Stageline/ Supercap etc

Julian, the Supercap should only power one item of equipment at any one time so you have the Stageline connected correctly.  You could of course use a Supercap to power the Stageline directly, but then you would need another Supercap... 

As for the CD5, a lovely player even though it's perhaps a little out of its depth fronting such a system.  If CD is a secondary source then OK fine, although for a modest cost, adding a Flatcap to the CD5 improves performance markedly and would make it far more engaging in this system. Otherwise, if CD is used fairly regularly then you should be looking at a secondhand CDX2/XPS2, CDS2 or CDS3

CDX2 also available new.

C.

That's great, thanks for the prompt replies - would I use a separate power supply for a CDX2 or any of the other options listed? I 'm actually running out of space to put things to be honest, I rather naively had a unit built to house everything a while ago and I'm not sure where I would be able to place another power supply on it!! 

CDX2 works well, with or without psu.

C.

A CDX2 can power itself but is considerably improved with a XPS.   A CDS3 has to have a XPS or 555.  

Regards,

Lindsay

Cd2x got a particular SQ which I can describe as musical, which despite all streaming and vinyl etc keeps me buy cds, some day I will add a xps as well, so you have an upgrade option as well.

Lambretta - I ran a similar system to yours a little with ago but with a Hicap powering the Stageline - which I preferred to running it off the 282   although another Supercap would have been even better 

Hi Lambretta,

I too have an LP12 and CD5, and I'm having a 282/250 delivered on Monday! (Gonna run the 282 off a Hicap for now.)

For your Dyna cartridge, I strongly recommend that you at least check out the Dynavector P75 phono stage. You would want to use it in "Dr. T" mode for the 17D3. It's tiny and needs no outboard power supply, which sounds ideal given your lack of space.

I very much preferred the P75 to my Stageline/Hicap when used with a Dyna 10x5 cart. There's good synergy to be had here. If you buy s/h, you can sell off the P75 at no loss if you don't like it.

--Joe

Lambretta:

I run an LP12/Ekos/Argoi into a Stageline K and then directly into the powered Aux 2 input of my 252.  It sounds just fine to me.  I had a CDX2 for about 10 years and it was just too darn bright.  Traded it in for an HDX about 4 years ago and haven't looked back.  

sktn77a posted:

I run an LP12/Ekos/Argoi into a Stageline K and then directly into the powered Aux 2 input of my 252.  It sounds just fine to me.   

Agreed - I would say the the having a Stageline hooked up to the Aux 2 powered input on a 252 - especially if using a Supercap DR - shades using a separate Hicap. I have not heard a Hicap DR on a Stageline though  

joe9407 posted:

I very much preferred the P75 to my Stageline/Hicap when used with a Dyna 10x5 cart.

 

I went the other way with my DV 20x2L. Had p75, went to Stageline S.

Chris

lambretta posted:

Hi Folks.

I've been a long time user of the forums from a research point of view whilst I pulled together my first Naim system, however I have a question around the power supply and thought it was time to post myself.

My system is as follows:

Supercap/ NAC282/ NAP250/ NAPSC/ Stageline/ Sondek LP12 (with Lingo power supply)/ CD5

I'm mainly into listening to vinyl and in fact the most expensive component in that lot is the LP12, it's a couple of years old, Akurate spec and has a Dynovector 17D3 cart which would've cost significantly more than my previous turntable had I bought it new!

Cheers

Julian

 

Your front-end, amplification and preference to Vinyl are similar to my own. An observation I would make, if you have not already attended to it, is that you should keep the Supercap well away from your preamp/phono section. Repositioning my Naim boxes made a big difference.

Emre posted:

Cd2x got a particular SQ which I can describe as musical, which despite all streaming and vinyl etc keeps me buy cds, some day I will add a xps as well, so you have an upgrade option as well.

IMHO, for a vinyl enthusiast, I think a CDS2 or CDS3 would be more to his liking though. A CDX2, even with a PS, is still a bit strident.

Arun

lambretta posted:

Hi Folks.

I've been a long time user of the forums from a research point of view whilst I pulled together my first Naim system, however I have a question around the power supply and thought it was time to post myself.

My system is as follows:

Supercap/ NAC282/ NAP250/ NAPSC/ Stageline/ Sondek LP12 (with Lingo power supply)/ CD5

I'm mainly into listening to vinyl and in fact the most expensive component in that lot is the LP12, it's a couple of years old, Akurate spec and has a Dynovector 17D3 cart which would've cost significantly more than my previous turntable had I bought it new!

I've picked up most of the equipment second hand or as trade ins where possible to try and get maximum value for money - I also managed to find  a pair of Focal Diablo Utopia speakers to top everything off and so far (I only have the CD player setup) it's sounds amazing, I'm totally hooked!

I was wondering if I'm powering the Stageline properly though as it is just linked to the 282 and draws it's power from there - should it be connected to the Supercap directly? The CD5 is just plugged into a wall socket as well, can this be powered by the Supercap (or something else?), I can't remember what the back panel looks like to be honest and I'd rather not drag it out of the unit right now as it's playing music for me while I type ;-)

I haven't managed to get the LP12 on yet as the cable I need accidentally went back to a dealer in the box of a trade in (I upgraded my 202 to the 282) and I'm waiting for it to be returned! Very frustrating but I've enjoyed listening to some CD's I perhaps haven't heard for a while so not the end of the world!

Finally the CD5 is probably rather long in the tooth now, is it worth me upgrading this to something newer or higher up the line to better compliment what I have?

Any advice genuinely appreciated, it's a complicated world playing with Naim stuff but one I am really enjoying :-)

Cheers

Julian

 

Maybe a s/h superline could be interesting for you? For me, it was a big upgrade.

