Naim S800 speakers coming soon!!

Many congratulations, Martin.  I suspect the S800s will have a rarity value in the years ahead and be regarded as something of a classic.  Trust you've got a nice big listening room to accommodate them though.

Mike 

Keep the DBL's for a while, they might be better than 800

Thanks Mike

Room is 8m x 12m so should be big enough I hope! It makes most speakers look a bit small but that isn't likely with these babies!

Martin

MartinEvs posted:

Thanks Mike

Room is 8m x 12m so should be big enough I hope! It makes most speakers look a bit small but that isn't likely with these babies!

Martin

That sounds plenty big enough. Bet you get a stunning sound-stage in that room.

MartinEvs posted:

Really excited as my new S800's are arriving this week. Couldn't test them at home as now discontinued of course but having spent 15 years with my DBL's I'm now looking forward to setting them up. I've got a passive system with NDS, 552DR & 500.

Will have to find a good home for my DBL's. Anyone have any bright ideas on where to advertise as they are a rather specialist and unusual?

Will report listening experience once 800's fully run in!

Cheers

Martin

You should love them. They will run-in over a few months and the bass really opens-out the and you get a lot more performance, but they actually start-off really good!

I think you will find they have all the strengths of the DBL in terms of scale and dynamic-handling, but they also image far better and have seamlessly smooth and very musical presentation.

Enjoy!

DB.

Presumably you've auditioned the 800s before investing in a pair? Speakers are a very personal thing and having heard 800s I've no desire to swop my DBLs for them. Still, you'll have no trouble selling your pair! Enjoy your new purchase.

Would love to hear 800's and DBL's but that's not likely to happen here in Southern California. I was able to actually see a pair of 800's at CES a couple years back (on my particular day the Statement was being played through Focal Utopias, 800's were the next day). I was impressed by their size, seriously big, and by the quality of their fit and finish. They were superbly built and, in that area, compared with the very best I've seen anywhere.

Enjoy 

Well not long to wait now, any suggestions on where/how to sell my DBL's?

BD, are you running passive or active and have you heard a comparison?

Thanks

Martin

Mine are run Active and I have had them for about three and a half years. Strangely enough my Dealer just sold another two Active pair a few weeks ago, so I think there are a few people getting the final stock.

I've not heard the Passive versions, so can't comment, but as you are powering them with a NAP500 I think they should work wonderfully.

I did compare the S800 against DBL at the time of purchase and for me it was clear the S800 did what I wanted and to my ears was an evolution onward in design and performance from the DBL, which should not be a surprise.

Let us know what you make of the change, as I think some of us will find it interesting.

DB.

DBLs had a production run of 17 years compared with 4 years for S800 which suggests that DBLs were a relatively good seller compared with the Ovators.

When deciding whether to buy s/h DBLs four years ago I had the DBLs and Ovator600s at home for a week to make the comparison. They have completely different sound signatures and to me the DBLs sounded the most natural compared with the rather "hi-fi ish " sounding  Ovators   (i .e. bright,clear but lacking emotional connection) so no contest really.

I don't know if the 800s have the same sound signature as the 600 but I'd have thought there are similarities so I'd caution against swapping DBLs for 800s without doing the comparison at home first. You may of course prefer them but it could be an expensive mistake.

Ovator S800 has some comparison of signature sound with the S600 but is in a different league of performance, to the extent it is a different speaker entirely.

I had people telling me I was making a 'big mistake' but it was the best HiFi decision I've made in a long time. I auditioned them at the factory against S600 and that was silly at they are so much better - then at home for a day on the way back from a Naim demo at a show to hear them in my room - they seem to work in a wide variety of rooms, from the feedback I've had on the two other pairs my Dealer has recently installed in very different rooms.

Unlike the DBL they will need to be into the room - mine are 70cm from the rear wall. They will work fine closer, but you begin to lose detail if you get too close to the wall. As much as I like the DBL, the S800 is so clearly better in all respects, apart from wall-placement, that if you have heard them first, liked what they did and have the space for them you can safely ignore all the negative and rather spiteful comments relating to your decision - it is your choice and it amazes that people can set-out to be so negative about a product.

DB.

Oh come on Gary, calm down! Speakers are very much a matter of taste and we all tend to get defensive over what we like.  I'm sure you'll agree that you really should listen to speakers at length before investing in a pair. Vive le difference!

Well, I certainly wouldn't (or more accurately couldn't) risk spending £30,000 on a pair of speakers I may or may not like in my own room. 

Wasn't being negative just a comment that coming from 15 years of DBLs the OP will find the Ovators have a very different sound signature. It's personal taste which you prefer but I guess the OP liked what he heard, assuming he's not buying blind. 

