arrange this, hopefully yours will also.
John
Sonically, it works extremely well, and has the high bandwidth capability so that the amps can indeed do the ultrasonic stuff should I get an SACD or DVD-A player at some point (don't know if this is likely or not - will wait and see).
As for the Resolution Audio player, it's interesting, as the dealer I bought the amps for said exactly the same thing. I told him that, yes, I'd listen to it, but give me some time to enjoy the music first 
One thing I notice about the new amps is the volume - they go incredibly loud. For those who want to really cook it, Crimson apparently supply add-on heatsink fans for professional applications, although moderate to loud volumes (i.e. at 9pm, whereby you have difficulty sustaining a conversation over the music without shouting) don't even get the heatsinks much past lukewarm...
John