Old buffer returns to his roots

Hi,

You need a budget and a good dealer. Naim still do a good radio if you fancy FM. And who wouldn't?

Chris

Welcome back to hi-fi and music !!
I'm possibly the other way round - I haven't had any Amateur radio kit for over 30 years! I still have the call sign though 

Hi Ham.  I returned to my hi fi roots too, almost 5 years ago at this point!  I always loved listening to music, and started to build up an iTunes library (mp3's ok for the car). . . but I wanted and could afford a "real hi fi" in the home.  My very first decision was that there would be no physical media involved; my wife and I had no desire for cd's or records in the living room (parlor), and I wanted what I perceived as the convenience of an iDevice controller.  I first listened to some McIntosh and Soolos at one local shop.  Then visited another local shop and the sales guy mentioned Naim.  I listened a little, came home, did some Googling, found this crazy forum, and went with Naim.  Spent way more to start than I dreamed I would . . . and upgraded several pieces since then.

My best advice is to take some time to listen to the various options if you can.  I do now own a Qute2 and a NAP 100 as my 'second system.'  In my little man-cave loft space it does sound fantastic with some quite small Dynaudio stand-mount speakers.  For a bigger space and bigger speakers, please listen up the ladder if you can and if its in your budget; N172XS with NAP200 perhaps.  And maybe a SuperUniti if you want just one box.  And buying ex-demo or used can really save you money.  (But I would NOT spend time at the local shop listening and having them set up stuff just so you can go buy used kit elsewhere; if your local dealer helps you out, support them please!)

Good luck and welcome back!

Welcome back, I know from personal experience how exciting it is to come back after a long break.  I came back a couple of years ago after a very long break and have been very lucky in finding my way to a system I love.  My only advice would be to find a really good dealer who is willing to let you listen to kit both in the shop and at home and to then listen real hard before you buy.  There are a lot of options around and you will save yourself some money if you take your time and listen before you splash the cash.  Since I came back I've moved from Unitiqute 2 with small speakers to Unitiqute 2 with better speakers to Unitiqute 2 with Nap100 and better speakers to Unitqute with Chord Hugo and Nap100 with same speakers to same with Supernait 2 to my current set up.  I'd have saved a lot of money if I had spent some time listening the alternatives 

Radioham1951 posted:

Old Cyrus 1 and Mordaunt Short Pageant 2 speakers will not be what I now want (were good back in the day) but I will give them a fair hearing with the newly sorted Linn to get my "ear" in.

The Pageant 2s do a lot of things right. A friend had a pair and his system would always sound so right with a presence and magic in the midrange that I couldn't find elsewhere. A few years ago, I found a second-hand set, which I then updated by rebuilding the crossover with better quality components than the originals (i.e, air coils instead of ferrite cored coils) and by replacing the speaker terminals.  This gave a lot more clarity and impact. The 8" mid-woofer of the Pageants is a very good driver that showed me the advantages of this size of driver compared to the 5" or 6" units that most two-ways speakers have. Once experienced, it's difficult to go back to a smaller driver because they tend to sound a bit congested. 

If you like what they do, you might consider updating the crossover and hanging on to them. 

Jan

You will need a good dealer to guide you through the options also one that can service your Linn turntable and advise the most suitable route to take within a given budget plus upgrade route.

The bass drivers in the original iteration of the SBL were, of course, made by Mordaunt Short. I always fancied some Pageants, back in the day, but never got any. There was also the Carnival and Festival, if I recall correctly. 

As others have said, you need to set a budget and find a helpful dealer. All I'd say is that if you are already thinking of adding to a Qute, I'd go straight to a better setup straightaway if it's affordable. Decide if you want all-in-one simplicity, or flexibility. And don't forget that if you go for a 172, or even 272, you can order it with an excellent FM module for the princely sum of £300.

And as others have said, it might be helpful to know whereabouts you are based. 

Yup, the M-S Pageants may look bluff and old fashioned but they were a popular combination with Naim amps back in the day, so provided driver and crossover were still serviceable they would still still work pretty well today.  

Anyone else care to join me in a wish for a Bank Holiday N272 endorsment moratorium?

Chris

Mrs NewNaim16 and myself both have Amateur Radio licenses too, although we haven't used the equipment for years. We're in a similar situation having just migrated from old Linn to new Naim. We went to our excellent dealer and said we'd like a demo of a SuperUniti but ended up purchasing a NAC-N 272 preamplifier, plus NAP 250-DR amplifier and are delighted - oops now I've been and done it, I shouldn't have mentioned the 272 ;-)

Where we live, good FM radio is not an option due to geography and trees but streaming radio is much more convenient than satellite radio that we were using.

Doing away with so many switches and remote controls, together with a significant upgrade in sound quality was well worth the investment. Rather than a UnitiServe, we chose to stream our ripped CDs from a Mac Mini. Our Linn Keilidh speakers (connected via Tellurium Q Black cable) have never sounded so good but non-the less, are next to be replaced. 

Christopher_M posted:

Anyone else care to join me in a wish for a Bank Holiday N272 endorsment moratorium?

Chris

Would you prefer Hugo discussion? 

Done the same four times over thirty years ,always pulls you back,very proud to own the system l have now ie 500 system with passive s600 speakers,could still go further up the Naim ladder but it has to end sometime,l have to eat.

Thanks for all comments,nice to see a few radio amateurs out there too.

We are living with our daughter at the moment ,completion on our new place is a few weeks away (we sold in 12 hrs,a total surprise to us as we lived in a quirky property up a very rough track!) We will still be living on the Staffs/Cheshire border after the move but not 1000ft up as previously. 

I have lots to think about on the hi fi front,as always there is no "absolutely right" solution ,this forum is very useful and I hope to post later as ideas crystalise .

In truth we need to be in our new home first I suppose and I doubt I will actually purchase anything till after the North West show at Cranage Hall which will be my first show since I heard a fabulous tri amp system,from Quantum I think at a show in Preston 30 or more years ago .I was just blown away by that one and have never forgotten it.

I used to supply industrial fasteners and had the pleasure of supplying Crimson (super systems too) with small machine screws etc when they were in Fenton nr Stoke ,I was offered one of their demo systems by a contact there but 2 kids,mortgage working 14 hrs a day meant I did not follow up the offer .Then along came amateur radio and the rest is history along with £1000,s of spending on totally different super amps a couple of those will be sold to aid my wallet as this particular bug bites again.

Thanks to all