Focal Sopra 3

Fraim Lite? good enough for an NDS feeding a Statement it seems or just good enough for a show? Maybe they got fed up with chasing balls around.

If You look closely, You'll see that the NDS - and the 555PS are on Fraims - due to logistic reasons - same finish!!!! - we had to insert a couple of Fraimlites in between - the HDX in the middle only serves as UpNp client - and NO!! - the man in the picture is Naims own Mark Raggett dressing up the Super Lumina's

Stenberg posted:

If You look closely, You'll see that the NDS - and the 555PS are on Fraims - due to logistic reasons - same finish!!!! - we had to insert a couple of Fraimlites in between - the HDX in the middle only serves as UpNp client - and NO!! - the man in the picture is Naims own Mark Raggett dressing up the Super Lumina's

 

it's all good, Naim clearly states that the Fraimlite can be upgraded to the reference Fraim!  Meaning that the difference is clearly added isolation bought on by the cups, balls, & Glass. Now surely there's are subtle differences between the Fraim & Fraimlite, but I doubt  if one would be put on front street to A-B the differences.  In fact the insertions you made for logical reasons, didn't take anything away from the System! 

Fraimlite + Cups, Glass, & Balls = Fraim   

However, the Fraim is a little neater with groved out sections for cups, Naim just puts it all together for a nice price! 

Just my two cents!

Allante93!  

Regards.

Bobby.

Good photos, Bobby.  Looks like Russ Andrews power-block there. And no Powerlines!?

MDS posted:

Good photos, Bobby.  Looks like Russ Andrews power-block there. And no Powerlines!?

+2 Real Nice Pictures, wish I was there! 

Brilliant pics.The 3 s do look bigger.Nice to see the Vertere turntable being used.I bet it sounded wicked with the rest of the system.

Thanks for posting

Brilliant pictures Bobby, thank you.  Interesting to see Vertere cables being used rather than Naim Super Lumina, even with Statement.

Oh, and re the tonearm, much as I wish that my SG-1 tonearm was the same as the one in your last photo, mine (see below) is an SG-1.  The one in your photo is Vertere's Reference tonearm.  They look fairly similar but have a slight price difference of about £25,000 ...

Best regards, FT

Lovin those Sopra'3, they look very impressive 

Thanks Bobby, excellent pictures. We would have loved to have been there to hear the whole system. 

I must admit they were smaller than I thought they would be.

The Vertere looks stunning as ever and I can understand why they use Vertere Reference cable, I have it throughout my vinyl section.

Regards

PB

Foot tapper posted:

Brilliant pictures Bobby, thank you.  Interesting to see Vertere cables being used rather than Naim Super Lumina, even with Statement.

Oh, and re the tonearm, much as I wish that my SG-1 tonearm was the same as the one in your last photo, mine (see below) is an SG-1.  The one in your photo is Vertere's Reference tonearm.  They look fairly similar but have a slight price difference of about £25,000 ...

Best regards, FT

Hi FT,

Thanks for the correction.

£25,000's difference between the SG-1 & Reference arms?! LAWD 'A' MERCY!

I noticed you're using the Vertere MG-1 turntable & SG-1 arm. What adjectives would you ascribe to them when you compare them to other analogue front-ends you've used or heard?

Have tried to arrange an audition to hear one but, so far, in vain.

I'm tempted by the Clearaudio Innovation. If only because it's one of the few that can accommodate multiple tonearms - including linear tracking arms & play my '78's.

Regards.

Bobby.

The Vertere is simply the best analogue front end I have heard, possibly even the best front end. We spent some time at the Windsor show listening to it. Ok it was thought Bryston amps and PMC speakers, but you can't put the clarity and musicality into words. We saw a room full of audiophiles sit there in sheer disbelief and many comments of that system was truly unbelievable.

You must get an audition if you are serious about vinyl, you won't hear anything better. I have heard the lower priced TT and it has all the qualities of the top end deck and dare I say it, it does outperform my fully loaded TMS 3.

Regards

PB

Bobby72 posted:

Hi FT,

Thanks for the correction.

£25,000's difference between the SG-1 & Reference arms?! LAWD 'A' MERCY!

I noticed you're using the Vertere MG-1 turntable & SG-1 arm. What adjectives would you ascribe to them when you compare them to other analogue front-ends you've used or heard?

...

 

Regards.

Bobby.

Hi Strat, I hope you don't mind this brief tangent from the Sopra 3 on your thread, so one reply to Bobby if I may.

Hi Bobby, 

Lawd a mercy indeed.  Last time I looked, the Reference arm was over £27k, including fitting by Touraj himself.  The SG-1 was about £1,800 + cables, so even more affordable.

The Vertere website lists a small number of UK dealers, with Tom Tom possibly being one of the more convenient ones for you in London.  A very good alternative would be to drop a line to Touraj himself at the factory.  It's in west London, just off the A4.  He was more than happy to demonstrate it to me.

