On the borderline of being a mullet – but it sounds really good!

varyat posted:

Marcusm,

Very happy and jealous of your Titans . They look fab .

Titans just have so much going for them- easy to move because of the box design, easy to place because of port design, benign load ( I have even used mine with a Nait2 to very good effect ! ) and above all, wonderfully balanced sound presentation. I have not heard the 808's, but I'm sure they are very special. 

Nicely done and enjoy ...a 552 would really .....

ATB,

Mark

Thank you Mark!

I never heard the T88 but have been told that the T808 is a big step up. I choose to believe that . Maybe you could do a home demo and tell me if it’s true  

I totally agree with you about that the Titans have a lot going for them. “On paper”, they are the perfect match for high-end Naim systems. My limited field studies shows the same result… 

Yes, I need a Fraim and a NAC552. I need to DR my NAP300 and I need to place my electronics in another position then in between the speakers. Some of these things may happen in the future but now I’m just enjoying the music 

/Marcus   

Great series.  Living in the US, I had never seen the Titans.   I have admired the posts praising them.  

You wife is a unique woman to have preferred them over the others.  Did she prefer the sound or something else about them?  I don't think they would fly at my house.

You might benefit from the Fraim system now that you have done everything else you can do.  It is not a small benefit.

MarcusM posted:

Hi Ryder!

Yes, I believe I listened to all available candidates and the Titan 808:s stood out as clearly the best ones to me in my system.

From the beginning I was looking at something like the Sopra no2 or B&W 803D3 but as I said before in this thread, they were not good enough for me to open my wallet. The Titans on the other hand… 

Yes, I think that they are quite special… 

It’s funny that you mention the clear plastic wrapping. I must just tell you a fun thing about that:

When I had just installed the speakers my 7 year old son comes home. He said “dad have your new speakers arrived?” I said “yes” and he answered “They are soooo cool”.

I felt very happy that he also liked them!

When he went to bed that night I removed the clear plastic wrapping.

When my son woke up the next day he looked at the speakers again and said “what have you done with your speakers dad, they don’t look as cool anymore”. 

Your friend with the Audio Physic Avantera do he use Naim electronics?

The reason that I ask is that I don’t at all perceived my Virgo 25 as “clean and clinical, rather characterless”. I thought that they were warm, forgiving to bad recordings, fun to listen to and with a big and airy soundstage…

Despite the side firing woofers they were actually quite placement friendly in my room.

When it comes to distributing the hifi budget I don’t know what to believe anymore. I been very impressed with the SL cables and with Chord Ethernet cables so my world have been turned upside down a bit. Earlier when I went from NDX to NDS I was very impressed and started to believe “source first”. Then I changed preamp and was impressed by that. I thought that maybe the poweramp doesn’t make such a big difference and then I compared NAP200, NAP250.2 and NAP300…

I think that the best thing is to get a very well balanced system that works well together and without any obvious weak link. The speakers is off course also very important, which my latest journey have shown me…

/Marcus

Hi Marcus,

Your son certainly has acumen. :-)

When I listened to my friend's setup (also many years ago), he had the Krell FPB and matching Krell pre on the Audio Physic Avantera. As of today, he now uses a Burmester 911 power amp and Krell Illusion with the Avantera.

On the remark about the Avantera being clean, clinical and characterless, I do think it's all relative. We actually compared the Harbeth 40.1 to the Avantera with the same electronics, in the same room. The Avantera did not have the warmth and organic bloom of the Harbeth 40.1. In comparison to the Harbeth, the Avantera sounded clean and clinical. If there is no benchmark,  I would say the Avantera tilts slightly to the warm side of things as it didn't sound lean or bright.

Yes, the side-firing woofers did not pose any problems in the room. It is just a mental thing that keeps playing in my head. The Avanteras did sound good but they didn't connect to me at the time I listened to them. Perhaps they sound better now at the end of the Burmester.

MarcusM posted:

Perhaps not very fun reading if you are an Audiovector fan but I hope you find my explanation acceptable all the same…

/Marcus

Hi Marcus - i ask for your opinion, and you give me a very thorough and well argued review of your experience. i would be a bit of an idiot to criticize the result if i don't like it;-) - I do own Audiovectors (SR3 AA) and was just curious as to why you did NOT choose them. Only got one friend who is also a "hifi-aficionado" and he has the exact same speakers as I do (bit boring to be honest ) but driving with devialet not Naim. Mind you i'm from Denmark and like the notion of having a danish product. And frankly i did not audition many speakers prior to getting the SR3's as they were a second hand "offer you cannot refuse" - having heard SI3/SR3's a lot of times though at different demos etc. thanks for your reply...as a note my SR3's are "piano Green" so its a near-as-you-can-get match to the light up Naim logo on the boxes;-)

A guy calling a 'mullet' a system with an electronic/cabling/accessories front end about €70.000 worth.... Exhibiting his wealth to a flock of worshipping sheep. This place has become absurd, and frankly unbearable. I know that I won't be regretted, but I formally ask Mr. Dane to cancel my account, now.

