Replaced Olive 250 with pair of Olive 135s......WOW!

A superb upgrade I once had a pair of 135's many moons ago and they were just superb on the end of a 52 driving Linn Isobariks - the sale of that system still haunts me. I wonder why Naim never carried the mono block concept forward into the black box line? 

In a word.... "Progress".... I guess...that seems to be the cover word for a multitude of poorly thought out decisions in general   But yes, I agree that the 135s are excellent"....Ooooops...I can feel a Six Pack coming on....and it's definitely not going to be anywhere near my abdomen!!! 

Yetizone posted:

A superb upgrade I once had a pair of 135's many moons ago and they were just superb on the end of a 52 driving Linn Isobariks - the sale of that system still haunts me. I wonder why Naim never carried the mono block concept forward into the black box line? 

Likely, they found a two box amp was better to put the power supply in one box and the brains in another.  Also they preferred short interconnects and longer speaker cables.

Andyzeg, brilliant move and likely the best sound per dollar/pound available.  The 135's are legendary.  

Charlie

Great stuff Andy, wonderful amps for a great pair of speakers!

Foot tapper posted:

Great stuff Andy, wonderful amps for a great pair of speakers!

Curiously, that was just what I was thinking. Don't know why, but it kind of rings a bell.

Did the same thing myself earlier this year (my enthusiasm in my earlier post is similar to yours). I was expecting a kind of king-size 250 performance but the sound is in a completely different league.  I now have an almost maxed out LP12 (Kandid replaces an Akiva this month) through a maxed out passive Olive system and it sounds fantastic!  The 135's are, as you say, now unbelievable value.

Andyzeg posted:

In a word.... "Progress".... I guess...that seems to be the cover word for a multitude of poorly thought out decisions in general   But yes, I agree that the 135s are excellent"....Ooooops...I can feel a Six Pack coming on....and it's definitely not going to be anywhere near my abdomen!!! 

They are truly remarkable amps. Had mine for the best part of 25 years. My mistake was to listen to  500...and the rest is history, as they say. A bit like the jump you've just experienced but even better. I've had a six pack and can tell you that a 500 will leave it in its wake!

Hmmm? So is it a sensible thing to sell my house in order to buy a Nap 500.....I think so! Does anyone know the acoustic properties of a tent by any chance??? Haha....only joking...I would love a Nap 500.....but one step at a time....maybe I'll by-pass the six pack and go straight for the jugular...who knows? Aaaah...dreaming again..... 

135's.... congrats! Better in many ways than the 300 IMO. Simply wondefully engaging.

Andyzeg posted:

In a word.... "Progress".... I guess...that seems to be the cover word for a multitude of poorly thought out decisions in general   But yes, I agree that the 135s are excellent"....Ooooops...I can feel a Six Pack coming on....and it's definitely not going to be anywhere near my abdomen!!! 

Why not, life is short, Activate those NBL's!

BTW, nice car!

If you can give Grace Jones a spin on your system, I think you will love it!  

I know my Tri Amped Briks really shows off with this 2015 remastered 96/24 release!

282/HCDR/3 x 250.2/Fraimlite!

Slave to the rhythm!

Allante93!

You just need the other 4  x 135's and the crossover now 

Andyzeg posted:

Hmmm? So is it a sensible thing to sell my house in order to buy a Nap 500.....I think so! Does anyone know the acoustic properties of a tent by any chance??? Haha....only joking...I would love a Nap 500.....but one step at a time....maybe I'll by-pass the six pack and go straight for the jugular...who knows? Aaaah...dreaming again..... 

Not a tent, try a poly-tunnel, much more transparent! 

blythe posted:

You just need the other 4  x 135's and the crossover now 

Don't forget the Olive SC to power the Snaxo 3-6!

I am very happy with my factory specially aligned 6pack of 135s into DBLs. 

Better with SC-DR for the snaxo362

Another convert to 135s here. Have had 252/300/SL2 in the past, but am happier with my 52/135s driving my shahinian Obelisks.

