System Pics 2016

Efraim roots posted:

Special request to Gary 'Nait Defender' Yeowell. Man, you got to get yourself a great example of the original Nait! I got these five Naits and the original one is the magic one. This is coming from someone who has run Klimax LP12 with Nac 52 + Nap 110 and Linn Kan mk1 or IBL for years. That earlier Naits is better than the later ones seems to have some truth in it but I think it's only the very latest nait 1 that actually sounds different. These naits will have a different value power supply cap, same as in nait 2. At least that is what I have seen and heard. The best Nait of the lot was a green led original Nait, magic is the right word and it's pure as a pearl, but wicked!

 

Can't believe the moderators haven't intervened to remove this kind of blatant "Nait porn" from the forum!

That is some sexy stuff there, & tres cool - if you're in a giving mood I can provide my address!

Efraim roots posted:

Special request to Gary 'Nait Defender' Yeowell. Man, you got to get yourself a great example of the original Nait! I got these five Naits and the original one is the magic one. This is coming from someone who has run Klimax LP12 with Nac 52 + Nap 110 and Linn Kan mk1 or IBL for years. That earlier Naits is better than the later ones seems to have some truth in it but I think it's only the very latest nait 1 that actually sounds different. These naits will have a different value power supply cap, same as in nait 2. At least that is what I have seen and heard. The best Nait of the lot was a green led original Nait, magic is the right word and it's pure as a pearl, but wicked!

 

Nice vintage Naim but I'm interested in the wood mosaic panels. Are these bought or DIY?

Alba, the Nebula is an interesting little beast, lighter in the bass than the SN2, and maybe more open in the midrange. It is a very nice musical amp with a rather decent phono stage. It reminds me more of the early Naits, and has no problem driving the Shahinians. I have a feeling the Mosfet design, like the Dynavectors, mate well with the Shahinian.

Iconoclast posted:

Efraim roots posted:

Special request to Gary 'Nait Defender' Yeowell. Man, you got to get yourself a great example of the original Nait! I got these five Naits and the original one is the magic one. This is coming from someone who has run Klimax LP12 with Nac 52 + Nap 110 and Linn Kan mk1 or IBL for years. That earlier Naits is better than the later ones seems to have some truth in it but I think it's only the very latest nait 1 that actually sounds different. These naits will have a different value power supply cap, same as in nait 2. At least that is what I have seen and heard. The best Nait of the lot was a green led original Nait, magic is the right word and it's pure as a pearl, but wicked!

 

Nice vintage Naim but I'm interested in the wood mosaic panels. Are these bought or DIY?

Thanks for the replies everyone. The original Nait made me a Naim entusiast in the first place and when I connected my first Nait 1 back up in my new flat recently I was amazed all over again and I thought I had to find the best one. I have kept the best Nait 1 and best Nait 2. 

Regarding the wood mosaic panels, they were bought from BoConcept but it was a very limited supply for some reason, I think they will be very hard to find now a few years later. 

joerand posted:

rackkit posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Here is my beloved Qb in its new home. To celebrate, I've treated it to an AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cable, to go with its AudioQuest mains lead. It seems very happy, next to its friends, the tomatoes. They are locally grown and organic. Lovely. 

Liking that HH! 

Me too. Very appetizing photo! Miss those veggie tiles from the old kitchen though.

Very nice indeed! I'm thinking about getting one of these ' vibrant red'  covers as well 

The old (i.e. existing ...) system ...

I recall being criticised when I bought the NDX and DAC ... told that I would only see a benefit from the DAC when I added an XPs.

Well, that time has come ... only now I don't know whether to use it to power the NDX or the DAC.

And I've added a NAP 250DR, too.

I always told myself that the acquisition of the XPS would lead to the demise of the CD5x and FC2x ... but now ...?

Musicmad posted:

I recall being criticised when I bought the NDX and DAC ... told that I would only see a benefit from the DAC when I added an XPs.

Well, that time has come ... only now I don't know whether to use it to power the NDX or the DAC.

I always told myself that the acquisition of the XPS would lead to the demise of the CD5x and FC2x ... but now ...?

The XPS should power your DAC, not your NDX.

On paper, the above should comfortably outperform your CD player, which would be good, as getting rid of it would relieve the congestion on your rack...

joerand posted:

rackkit posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Here is my beloved Qb in its new home. To celebrate, I've treated it to an AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cable, to go with its AudioQuest mains lead. It seems very happy, next to its friends, the tomatoes. They are locally grown and organic. Lovely. 

Liking that HH! 

Me too. Very appetizing photo! Miss those veggie tiles from the old kitchen though.

The old kitchen lasted 21 years, so it was about time we had a new one. The Qb certainly sounds better on granite. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

For a second I thought you must have stabbed your QB in a fit of WiFi dropout rage.......then I noticed the patch cable! Nice kitchen.

ChrisSU posted:

Musicmad posted:

I recall being criticised when I bought the NDX and DAC ... told that I would only see a benefit from the DAC when I added an XPs.

Well, that time has come ... only now I don't know whether to use it to power the NDX or the DAC.

I always told myself that the acquisition of the XPS would lead to the demise of the CD5x and FC2x ... but now ...?

The XPS should power your DAC, not your NDX.

On paper, the above should comfortably outperform your CD player, which would be good, as getting rid of it would relieve the congestion on your rack...

Many thanks for the advice - I've been pondering this but query: what about the adage ... source first?  Also, others have suggested I get rid of the DAC as it is superfluous (I'm not inclined to do so!)

As for the NDX~DAC ... this easily surpasses the CD5x~FC2x (analogue out to SN).  As I hardly ever play a CD these days then these two boxes are superfluous ... almost.  There's just that odd occasion when I want to play a CD (e.g. the couple of CDs which didn't rip properly).

