System Pics 2016

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo,  room size is about 4.5 mts x 4.3mts, acoustically the room works very well.

Helpful info. My room is almost identical dimensionally. I'm considering a pair, but was concerned the space might be a little small for them.

You will not be disappointed, I suggest have a home demo and then get out the American express card 

Picking up a pair of Electric Orange for a 10 day home trial the week of Oct. 17.

Very nice....enjoy

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo,  room size is about 4.5 mts x 4.3mts, acoustically the room works very well.

Helpful info. My room is almost identical dimensionally. I'm considering a pair, but was concerned the space might be a little small for them.

You will not be disappointed, I suggest have a home demo and then get out the American express card 

Picking up a pair of Electric Orange for a 10 day home trial the week of Oct. 17.

They should sound fabulous being driven by your 300DR. They did when I heard them on the end of that power-amp. 

MDS posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo,  room size is about 4.5 mts x 4.3mts, acoustically the room works very well.

Helpful info. My room is almost identical dimensionally. I'm considering a pair, but was concerned the space might be a little small for them.

You will not be disappointed, I suggest have a home demo and then get out the American express card 

Picking up a pair of Electric Orange for a 10 day home trial the week of Oct. 17.

They should sound fabulous being driven by your 300DR. They did when I heard them on the end of that power-amp. 

Totally agree MDS, when I heard Sopra2's on the end of the 300dr at the Bristol Show, I was blown away, absolutely fantastic combination.

Zipperheadbanjo,  you must update on how your demo goes....

Adam Zielinski posted:

I think we need to start a new thread 'Naim vs perfect fit socks'

I forgot to pull them up before taking the photo!

Lanesra posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

I think we need to start a new thread 'Naim vs perfect fit socks'

I forgot to pull them up before taking the photo!

 

Have you read that book 'The Joy of Socks'? Maybe the moderators need to establish a trigger warning system for those of a nervous disposition.

Lanesra posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

I think we need to start a new thread 'Naim vs perfect fit socks'

I forgot to pull them up before taking the photo!

 

Oh No! They perfectly reflect all the fatigue!

Gianluigi Mazzorana posted:

Lanesra posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

I think we need to start a new thread 'Naim vs perfect fit socks'

I forgot to pull them up before taking the photo!

 

 

Oh No! They perfectly reflect all the fatigue!

At least my socks didn't have holes!

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

You will not be disappointed, I suggest have a home demo and then get out the American express card 

Picking up a pair of Electric Orange for a 10 day home trial the week of Oct. 17.

Electric orange socks?  Perhaps I'm confused!

Lanesra posted:

Did the 6 monthly system strip-down and dusting earlier today.

Also, all my CD's are now ripped so there's a blatant gap in the full-with rack just begging to be filled with an XPS!

I take it the Mere cat under the telly was helping with the strip-down and dusting - he looks exhausted!

that must be a beautiful sounding(and looking) system, I have the Momentum 4's and have been very happy with them.

A couple of new arrivals made it seem appropriate to stick a photo here, and to try to cover up a total lack of photographic talent and the use of a smartphone by using an 'interesting' angle!

Brand new, and towards the last pair of Ovators S-400 made ('as recent as it gets', according to Keith at Naim).  I only got them yesterday, so they've less than 24 hours on them.  But looking forward to having a proper listen come the weekend.

Dave***t posted:

A couple of new arrivals made it seem appropriate to stick a photo here, and to try to cover up a total lack of photographic talent and the use of a smartphone by using an 'interesting' angle!

Brand new, and towards the last pair of Ovators S-400 made ('as recent as it gets', according to Keith at Naim).  I only got them yesterday, so they've less than 24 hours on them.  But looking forward to having a proper listen come the weekend.

Dave

Well done - welcome to the S-400's owners club
A side note on running in Ovators - they take absolute ages to come on song. Mine continued improving for 3-4 months.
After that I had to re-position them twice to find the best spot.

If you are running Ovators, getting an Ovators speaker connector is something worth doing (if you don't have one already).

Adam

Use say the Ovators, look rather nice, happy listening.... 

wenger2015 posted:

Use say the Ovators, look rather nice, happy listening.... 

Sorry, was supposed to say, the Ovators look rather nice, happy listening... 

Thanks for the welcome, Adam.  Clearly a community of impeccable taste and discernment.

Yeah, I've read the tales about endless run-in, but I'm happy enough to let them run their course.  I've put them in what seems like it should be roughly the right place, given the limitations of my room, and I'll try tweaking it a bit once they've got 150 or so hours on them.  Seems pointless to be too picky about it before then, despite the obvious new toy syndrome.  The spike protectors can stay in place until then, too.

They came with Ovator plugs.  At the moment it looks like I might be moving in a few months' time, so I'll leave the standard Naim plugs in place for the time being.  New room might mean new speaker cable, so I figure it'll be a nice little extra boost to get the proper Ovator plugs fitted once I know what the setup will be.

Thanks, Wenger.  Given the other photos of Naim's cherry finish I've seen in the past, they're a lot more red in person than I thought they would be.  But I actually quite like it.

Eloise posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

You will not be disappointed, I suggest have a home demo and then get out the American express card 

Picking up a pair of Electric Orange for a 10 day home trial the week of Oct. 17.