Thanks

Naimiac 

Naimiac posted:

A guy calling a 'mullet' a system with an electronic/cabling/accessories front end about €70.000 worth.... Exhibiting his wealth to a flock of worshipping sheep. This place has become absurd, and frankly unbearable. I know that I won't be regretted, but I formally ask Mr. Dane to cancel my account, now.

 

Thanks

Naimiac 

I know exactly what you mean - some, but by no means all, are a long way up a certain part of their own anatomy!! That said, there's still plenty of us 'normal' folk, to whom a Unitiqute or SuperUniti represents the pinnacle of hifi ambitions.

Like you, I find their casual arrogance infuriating, but after a few minutes am able to laugh at them.

Hifi had always, like most similar hobbies, attracted a certain percentage of well heeled (insert your own descriptor), who just love to show the rest of us mere mortals they are "considerably richer than yow". Ignore them, and please don't go!!

Tim

Pcd posted:

I bet people with lesser systems enjoy them as much if not more than that a
lot of people at the top of the Naim ladder. I had many many hours of
enjoyment of my original Naim 42/140 Epos 14 system but have also enjoyed
my two upgrades.

Actually it should be neither. As long as one enjoys the music that is most important - that is what this hobby is (or should) be all about.

I enjoy my UnitiQute when I listen to it - I enjoy it not because it's UnitiQute but because it plays the music I love. I also like my Yamaha streamer that I'm currently listening to at work - plays through my old Denon amp - I enjoy it because it plays the music I love.

Naimiac and Timmo touched upon an important point though - what is the fundamental reason behind a post like this. Is it to 'share system experience' or 'show off'?
If former - fantastic - we have all learned something valuable, or worst case scenario - did not learn anything new.
If later - well....

Adam

I wouldn't take this as a show off – after all this is only a midrange system.

… and yes, technically a mullet (at least money wise). 

Chris Dolan posted:

Congratulations Markus 

You do indeed have a beautiful system and a very nice room 

I would love to be able to  accommodate Titan 808s (and of course be able to afford some)   

Well, that's one way to view the post, and of course there are other ways. 

I love the the Forum, and  it's a good thing one has the option to participate or not.

I really enjoy post that are centered around my gear, a sence of comaraderie, and above all I can share hands on experience.

However, I equally enjoy post about SL technologies, S1 Pre Amps, etc, even though, it is very unlikely any of the aforementioned, will join my rig.

Funny thing, there's always information that can be had, beit S1, 282, or a Nait.

Remember, that's what we do, spend thousands of dollars for subtle differences that can't be detected by the Norm!

But we aren't the Norm! LOL

Just think, Rega, CD5si, 202, 200, or SN2, that's a lot of Cash, and I bet some of your relatives could perceive that as being foolish.

Hence, we choose not to share that information with them, instead we share it with the FORUM!

Just some Thoughts!

Allante93!

Something is obviously very wrong with this post below and some of the trailing responses which share the same sentiment that was suggested by Naimiac. I feel compelled to respond.

I am not sure if it has got anything to do with the term "mullet", though I cannot see how the impression about the OP "exhibiting his wealth" on this thread was formed. It is just another sharing of the joy of some new acquisition and is not very different from other posts about someone upgrading to some Naim top-flight 500 series of components or Super Lumina cables.

And what is it about the "worshipping sheep" remark? I actually share the happiness of the owner's new speakers and enjoy reading posts such as these. This community is all about sharing, not only information but also the joy and happiness of acquiring new gear. There is not a hint or impression of what that had been suggested in the post below, at least to me. I really don't understand this hostility and personally feel that it is all uncalled for. 

Naimiac posted:

A guy calling a 'mullet' a system with an electronic/cabling/accessories front end about €70.000 worth.... Exhibiting his wealth to a flock of worshipping sheep. This place has become absurd, and frankly unbearable. I know that I won't be regretted, but I formally ask Mr. Dane to cancel my account, now.

 

Thanks

Naimiac 

+1 to the above.

