Ovator and Surround

Good question.

I've posted much the same, even asking directly if there WOULD be a BMR centre speaker from Naim, but unfortunately I just got silence.....In light of all the recent AV discontinuations, I think it's fair to say it is highly unlikely this will now ever happen....

Which of course, then poses something of an issue in considering the Ovators as a speaker possibility if you are interested in running a multi-channel system...In the spirit of an 'all Naim system' I personally would have been curious on the S-400 along with any stand-mount speaker in the range, BUT without a dedicated centre speaker in the pipeline, this is pretty much a dead end for their consideration, IMO....There are very few speaker manufacturers who do not offer a centre speaker, somewhere in their range, these days....

I'm not interested in the phantom centre 'approach'...

Can another speaker, from a completely different manufacturer, blend in seamlessly with the Ovators, I really don't know...? But on the face of it, it would seem to be a very slim possibility, given the BMR is such a unique part of the speaker design......

A third Ovator ? Would have been an idea, but they're just too damn big - screen would have to be on the ceiling ! Not to mention cost.

Otherwise, hmmmm, a centre speaker to match the Ovators..?..Something with a slowish and warm bass then....Do Arcam do a centre speaker...?!?

Steve.


lawoftrust - do you have any good AV & Naim dealers there in Germany ? PJ HiFi in the UK are just that - if anyone may have spent time trying to find a matching centre, it would be them....

SC

well, yes we have some good dealers here who do Naim +AV but they remain silent, as long as Naim does not officially make any statement.

Problem is that I no not want to have two completely separated systems (at least not now) and that I would just be curious to learn from Naim whether they have any intention in that direction or not (and of course a reliable time schedule).

But if they remain silent on this, I may consider other options.

Slowish bass by the way, not true, except when being compared with SL2/Allae, but they don't really have much to offer in that area...

quote:

Originally posted by lawoftrust:
well, yes we have some good dealers here who do Naim +AV but they remain silent, as long as Naim does not officially make any statement.

Oh I'm sure they will quickly venture an opinion if you show them your Euros or credit card...!

Euros might not help anymore in these times...

I talked to one dealer and he had no idea and told me that he hoped that Naim would come up with an option.

This puzzles me as when home cinema first started out a lot of people matched the centre and rears then all of a sudden it became rule of thumb to have all front speakers matching. I think there could be a chance of the standmount ovator so they might sell a single one you could sit on its side not ideal but might be a possibility.

Neill,

I think a matching front is a must-have when arranging a Home theatre.
I do not see the general issues to manufacture a matching centre. My fear is more that missing economic success of Axent, Axess and other HT Kit makes Naim very reluctant to go down this route again.

Georg

Don't laugh, but I use a Mission 751...

coz I had a dusty old pair in the loft, a bit of touch up paint and a custom stand to get the height right between my Hutters and hey presto a new centre.

Much better than the crappy satelite thing that came with my home theatre DVD player. As you can probably tell I'm mainly a 2 channel man, but for occasional DVD viewing it works reasonably well.

Dave,

do you have a picture of this set-up? Isn't there a heavy break in the presentation of the fron sound? What Rear Speakers do you use?

I would be perfectly happy if as a first step Naim would offer a smaller Center, e.g. with BMW and one sub-chassis.

Georg

quote:

Originally posted by DaveBk:
Don't laugh, but I use a Mission 751...

Respect...!

Just a thought have you tried contacting Naim to see if they have any N-cent's left might be another idea.

I just can't see Naim now making Home cinema kit of any type my own view is they are going on the success that apple has had and are going to trying and offer the highest quality of music reply only.

Anybody actually tried an n-cent with Ovators?

Some pictures as requested...



And a closeup of the customised stand to get the height correct...



I'm sure this falls well short of what a properly matched center could do, but it's OK for my occasional use. The rears are still the original Denon satelites, so the whole setup is extremely unbalalanced.

So here's a market-facing question:

Would you pay more for a center-channel Ovator (horizontal orientation of drivers), with stand?

How important are veneer finishes to your purchase of a center-channel loudspeaker?

Any space considerations or restrictions to consider (size, height)?

Anything else you'd like to see?

David,
I for myself would pay slightly more for a Center speaker matching the S600 than for a single S600 if that includes a stand of high aestethical value.
The veneer/Design should match the Ovator look.
Size is almost always an issue but form follows function and the size should allow to get à seamless front Sound though the look of an Axent should be avoided.

Would not the BMR by itself work OK as a centre? With the wide frequency range that it offers, is there the possibility of a BMR-only, compact centre that would not only be relatively inexpensive, but small and easy to integrate into most S-600 setups. Alternatively, the s-400 might make the basis of a great centre.

Dave

If that speaker is not shielded I daren't think what its doing to your kit.

Also, your Hutter is not sitting correctly on the HiFi base.

Julian

Hmmmm, shielding - must admit I'd not thought about that. The centre's only powered via the DVD player, so for critical 2 channel listening it's not on.

What's up with the hutters? the upper level spikes sit firmly on the 4 aluminium pads in the hifi base?

I am not technical but a magnet is a magnet all the time isn't it? A cone speaker uses both a magnet and an electromagnet AFAIK.

The Hutter spike should be seated in the centre indent.

We're sitting on a great big magnet all the time - compass always points north and all that. Stationary magnetic fields are not a problem, only moving/changing ones cause electrical interference.

Re Hutters - agreed it's not dead centre, but only a few mm out which seemed to be within the manufacturing tolerances of the rack so I gave up worrying about it.

quote:

Stationary magnetic fields are not a problem, only moving/changing ones cause electrical interference.

I bow to your greater knowledge. I wouldn't do it though.

quote:

Re Hutters - agreed it's not dead centre, but only a few mm out which seemed to be within the manufacturing tolerances of the rack so I gave up worrying about it.

Both mine sit perfectly withn all indents, thats why I mentioned it.

Next time I restack, I'll see if I can get them better centered. Thanks for the advice.