Electric orange socks?  Perhaps I'm confused!

hmmmmm perhaps some electric orange socks should be purchased to make the speakers feel at home.

In the event the post wasn't intended tongue in cheek... electric orange refers to the finish of the Sopras I will be getting on home demo.

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

Eloise posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Zipperheadbanjo posted:

You will not be disappointed, I suggest have a home demo and then get out the American express card 

Picking up a pair of Electric Orange for a 10 day home trial the week of Oct. 17.

Electric orange socks?  Perhaps I'm confused!

hmmmmm perhaps some electric orange socks should be purchased to make the speakers feel at home.

In the event the post wasn't intended tongue in cheek... electric orange refers to the finish of the Sopras I will be getting on home demo.

Yes, I contemplated electric orange but finished up with the black, I think they would have been my second choice.... That said they do look good...definitely need the socks to go with them

Dave***t posted:

A couple of new arrivals made it seem appropriate to stick a photo here, and to try to cover up a total lack of photographic talent and the use of a smartphone by using an 'interesting' angle!

Brand new, and towards the last pair of Ovators S-400 made ('as recent as it gets', according to Keith at Naim).  I only got them yesterday, so they've less than 24 hours on them.  But looking forward to having a proper listen come the weekend.

 

They look really super, even in the cherry finish. I thought about trying them a couple of times last year they are simply too big, and then I chanced upon the SL2s, which fit much better. Do you find the Ovators to be any better than the SBLs?

Dave***t posted:

A couple of new arrivals made it seem appropriate to stick a photo here, and to try to cover up a total lack of photographic talent and the use of a smartphone by using an 'interesting' angle!

Brand new, and towards the last pair of Ovators S-400 made ('as recent as it gets', according to Keith at Naim).  I only got them yesterday, so they've less than 24 hours on them.  But looking forward to having a proper listen come the weekend.

Hi

These Ovators look beautiful and quite neutral which I personally like. I consider a pair of s/h Ovators since they look also very kids-proof.

By the way, that Zeus-eats-his-children replica, is that to keep everybody < 12 yrs old away from the stuff? Protectionary measure?

Love that, will do similar.

"Saturn Devouring His Son" by Goya. Awesome!

ChrisH posted:

I've been thinking about changing my speakers for a while and finally decided to ask my dealer to organise a demo in store of the PMC 25.23's with a system as close to mine that they could get.

They had to order the speakers from PMC as they didn't have any in. Anyway, got a call last week to say that they were in and wouldn't I rather just take them straight home to demo at home. No pressure to buy them or even give them back in a hurry, in fact I would do them a favour running them in.

Great service as usual, thanks Music Matters in Stratford on Avon!

So here is the before and the after:

3 days in and I'm absolutely loving the sound. Even my wife has commented how much better they sound. Beautiful finish and engineering too.

The bass is super clear and the mids/highs very open and detailed.

Its a cliche I know, but I'm hearing things in tracks that I've never heard before. Superb! 

Think its going to be a no brainer decision.

The deal for the new speakers is now done, and I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

Consequently I've been a bit absent from the forum lately, too much listening to do !

Cheers gents.  And hooray for someone spotting the picture.  One of my favourite pieces of art, alongside the David piece from which my avatar was clipped.  Significant personal attachment to both.  Children would have had to get past prints of Dore's Grim Reaper atop a barren planet from The Raven and La Pendaison by Jaques Callot (which I call Strange Fruit, which has a nice musical as well as personal reference).  So if they hadn't already be deterred by the time they saw Saturn, I'd say they deserved to have a look at the stereo.  Fortunately, I don't have kids!  But the Ovators do seem quite well designed from that perspective.

HH, it's early days for a proper comparison, as I'm pretty sure I've only had ephemeral flashes of what the Ovators can really do.  But yes, I think I do prefer them.  SBLs can be a bit shouty (at least in my room) at some frequencies around the high vocal-ish band, and these big red things aren't.  Maybe it's the crossover frequency thing, maybe not, but it seems better whatever it is.  And although the S-400s haven't so far produced quite the bass extension the SBLs could manage sometimes, the sound in general is thicker, without being slow.  Which I enjoy.  And the 'hifi' stuff like soundstage is more present, which again I like.

Really, I think I pretty much agree with Mark430's excellent post from a couple of years ago here.  SBLs are great, especially with vinyl.  I'm not rushing to sell mine in case I can find a use for them in future.  But for my (largely digital, modern) tastes, I think the S-400s are quite a lot better.  They're big - probably a bit too imposing in my room really, and I could easily see why some might be put off by that.  But I think I'm going to get along with them just fine.

That is another rack I really like - what is it - I didn't see it in your profile.

DrMark posted:

That is another rack I really like - what is it - I didn't see it in your profile.

They are custom size solid oak Hi-Fi Racks Limited Podium Reference with additional isolation plinths where required.

I required a rack that was custom size so I could partially fit them into the alcove.

Also, they have a very high WAF!

John Burrow posted:

that must be a beautiful sounding(and looking) system, I have the Momentum 4's and have been very happy with them.

Thanks. It does sound fantastic.

The Neats are great speakers and their finish matches the rack very well.