The old and the not-so-recent marriage

Posted by: Salvo on 18 October 2015

Hi all,

since the beginning of my hifi time (40 or so years) I have been experimenting with different kits.

Now I am into vintage, and like the idea of marrying my NAP500 with an old dream of mine: the Technics SB-E100 Speakers.

I'd be interested in the Naimers toughts on this.

Best regards all.

salvo

Posted on: 18 October 2015 by winkyincanada

They look brilliant.

Posted on: 18 October 2015 by George F

This is probably more radical.

A 1960 [refurbished four years ago] ESL. there is no longer a second speaker, because I have rediscovered the musical communication of mono replay. The Naim part is DAC V1 and NAP 100, but only using one side of the power amp.

Stereo recordings are easily dealt with by summing to mono in the digital domain inside the USB connected MAC Mini.

The surprising thing is that this mono arrangement is far from feeling like a point source which any modern speaker [with small treble driver] would bring.

ATB from George

Posted on: 18 October 2015 by Sneaky SNAIC

Originally Posted by George Fredrik Fiske:

This is probably more radical.

Stereo recordings are easily dealt with by summing to mono in the digital domain inside the USB connected MAC Mini.

The surprising thing is that this mono arrangement is far from feeling like a point source which any modern speaker [with small treble driver] would bring.

ATB from George

Would be cool to hear The Beatles MONO vinyl release through it.

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Richard Dane

Salvo, those Technics Horns look like fun. Looking at the specs I can't see any particular alarm bells or technical problems matching with a NAP500. They're very efficient at 95dB/w so you may possibly get some quiescent noise and likely not much volume control travel on a digital source. The impedance is rated at 6 ohms which shouldn't be an issue it it's not too reactive a load - i.e. doesn't dip too far below 4 ohms in places.

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Christopher_M

Richard,

In this context, what does the Salvo's NAP500 offer over a 3W SET? Genuine question.

Chris

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Richard Dane

Chris,

as having been the owner of both a very low power SET amp and a NAP500 I guess I should be able to answer, but it's impossible to say without trying them out against one another on these speakers. I would imagine they would sound quite different. The SET amp sounded very sweet but also very loose at the low end and was very picky about what kind of music it worked best with - it was all about tone and textures rather than grip and rhythmic alacrity.

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Salvo

Thanks Richard,

now comes the hard part: finding a pair in good conditions.

salvo

Originally Posted by Richard Dane:

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Richard Dane

Salvo, your best bet is to look for some in Germany, USA or Japan. Oh, and prepare to be patient. And don't pass up a pair of SB-10000s if that's all that your search brings up...

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Salvo

Actually Dave,

that would be even better, also I will not refuse the SB-E500 which are extremely rare.

salvo

Originally Posted by Richard Dane:

Salvo, your best bet is to look for some in Germany, USA or Japan. Oh, and prepare to be patient. And don't pass up a pair of SB-10000s if that's all that your search brings up...

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Dev B

Originally Posted by Salvo:

Hi all,

since the beginning of my hifi time (40 or so years) I have been experimenting with different kits.

Now I am into vintage, and like the idea of marrying my NAP500 with an old dream of mine: the Technics SB-E100 Speakers.

I'd be interested in the Naimers toughts on this.

Best regards all.

salvo

Very nice speakers! Go for it.

Posted on: 19 October 2015 by Gianluigi Mazzorana

Originally Posted by Salvo:

Thanks Richard,

now comes the hard part: finding a pair in good conditions.

There's a pair in Venice. Looks in good conditions.

In HIFI SHARK website.