Sound stage

That is not a result one would expect.  This is where having a knowledgable dealer can be helpful.

How old are your boxes?  Perhaps one or more is overdue for recap service?  You can determine age from the serial number, using a chart on the Naim web site.  Amps and power supplies need service at about 10 years old.  Preamps by maybe 13 - 15 years.  

You may learn something by experimenting.  For example, take the Hicap out and power the 202 from the 200.  Substitute the older components (if you still have them) to see what you can learn.

Good luck,

Charlie

Thanks very much Charlie I will try that. 

Have you got the speakers in the same position from when you were  using the other last system ?    Maybe just a shift forward or backwards taking account of changes in tonality from "upgrading ". 

Put them a couple of inches forward.

There is a school of thought that says 'system synergy' is important with Naim gear. So your earlier XS Series system was nicely balanced, but mixing it up with a Classic series amp has upset the balance, particularly as you have broken the 'source first' rule at the same time. There is also the possibility that your room acoustics are a problem - if the 200 is pumping out deeper bass than your other amps, this could be exciting room resonances that would not have been so much in evidence with a lesser amp.

Now much of that is just speculation, of course, but playing around with speaker positioning, and other room acoustics tweaks, could be worth a try. A source upgrade might, as well, but I always feel a bit bad about suggesting that someone spends their way out of a problem, at least until all other avenues have been explored.  

davie - what exactly was you entire system before upgrading?  Did you have the HC then as well?

I think a CD5XS is a more than adequate source for this system - might not be the optimal "balanced" source, but punches above its weight and I doubt it would be the cause of the symptoms you describe.  (And I tend pretty strongly towards the "source first" camp, but only to a point.) 

However i think Chrissu's suggestion about the system interacting with the room acoustics may be at least part of the problem...as well as the possibility of needing a service on some units, hence my first question.  Toby's idea is a cost free experiment as well that may yield results.

After trying moving the speakers forward, also try a different seating position. For example what happens when you lean forward or perch on the front of your listening seat. If you've checked all cabling (phase etc) then just try a few variables position-wise. I would also try some NACA5 ..

Hi Folk's 

Sorry for not getting back sooner, going to sound like a right clip I have found the problem with my system I had the speaker cable  opposite phase. In my defence the banana plugs are red at one end of the cable and black at the other on the same cable. Sorter that out with help from people on the forum and Bob Surgenor from Neat speakers  (really nice guy ) thanks to you all.

It's odd - having speakers out of phase normally gives a very light bass. The main thing though, is that you have resolved the issue. I would strongly encourage you to get a napsc power supply to power the digital bits of the 202. I makes a significant difference and is normally added prior to adding a Hicap. You can often find them used for under £200.  

Hungryhalibut posted:

It's odd - having speakers out of phase normally gives a very light bass. 

Agreed. Something seems very odd. 

Assuming the speakers face approx forward towards the listening position (ie in conventional approx equilateral triangle arrangement) and normal sort of distance apart, out of phase would be expected to reduce bass due to cancelling - however with different positioning the in-phase counceivably could cause cancelling. Assuming normal layout (ie not requiring deliberate reversal of one speaker), it could be worth double-checking  by doing a continuity test on each cable to be sure the plugs havent been transposed on one: the equivalent terminal for each channel on the amp should be connected to the same equivalent terminal on each speaker (typically in both cases red on amp to red on speaker, regardless of cable or plug colours)

As the phasing issue is one of reducing bass by cancellation, the inference is that the greater bass you reported might actually be normal bass and you could have been conditioned to abnormally light bass before, making normal seem excessive...    (And if boomy then perhaps reassess speaker anl listening positions)

Just guessing here, but the OP might had both speakers wired out of phase (red to black and black to red). There will be no cancellations, as both channels are in phase with each other and the bass can get a different character.

Mulberry posted:

Just guessing here, but the OP might had both speakers wired out of phase (red to black and black to red). There will be no cancellations, as both channels are in phase with each other and the bass can get a different character.

Not convinced it would change the sound - it would just mean the speaker cones would move inwards on first part of waveform instead of outwards, or vice versa, so the sound wave would be, for example, rarefaction before compression rather than the other way round. 

Would positioning of the speakers too close to a wall behind them be a factor?