System Pics 2016

Don't worry Zip, he'll come around in time...

The Sopra's do not come off as insanely large to my eyes. Distance from back wall will really be the limiting factor I bet. Good luck!

ATB,

Mark

My dealer says they would be perfectly suited for the room. He also says the best sound he's ever heard in hifi is 252 / 300 DR feeding the Sopra 2's so he may be biased.

I've got the dimensions and they have a only slightly larger footprint than the Proac D30's.. a couple of inches, wider, taller, deeper. The Proacs are currently 22 inches from the back wall and about 30 from the side walls. I think it could work.... LOL. Anyone else want to help me out with some rationalizations :-)

Sorry... didn't mean to hijack the thread... let's see some pictures folks.

Have you tried Ovators? The same footprint and size as Sopra No2. With Ovator S-400, you'd looking at 50% of the price of Sopra

How about that for rationalisation? 

Not a fan of Ovators

The Sopras are very big, and something like 22" deep, according to the Focal website. So with 15" or so behind them, the fronts will be three feet from the wall. So if your sofa is three feet deep, you will have six feet between the front of the sofa and the front of the speakers. You will indeed be one of those people with very large speakers in a small room. I'd think again. My room is about 12 feet wide, which is why I have these (apart from the fact that they sound wonderful of course)...

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

Not a fan of Ovators

OK

Kudos Super 20 then?

Adam Zielinski posted:

Have you tried Ovators? The same footprint and size as Sopra No2. With Ovator S-400, you'd looking at 50% of the price of Sopra

How about that for rationalisation? 

Well, if you think that the Ovator at 345mm deep is the same size as the Sopra at 540mm....... The Sopra is massive - it would be like having a couple of dustbins in the room. 

Minor details... I was trying to stop him from getting speakers which are way too big for that room

ZHB - your room is actually a bit larger than I thought it was.  The one house that I owned that I wished I could have stayed in forever had a fourth bedroom that was 14' x 16'.

And I agree with Nigel (hmm...that's twice in 2 days) that I would not want to be  6-7' from my speakers. And you already have killer (and not exactly small) speakers already.  So you asked for rationalizations, and I give you reverse rationalizations!

Well truthfully it's mostly just a case of speaker lust. Quite happy with what I have... unlikely Sopra II's will make an appearance anytime soon.

Here is my first attempt with pictures, hopefully all goes well!

There you go. Not completely happy with the sound to be honest, but that's a topic for a different thread. In any case, it looks great!

That looks very nice - it's the first time I've seen a stereo in the fireplace!

A song springs to mind... You know which one...

'Comon Baby light my fire...'

I'm sorry - I couldn't resist.

Hehe, old Belgian homes give you plenty of opportunities for "fireplace HiFi". That's also a main reason why I got the Fraimlite, since no decent AV furniture would fit or match there.

The Fraimlite would normally fit even deeper inside the fireplace, but there is a balanced transformer feeding the NAIMs squeezed back in there as well...

And of course a fireplace screensaver on the screen works a treat!

sihctr posted

The Fraimlite would normally fit even deeper inside the fireplace, but there is a balanced transformer feeding the NAIMs squeezed back in there as well...

Why are you running a ballanced transformer?

I`m well happy with the new to me set up.

That's great: a 'proper' Naim system, complete with Sound Factory Tripods and Mana too. I used to have a virtually identical setup, with a 250 rather than 135s, and bloody good it was too. 

Thanks it`s a system i heard at sound advice 25 years ago and never thought i would have!  I`m well happy .

I rather like using the fireplace as SIHCTR has - makes me wonder if I should have done the same, because quite frankly I don't see them as good for much else.

mason63 posted:

I`m well happy with the new to me set up.

Nice guitar too.

Regards,

Nick

Adam Zielinski posted:

sihctr posted

The Fraimlite would normally fit even deeper inside the fireplace, but there is a balanced transformer feeding the NAIMs squeezed back in there as well...

Why are you running a ballanced transformer?

In the past, I was wondering about the impact of noise in the mains and was curious if a filtered power-brick (for the non-NAIM components in the room) would help. In the course of the discussion a kind member of this forum made me an offer I could not decline... (on his used transformer). The rest is history.

To be honest I am not sure if the transformer itself makes a difference, as I didn't have any obvious mains issues (no humming etc.). However it does come with a filter and that seems to tone down the sparkle a little bit, which makes the sound a bit smoother and easier on my ears. So I keep it like that.

I had to enlarge the photo because with my ever diminishing eyesight I thought for a second the logo was that of a James Olson guitar...which would have led to a very serious discussion!  What kind is it Mason?

DrMark posted:

I rather like using the fireplace as SIHCTR has - makes me wonder if I should have done the same, because quite frankly I don't see them as good for much else.

The fireplaces over here are now purely for decoration, since Belgium has caught up with central heating. So it has to find some use!

Of course having no fireplace in the first place would probably help with music imaging and make my life easier regarding TV furniture etc. Such is life!

DrMark posted:

I had to enlarge the photo because with my ever diminishing eyesight I thought for a second the logo was that of a James Olson guitar...which would have led to a very serious discussion!  What kind is it Mason?

That is a guitar I rescued years ago , it was a carcass and I took great pride in rebuilding it, It is electric acoustic and sounds great but not when I`m playing it!

DrMark posted:

I rather like using the fireplace as SIHCTR has - makes me wonder if I should have done the same, because quite frankly I don't see them as good for much else.

DrMark,

What about using the fireplace for its original purpose? A coal or peat fire is great, although a bit of a pain to clean out afterwards!