Jonn posted:

so I'd caution against swapping DBLs for 800s without doing the comparison at home first. You may of course prefer them but it could be an expensive mistake.

I suggested to let the DBL stay until further notice if he has stock room for them, no need to rush out selling - market for those are very limited and prices near a joke, maybe after some month's he is tired of the completely different signature, soundstage and maybe lack of involvement

Come on guys, don't diss a man's new speakers.  They haven't even arrived with him and some of these comments could well sow the seeds of doubt in his mind. Be of good spirit!

Its very interesting to hear everyones views and thanks MDS for the thoughts of not damaging my fun of new kit arriving! DB has been through the process and is someone who's talked a lot of sense over the years on this forum. I have made quite a few decisions over the years based on Simon Walkers recomendations (AudioT) - the problem for me is I find I can listen to something in a demo and really like it, but get it home and a few weeks or even months later find its not what I want to live with. So of course I still listen and compare things but I do also tend to take direction from people who I've learn't to respect opinions from through experience over quite a long time.

So I remain of very good spirit and looking forward to living with the 800's, I will not like them because I've paid for them but will give an honest review once they've settled in.

The DBL's will have to go, no one has suggested where is best to advertise them, any suggestions?

Many thanks again and I'll be back with first impressions over the weekend!

Cheers

Martin

The best place to advertise them is on Pink Fish. 

The 800s or the DBLs?

Very funny!!

MartinEvs posted:

Its very interesting to hear everyones views and thanks MDS for the thoughts of not damaging my fun of new kit arriving! DB has been through the process and is someone who's talked a lot of sense over the years on this forum. I have made quite a few decisions over the years based on Simon Walkers recomendations (AudioT) - the problem for me is I find I can listen to something in a demo and really like it, but get it home and a few weeks or even months later find its not what I want to live with. So of course I still listen and compare things but I do also tend to take direction from people who I've learn't to respect opinions from through experience over quite a long time.

So I remain of very good spirit and looking forward to living with the 800's, I will not like them because I've paid for them but will give an honest review once they've settled in.

The DBL's will have to go, no one has suggested where is best to advertise them, any suggestions?

Many thanks again and I'll be back with first impressions over the weekend!

Cheers

Martin

I really wouldn't worry Martin. If you did find out you couldn't settle with the 800s then you just change them for something else; as you rightly say it's difficult to form a true opinion about speakers without actually using them in your home system. Anyway, I'm of the opinion that if you stick with a set of high-quality speakers then after a while you get tuned into their sound and accept their strengths and shortcomings (they've all got them!), then it's difficult to go back again, should you be so inclined.

For my part, I've been on the SBL/SL2/DBL series of speakers, all active,  for so long I really can't adapt to different ones and I've no desire to. If we all liked the same hi-fi kit this here forum would be a rather deserted place, just the odd bit of tumbleweed bouncing past...

I own neither 800s nor DBLs and had only heard them at shows/events, until recently when I had a chance to hear them in domestic settings (although I use the term domestic loosely as both systems were dominant in the large and very large rooms they occupied). Both were driven in active mode. They are different, but both deliver a full-on and very realistic sound. Both are worthy, in my view, of having, and showing the benefits of, the very finest front end Naim equipment and would provide anybody with years of enjoyment into the future.

I came away from those 2 listening sessions with quite a clear picture of the differences between the 2 systems/speakers. And after the initial shock and disappointment of getting back to my (very humble) system started to think more about the things the 2 systems did so well (and what my system shared with them; although that might have been my way of rationalising the thought that I could never get to those levels of performance).

After thinking for a while it became apparent that at this level of performance (800 and DBL active) the similarities of the performance are more apparent than the differences, but in the short term and in listening sessions it is probably easier to focus on what is different.

800 and DBL both represent a fantastic choice of speaker. I could live with either, in the right room, which sadly my room is not.

Martin,

Do not worry they will be superb, I do not understand why there is any negative talk regarding this Upgrade, I have heard from a dealer who owns a pair of DBLs uses with a statement pre power that he tried the S800's and they are in a different league, better in all most all areas, equal to at least in the others. 

Have they arrived yet?

cheers

Richard

Hi Richard

Not arrived yet, they are keeping me in suspense for another few days, should be here on Wednesday next week! I'm so looking forward to them!

Cheers

Martin

RICHYH posted:

, I have heard from a dealer

Those people usually recommend whats available in their store, DBL is no longer so an easy comment I would take with a pinch of salt

Actually its not negative talk to recommend OP's older speakers to stay a bit longer just in case..