+2 above

+ 1 to ryder (and kudos to original poster who went to great lengths to describe the steps in the process making it a very interesting read)

+4 to Ryder

Bart posted:

Marcus -- please take a detour and tell me about your life with the Audio Physic speakers  I have thought about auditioning different speakers at home "just because" and that brand is on my short list; my local dealer sells them (so I can have an easy free in-home demo for a week), and he suggests I might like them as I enjoy very "open" sound and he thinks they pair well with Naim (I would be driving them with a SN2).  Those Virgo 25's would be at the top of my price point if not exceeding it ($14,000 for the pair).

How did you enjoy them?

Marcus when you pry yourself away from your great new speakers, please

Naimiac posted:

I know that I won't be regretted, but I formally ask Mr. Dane to cancel my account, now.

 Thanks

Naimiac 

Naimiac, it's a little unusual to make such a formal request on a thread, however, I shall comply with your request.

To anyone else thinking of doing the same thing, may I suggest you e-mail Naim instead and then I'll take care of matters for you.  Thanks.

Naimiac posted:

A guy calling a 'mullet' a system with an electronic/cabling/accessories front end about €70.000 worth.... Exhibiting his wealth to a flock of worshipping sheep. This place has become absurd, and frankly unbearable. I know that I won't be regretted, but I formally ask Mr. Dane to cancel my account, now.

 

Thanks

Naimiac 

when i had my first naim, forum was friendly and helpful, now i have a bigger naim, forum is friendly and helpful (and my english isn't very good ). i think it is not so very important here how much money you have or how much money you spend on hifi. we are all interested in the same thing, and that is important and therefore i like this forum. christoph 

Skip posted:

Great series.  Living in the US, I had never seen the Titans.   I have admired the posts praising them.  

You wife is a unique woman to have preferred them over the others.  Did she prefer the sound or something else about them?  I don't think they would fly at my house.

You might benefit from the Fraim system now that you have done everything else you can do.  It is not a small benefit.

Hi Skip!

Yes, my wife is a wonderful women and very tolerant when it comes to my hifi hobby. Normally I show a few photos from internet and she says if the speakers would be welcome in our living room or not. If she says okay to their look then I can go and listen to them. If she says no there is no point listening to them...

She thought that the Titans was okay but not the best looking speakers around. I agree with her. I find them more brutal than cute… It’s in sound quality rather than looks that they excel 

My wife is not very interested in the sound of different components and are happy with whatever I choose.

Yes, I guess that a Fraim would make a big difference but Fraim is not allowed in our living room due to their looks…

/Marcus

ryder. posted:

MarcusM posted:

Hi Ryder!

Yes, I believe I listened to all available candidates and the Titan 808:s stood out as clearly the best ones to me in my system.

From the beginning I was looking at something like the Sopra no2 or B&W 803D3 but as I said before in this thread, they were not good enough for me to open my wallet. The Titans on the other hand… 

Yes, I think that they are quite special… 

It’s funny that you mention the clear plastic wrapping. I must just tell you a fun thing about that:

When I had just installed the speakers my 7 year old son comes home. He said “dad have your new speakers arrived?” I said “yes” and he answered “They are soooo cool”.

I felt very happy that he also liked them!

When he went to bed that night I removed the clear plastic wrapping.

When my son woke up the next day he looked at the speakers again and said “what have you done with your speakers dad, they don’t look as cool anymore”. 

Your friend with the Audio Physic Avantera do he use Naim electronics?

The reason that I ask is that I don’t at all perceived my Virgo 25 as “clean and clinical, rather characterless”. I thought that they were warm, forgiving to bad recordings, fun to listen to and with a big and airy soundstage…

Despite the side firing woofers they were actually quite placement friendly in my room.

When it comes to distributing the hifi budget I don’t know what to believe anymore. I been very impressed with the SL cables and with Chord Ethernet cables so my world have been turned upside down a bit. Earlier when I went from NDX to NDS I was very impressed and started to believe “source first”. Then I changed preamp and was impressed by that. I thought that maybe the poweramp doesn’t make such a big difference and then I compared NAP200, NAP250.2 and NAP300…

I think that the best thing is to get a very well balanced system that works well together and without any obvious weak link. The speakers is off course also very important, which my latest journey have shown me…

/Marcus

Hi Marcus,

Your son certainly has acumen. :-)

When I listened to my friend's setup (also many years ago), he had the Krell FPB and matching Krell pre on the Audio Physic Avantera. As of today, he now uses a Burmester 911 power amp and Krell Illusion with the Avantera.