My comments after living with the turntable for a month or so, having switched to it from a high specification Roksan Xerxes 20+ with upgrade plinth and Roksan Artemiz 2 tonearm:
"After spending 6 years with a Xerxes, how does it sound?
I think that it's really very good indeed. The Xerxes 20+ was certainly no slouch, yet in comparison, music has such life and vitality.

It seems somehow inadequate to talk in hifi terms such as resolution, timing, pitch stability, transparency, imaging and dynamics.
To these ears, the MG-1 is a step or two on from the maxed out Xerxes in all these respects, yet that doesn't seem to matter.
What does matter is that music simply sounds more real and convincing.

It's as though I went to the record store and ordered new recordings of albums that I love, except that this time, all the musicians woke up in a good mood and decided to play better and more together than they ever managed before."

I have previously owned 2 Linn LP12s and enjoyed both (the second one was replaced by the Xerxes), as well as having auditioned turntables from Nottingham Analogue, SME, Avid, Michell, Rega and a couple of other makes.  However, the MG-1 does everything I would like a turntable to do and is my destination turntable.  It's a keeper.  Here, on its wall shelf at home, playing a Tedeschi Trucks Band album:

Best not to take my word for it though; the auditioning is part of the fun!

Best regards, FT

Thanks FT.

I ought to have mentioned that Touraj arrived for the second listening-session to hear his Vertere kit with the Statement amps & Sopra No. 3's, just as i was talking with the dealer before leaving.

Should have availed myself of the opportunity to ask him.

Getting back to the Sopra No. 3's. It was reassuring to learn that the cabinets of the Sopra(& Utopia III) ranges are made from a far more inert Hardwood(densely grained Walnut) HDF & MDF composite. As opposed to the more commonly used(& more resonant) Softwood MDF.

BTW.  Regards talk of an update to Naim's range of streamers. It was mentioned that Naim are indeed working on a Statement level streamer.

Regards.

Bobby.

now I got my 300DR well I might  have my Sopra 2's gone for some what I wanted from the get Sopra 3's to replace them. 2 weeks after I got them it was announced that these were being released

greekspec2 posted:

now I got my 300DR well I might  have my Sopra 2's gone for some what I wanted from the get Sopra 3's to replace them. 2 weeks after I got them it was announced that these were being released

Also known as: The Law of Sod!

Coming in at just shy of £16,000- i'm not sure they're better value than the No. 2's.

Regards.

Bobby.

Value has nothing to do with this hobby! If it's performance you want, you gotta pay.

badlands posted:

Value has nothing to do with this hobby! If it's performance you want, you gotta pay.

exactly...that's why I own AMG Mercedes instead of standard models. Back on topic why do you think I won't gain much with the Sopra 3 over my current

Hi Greekspec,

If you are now lucky enough to have a 272/300DR amplifier, you might then like to ask your dealer to show you what an external power supply can do for you on the 272 (XPS-DR or 555PSDR).  It would be even better if the dealer can demonstrate this with your prospective pair of Sopra 3 speakers, though the Sopra 2 should be easily up to the job of highlighting the improvement.

You might even end up with a 272/555PS/300DR & Sopra 3!

At this calibre of equipment though, please do make sure that you audition before changing anything, as it is so easy to upset the balance of a well set up system.

Happy hunting!  FT 

I heard the Sopra 3s with Statement 2 weeks ago, the day before the first show in  London. Was it good yes very good in terms of resolution, speed, clarity, dynamics. It was much better than when I heard it last year at Naim with one of the older top of the line vocal speakers. At that time I felt the Vocal speakers did the Staement a huge disservice, the voicing is in my ears terrible. When I came back to my own active Naim Audiovector  sr6 setup, I was not that disappointed, I actually found that my setup is more coherent in a way. I would really like to hear Statement with Audiovector sr6 or r11 speakers, I think this would be a fantastic system. Maybe the Sopra 4 speaker will be the one that convinces me about a Naim/vocal synergy.    

Claus

I wasn't impressed with the Sopras at the Brighton Statement evening. Though they're an improvement on what went before, they still have a rather wooly bass for my liking...

Foot tapper posted:

Hi Greekspec,

If you are now lucky enough to have a 272/300DR amplifier, you might then like to ask your dealer to show you what an external power supply can do for you on the 272 (XPS-DR or 555PSDR).  It would be even better if the dealer can demonstrate this with your prospective pair of Sopra 3 speakers, though the Sopra 2 should be easily up to the job of highlighting the improvement.

You might even end up with a 272/555PS/300DR & Sopra 3!

At this calibre of equipment though, please do make sure that you audition before changing anything, as it is so easy to upset the balance of a well set up system.

 

Happy hunting!  FT 

I've been holding off on a PS purchase because I'm waiting to see if Naim releases a N372 or new pre-amp streamer with seperate PS