Experimentation time 

Mitch

I hope this works, I just created my flicker account.  I moved to Palm Springs area and this is the current set up tho I'm going to get new storage from IKEA instead of the cubes.

Palmer TT, ND5xs 555ps, Rega cap hidden

Herron Pre and mono amps

well doesn't work.  Been many years since I've done this

Another try, hope it's not too big in photo bucket 

yippee 

Now for living room and kitchen, this was an old 70s doublewide trailer on a golf course, I ripped everything out and opened it up.  It's very efficient , has to be with temps at 115. That means many hours inside and RadioParadise or vinyl playing

Mudwolf

You've done a great job out in the desert. Looks very comfy. And a nice combination of equipment as well. 

mudwolf posted:

Now for living room and kitchen, this was an old 70s doublewide trailer on a golf course, I ripped everything out and opened it up.  It's very efficient , has to be with temps at 115. That means many hours inside and RadioParadise or vinyl playing

Best looking double wide I've seen. On a golf course too?  Killer. 

That looks fantastic Glen, and most importantly I'm sure it sounds amazing, congratulations on a great conversion. 

Mudwolf,

How do you find the Herron amps? The Herron phono pre gets a lot of love on the forums...

Have you compared your kit  to Naim amps? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

ATB,

Mark

Makes me want to cash out my house for a similar double-wide! Really nice.

ChrisSU posted:

Musicmad posted:

I recall being criticised when I bought the NDX and DAC ... told that I would only see a benefit from the DAC when I added an XPs.

Well, that time has come ... only now I don't know whether to use it to power the NDX or the DAC.

I always told myself that the acquisition of the XPS would lead to the demise of the CD5x and FC2x ... but now ...?

The XPS should power your DAC, not your NDX.

On paper, the above should comfortably outperform your CD player, which would be good, as getting rid of it would relieve the congestion on your rack...

I'd argue that the NDX on its own should comfortably outperform your CD player, let alone the fact you have the DAC and soon a XPS, once you have there will be no context whatsoever, so unless you want to keep the CD player for other reasons, I'd ditch it

Although that is easy to say, I have a CDX2 which I very rarely use now I have an NDX but still like the idea of keeping the CDX2 (for now )

Blue.Dog posted:

Ryder. posted:

 

May I ask, how do you find the Roksan Caspian M2 integrated? Have you compared it with any Naim amplifiers other than the Uniqute 2, and what made you choose the Roksan? What are the distinct differences in house sound between the Roksan Caspian M2 and the Uniqute 2?

The reason I ask is I am still interested in getting a stylish and well-built integrated amp (despite failing to achieve this target every time).

Nice system by the way.

 

My apologies for the delayed response, but I've been away this weekend and never had a chance to check in.

 

I like the Caspian, it's a very capable amp indeed, a very 'open' sound and certainly packs a punch. I had a shortlist of a few amps including the Roksan K3 and Rega Elex-R which were more within my budget at the time, but finally settled on the M2. Plus, I got a few hundred quid off for an ex-demo unit, so it was win-win as far as I was concerned.

I only used the Qute's internal amp for a short while, mainly just to see what it could do. I have to say it's a very decent amp, but I felt it tended to run out of puff slightly at higher volumes - I guess the D20/Rs are partly to blame as they are not the most efficient speakers you can buy. Anyway, I bought the Qute primarily as a source so I'm not disappointed in the slightest.

 

I'm afraid I can't offer you any comparison between the M2 and other Naim amplification, simply because my exposure to Naim has been very limited up until now.

Before getting hooked to naim, i've enjoyed a caspian m2, together with the matching cd-player and pmc fb1i signature speakers. It's a great amp, but a bit more technical and analytical than the superuniti that took it's place. And you either like or hate the looks of the m2...

Thanks all for comments.  Varyat,   I had started with NAIM 92/90 in 2000, mainly bought 2nd hand and up to an olive 52/300 system, in a small 1 br apt in LA. Way too powerful.  I love the NAIM sound, very natural.   I  connected with a stereo guy down south of me 3yrs ago, used to work for Audience cables. Those he replaced first so now all Audience power, connectors and speaker cables, and the Herron TT Pre.  But year+ later the Pre amp was inserted and better than the LFD which is still I'm my closet.

When I moved out here I bought the mono amps and had him come set all of it up, he has much more tech knowledge and ears than I do.  The sound is warm and natural, and the open space living area music bounces all over.  Vinyl is an  incredible experience. I gave up trying to use digital files and back to CDs. So glad I didn't sell those off.

DrMark, I think this area is so great for retirement, for me it was triple my space and comfort.  Most trailers out here need lots of work to modernize but reasonable to buy.   1br condo in LA was nearly $800,000 being built near me , apts rent for $2000/mo.  This was a no brainer, I do pay extra for the green view.  This was all because of heavy Karma, not instant  as John sang, but a lifetime of work.

Birds of all types, butterflies, little lizards, and once in a while road runners with lizard in beak.  Hot summers with humidity now.

Oh I have to say the consignment shops are incredible here, that's where the Matisse painting came from and a steel/glass dining set. so only move with basic furniture and items, free yourself of a lifetime of knickknacks.  Simplify and enjoy. NIRVANA

I have to say if I had to downsize I'd be all for the shoebox Naim systems and love the pics of chrome bumper and olive units still being used, NAIM's synergy and balance is incredible.

Efraim roots posted:

 

 

The orignal Nait 1 just looks so right. Coupled with an LP12 and a pair of Kans (not forgetting the Sound Org table) ....