On the remark about the Avantera being clean, clinical and characterless, I do think it's all relative. We actually compared the Harbeth 40.1 to the Avantera with the same electronics, in the same room. The Avantera did not have the warmth and organic bloom of the Harbeth 40.1. In comparison to the Harbeth, the Avantera sounded clean and clinical. If there is no benchmark,  I would say the Avantera tilts slightly to the warm side of things as it didn't sound lean or bright.

Yes, the side-firing woofers did not pose any problems in the room. It is just a mental thing that keeps playing in my head. The Avanteras did sound good but they didn't connect to me at the time I listened to them. Perhaps they sound better now at the end of the Burmester.

Hi Ryder!

Thank you for describing the circumstances when you listened to the Avanteras. Compared to Harbeth I can understand your conclusion… 

/Marcus

Wunderbaum posted:

MarcusM posted:

Perhaps not very fun reading if you are an Audiovector fan but I hope you find my explanation acceptable all the same…

/Marcus

Hi Marcus - i ask for your opinion, and you give me a very thorough and well argued review of your experience. i would be a bit of an idiot to criticize the result if i don't like it;-) - I do own Audiovectors (SR3 AA) and was just curious as to why you did NOT choose them. Only got one friend who is also a "hifi-aficionado" and he has the exact same speakers as I do (bit boring to be honest ) but driving with devialet not Naim. Mind you i'm from Denmark and like the notion of having a danish product. And frankly i did not audition many speakers prior to getting the SR3's as they were a second hand "offer you cannot refuse" - having heard SI3/SR3's a lot of times though at different demos etc. thanks for your reply...as a note my SR3's are "piano Green" so its a near-as-you-can-get match to the light up Naim logo on the boxes;-)

Hi Wunderbaum!

I fully understand that you as a Dane want to have Danish speakers. For the same reason I really wanted to buy Marten Bird 2. I visited the two brothers that have the company, actually in the same town as I work. They were wonderful guys and they happily demonstrated their products. They explained how their speakers were developed and tuned and it was very interesting 

I had the Marten Bird 2 home on demo for almost 2 weeks and I really did try my best to like them. Unfortunately the ceramic drivers were not completely to my liking. They are similar to Audiovector in the sense that they were very impressive on good recordings but a bit “hard” and unforgiving if the recordings have a bit lower quality. I talked to a dealer about my conclusion and he said that he thought that the Bird 2 is a very good speaker but he recommended them together with tube gear.

“Piano Green” Audiovector SR3AA together with Naim sounds like a very cool combination! 

/Marcus

Stone me - all because a chap has got a new pair of speakers.     I'm off to have a chat with Frau Strat. 

MarcusM posted:

Skip posted:

Great series.  Living in the US, I had never seen the Titans.   I have admired the posts praising them.  

You wife is a unique woman to have preferred them over the others.  Did she prefer the sound or something else about them?  I don't think they would fly at my house.

You might benefit from the Fraim system now that you have done everything else you can do.  It is not a small benefit.

Hi Skip!

Yes, my wife is a wonderful women and very tolerant when it comes to my hifi hobby. Normally I show a few photos from internet and she says if the speakers would be welcome in our living room or not. If she says okay to their look then I can go and listen to them. If she says no there is no point listening to them...

She thought that the Titans was okay but not the best looking speakers around. I agree with her. I find them more brutal than cute… It’s in sound quality rather than looks that they excel 

My wife is not very interested in the sound of different components and are happy with whatever I choose.

Yes, I guess that a Fraim would make a big difference but Fraim is not allowed in our living room due to their looks…

/Marcus

Marcus - is your wife by any chance related to mine? The selection criteria are virtually identical

Don't get too stressed by earlier posts here - I think you have a wonderful system and I'm happy you've found speakers that do it justice.

Adam

Congrats on the new speakers Marcus - they look fabulous!  Appreciate you sharing the story of your home demos and selection process.  In other words...

ATB from 

Hook (the Sheep) 

Timmo1341 posted:

Naimiac posted:

A guy calling a 'mullet' a system with an electronic/cabling/accessories front end about €70.000 worth.... Exhibiting his wealth to a flock of worshipping sheep. This place has become absurd, and frankly unbearable. I know that I won't be regretted, but I formally ask Mr. Dane to cancel my account, now.

 

Thanks

Naimiac 

I know exactly what you mean - some, but by no means all, are a long way up a certain part of their own anatomy!! That said, there's still plenty of us 'normal' folk, to whom a Unitiqute or SuperUniti represents the pinnacle of hifi ambitions.

Like you, I find their casual arrogance infuriating, but after a few minutes am able to laugh at them.