Pedro posted:

Another convert to 135s here. Have had 252/300/SL2 in the past, but am happier with my 52/135s driving my shahinian Obelisks.

That's interesting as I have flirted with the vague idea of moving to a 300 at some point.  How would you compare the benefits of the 135 set up against the 252/300?

jon honeyball posted:

Better with SC-DR for the snaxo362

Did you move from Non DR SC to the DR version or from HiCap Jon? If the former, how big an improvement was DR over Non DR SC?

bluedog posted:

Pedro posted:

Another convert to 135s here. Have had 252/300/SL2 in the past, but am happier with my 52/135s driving my shahinian Obelisks.

That's interesting as I have flirted with the vague idea of moving to a 300 at some point.  How would you compare the benefits of the 135 set up against the 252/300?

Hi Bluedog,

My experience to date with NAP300 vs NAP135 is that the 300 is calmer & clearer with a quieter background and deeper resolution.  

The 135s seem to have more "balls", grunt or attitude to describe it in emotional terms.  Another way to put it would be to say that the 135s have more drive, control and vice-like grip on the bass drivers, so music seems to sound more alive.

Ultimately, I prefer my 135s over a NAP300 in my system.

But then Naim went and ruined everything by launching the NAP300DR.  It's just a much better amplifier than either a NAP300 or a pair of 135s, full-stop.  It has all the strengths of both predecessors, then adds more effortless musical engagement on top.  Damn.  The wallet's quaking.

I would be interested to learn of others' impressions too.

Best regards, FT

Hi FT

Thanks for sharing - that's very interesting and confirms my instinct that I would have to go some way up the chain to beat the performance of the 135's; in the context of the 52/SC/135 set up the whole thing just sounds right and seems to produce very musical and, as you say, controlled performance. The 135's have certainly significantly improved the performance of my Kudos Super 20's in my own room.

I'm sure a Dr'd 552/552PS/300DR would take it to another level but I'm not about to invest c. £17k (on s/h uprated and serviced prices) any time soon.  On reflection the top line passive Olive system (assuming one can track down all of the components) is a snip at something around the £5k-ish mark, including servicing .

One thing I found when I moved from a 250 to a pair of 135s, was missing extreme low bass. But I have not heard anyone mention it on any threads here.

Fredster posted:

One thing I found when I moved from a 250 to a pair of 135s, was missing extreme low bass. But I have not heard anyone mention it on any threads here.

I wouldn't say the lower bass is missing but, yes, there is some sense that there is less bass than with the 250. I believe that is down to the less controlled way in which the 250 drives the speakers in that part of the frequency range.  The notes are "all there" with the 135's, just not emphasised in the same way as the 250. The result of the additional control from the 135's is that a lot more of the subtleties comes through in the way that the bass instruments are being played.

Marksnaim posted:

jon honeyball posted:

Better with SC-DR for the snaxo362

Did you move from Non DR SC to the DR version or from HiCap Jon? If the former, how big an improvement was DR over Non DR SC?

Significant on the Snaxo. I went from non DR SC to DR SC.  However, thats into snaxo362 into 6x135 into DBLs. Less revealing speakers might show less change? I dunno -- but it was most definitely worth it here. 

bluedog posted:

Hi FT

Thanks for sharing - that's very interesting and confirms my instinct that I would have to go some way up the chain to beat the performance of the 135's; in the context of the 52/SC/135 set up the whole thing just sounds right and seems to produce very musical and, as you say, controlled performance. The 135's have certainly significantly improved the performance of my Kudos Super 20's in my own room.

I'm sure a Dr'd 552/552PS/300DR would take it to another level but I'm not about to invest c. £17k (on s/h uprated and serviced prices) any time soon.  On reflection the top line passive Olive system (assuming one can track down all of the components) is a snip at something around the £5k-ish mark, including servicing .

I wish I could find a 52/SC/135/135 for 5K including servicing !

However for 7K one can buy 272/250 DR which includes the source.