Hifi had always, like most similar hobbies, attracted a certain percentage of well heeled (insert your own descriptor), who just love to show the rest of us mere mortals they are "considerably richer than yow". Ignore them, and please don't go!!

Tim

Pcd posted:

I bet people with lesser systems enjoy them as much if not more than that a
lot of people at the top of the Naim ladder. I had many many hours of
enjoyment of my original Naim 42/140 Epos 14 system but have also enjoyed
my two upgrades.

 

Actually it should be neither. As long as one enjoys the music that is most important - that is what this hobby is (or should) be all about.

I enjoy my UnitiQute when I listen to it - I enjoy it not because it's UnitiQute but because it plays the music I love. I also like my Yamaha streamer that I'm currently listening to at work - plays through my old Denon amp - I enjoy it because it plays the music I love.

Naimiac and Timmo touched upon an important point though - what is the fundamental reason behind a post like this. Is it to 'share system experience' or 'show off'?
If former - fantastic - we have all learned something valuable, or worst case scenario - did not learn anything new.
If later - well....

Adam

Hi guys!

I will try to answer you in a more polite way they you did…

I started this thread with these lines:

“I have changed my speakers and thought I would write a few lines about it. I have never posted pictures here before but will try my best. It’s more fun with pictures  

I always like informative posts from people upgrading their gear and thought I should pay back a little by describing my journey. Just keep in mind that English is not my native language… ”

What I’m saying here is that I really like this forum and that people normally are trying to contribute. I love posts about people that finally reaches their goal in musical reproduction. It may be a Nait amplifier or a Statement system, I just enjoy reading about people that are happy with their purchase whatever that may be. If they also post a few pictures and describes the thinking and process behind their choice, I find it even more interesting. I don’t look down on people that buy a 10 year old Nait second hand or if somebody have the financial ability to buy a Statement system. How fun would it be if we are only allowed to post about products under 3000 GBP or something like that? 

I like cars and I have to say that I without a doubt prefer to read about Ferrari or Porsche instead of a VW Polo or Rover even though I will never afford to buy a Ferrari. Are you also complaining about that TopGear tested too expensive cars? I thought that was a very funny show even though most (to not say all) cars were way over my budget…

I have read a lot of posts in the Naim forum and now when I did a large investment in my own system I thought that I should pay back a little to the forum by writing this post. English is not my native language so it takes a lot of time for me to write this. I also had to understand how to post pictures before I started posting.

Since the Kudos Titan 808 is a relatively new product and since there have been some discussions about it I thought that I really should try to contribute with pictures and describing text. What would the forum be in nobody was allowed to post? 

So I spent a lot of time on this thread to be helpful to other forum members that are considering the Titans. Most people seems to have understood my purpose and enjoyed it.

This has absolutely nothing to do with “Exhibiting his wealth” or “showing off”. I’m not a wealthy man!

My father worked as a construction worker and my mother as a cleaning lady. I was not born with a gold spoon in my mouth. As a kid I was very economical and saved the few money that I got. I have continued to be economical and tried to save money for the future. I’m employed and have a normal work with a normal salary. There is a lot of hard work behind the money I spent on my hifi gear.

Since 5 years I have had problems with my heal/feet and cannot be very active. No running, jumping and no long walks and stuff like that. I need to sit still a lot and not strain my feet. I always liked listening to music and when I’m forced to sit still music is one of the joys that I have. There for I have prioritized to spend quite a lot of my hard earned money on my hifi gear. My wife let me do that because she knows that music is important to me.

Would I have the same system as I have today if my feet would have been okay? Definitely not!

I’m just very very happy with my new speakers and thought that my 1,5 year long journey of finding speakers could inspire and help somebody in the same position. Aren’t this forum about helping each outer? 

Complaining is easy! It’s contributing that’s hard… 

The title of this thread with the word “mullet” was sort of a joke. Perhaps not a good one but all the same a joke. Here on the forum a system often get the label “mullet” if you have speakers costing more than your source (or something like that. I haven’t fully understood the criteria’s). I choose to form this thread as a “guessing game” since I thought that could be fun, showing a few photos at a time. This is one way that I should have enjoyed myself. I hope at least somebody liked that… 

I have been thinking about it but can’t really wrap my head around why you write things like “Exhibiting his wealth to a flock of worshipping sheep”, “are a long way up a certain part of their own anatomy”, “Like you, I find their casual arrogance infuriating” and “what is the fundamental reason behind a post like this”.

Some of these remarks are quite rude! Why all this negative energy? Please explain that to me! Is it low self-esteem, envy or what? I can’t understand…

I find these comments much more arrogant than my honest try to contribute to the forum…

/Marcus