Hi Julian and welcome thats an extremely nice system you have pulled together, Like you I have bought all of my equipment second hand  and also like you vinyl has always been my primary source but I have discovered the delights of streaming and cannot praise the medium enough I have listened to more new music of every genre than I ever have before and so instead of shelling out on an expensive Naim cdp I would advise you to go for a streamer you will not be disappointed.

A nice CDS3 would work wonders with your system. For my ears far more engaging than any streamer i've heard, including a dual power supplied NDS. I happen to like the CD5 a lot, and would never move it on for a streamer unless you are completely sold on the 'so called' ease of use benefits of computer replay.

Christopher_M posted:

joe9407 posted:

I very much preferred the P75 to my Stageline/Hicap when used with a Dyna 10x5 cart.

 

I went the other way with my DV 20x2L. Had p75, went to Stageline S.

Chris

i'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the switch... i'm running a Stageline S/Hicap on my LP12 (with Zu 103 cartridge) and it sounds very good to me. the Stageline N/DV 10x5 combo just didn't do it for me, though.

joe9407 posted:

Christopher_M posted:

joe9407 posted:

I very much preferred the P75 to my Stageline/Hicap when used with a Dyna 10x5 cart.

 

I went the other way with my DV 20x2L. Had p75, went to Stageline S.

Chris

i'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the switch... i'm running a Stageline S/Hicap on my LP12 (with Zu 103 cartridge) and it sounds very good to me. the Stageline N/DV 10x5 combo just didn't do it for me, though.

DV20x2L into DV 75 mk3 sounded good into my Neat speakers. Then I bought SBLs and it was all too hi-fi. Stageline S just made it so much more coherent. This is no criticism of Neat.

C.

Chris Dolan posted:

Lambretta - I ran a similar system to yours a little with ago but with a Hicap powering the Stageline - which I preferred to running it off the 282   although another Supercap would have been even better 

How would that work in terms of cabling? I'm assuming I would move the stageline to the normal aux input on the 282 rather than the powered one, but I'd need to work out which output to use on the stageline and which to plug the Hicap into. The cabling of everything is as challenging as anything else!

joe9407 posted:

Hi Lambretta,

I too have an LP12 and CD5, and I'm having a 282/250 delivered on Monday! (Gonna run the 282 off a Hicap for now.)

For your Dyna cartridge, I strongly recommend that you at least check out the Dynavector P75 phono stage. You would want to use it in "Dr. T" mode for the 17D3. It's tiny and needs no outboard power supply, which sounds ideal given your lack of space.

I very much preferred the P75 to my Stageline/Hicap when used with a Dyna 10x5 cart. There's good synergy to be had here. If you buy s/h, you can sell off the P75 at no loss if you don't like it.

--Joe

 

That's interesting - thanks for that, I may well have a little try of that route if I can find one s/h, as you say it's a fairly safe experiment if I can flip it with little or no loss later.

dektop100 posted:

lambretta posted:

Hi Folks.

I've been a long time user of the forums from a research point of view whilst I pulled together my first Naim system, however I have a question around the power supply and thought it was time to post myself.

My system is as follows:

Supercap/ NAC282/ NAP250/ NAPSC/ Stageline/ Sondek LP12 (with Lingo power supply)/ CD5

I'm mainly into listening to vinyl and in fact the most expensive component in that lot is the LP12, it's a couple of years old, Akurate spec and has a Dynovector 17D3 cart which would've cost significantly more than my previous turntable had I bought it new!

Cheers

Julian

 

Your front-end, amplification and preference to Vinyl are similar to my own. An observation I would make, if you have not already attended to it, is that you should keep the Supercap well away from your preamp/phono section. Repositioning my Naim boxes made a big difference.

Hmmm, that would pose a challenge but might be feasible at some point in the future. At the moment the Supercap sits side by side with the preamp, in fact it's in between the pre and power amps. The phono stage is on a different shelf though...

Bob the Builder posted:

Hi Julian and welcome thats an extremely nice system you have pulled together, Like you I have bought all of my equipment second hand  and also like you vinyl has always been my primary source but I have discovered the delights of streaming and cannot praise the medium enough I have listened to more new music of every genre than I ever have before and so instead of shelling out on an expensive Naim cdp I would advise you to go for a streamer you will not be disappointed.

Thanks - the CD player is really there to play our old collection, I can't see myself buying CD's new anymore but we do have a decent collection of music that I'd be loath to get rid of (or rip to a more up to date source!). 

THat said I do have a Pioneer N50 waiting to be hooked in to the system and I'm told it is a very nice sound, despite it's relatively cheap cost (relative to all of the Linn and Naim components in the system anyway). I've avoided the likes of Spotify up to now as I still like the physical nature of Vinyl (and to a lesser extent CD's) but I'm always open to trying so I'll see how that pans out!

Arun Mehan posted:

Emre posted:

Cd2x got a particular SQ which I can describe as musical, which despite all streaming and vinyl etc keeps me buy cds, some day I will add a xps as well, so you have an upgrade option as well.

IMHO, for a vinyl enthusiast, I think a CDS2 or CDS3 would be more to his liking though. A CDX2, even with a PS, is still a bit strident.

Arun

I'm looking forward to getting the LP12 cabled up so I can compare the sound as the CD5 sounds a bit shrill to me if that makes sense? Don't get me wrong, it's very nice indeed but may be lacking in a little depth depending on the volume I'm playing the music and what I'm listening to. 

When I auditioned the speakers, the chap I bought them off had a cheap £100 DAC and used that and his iPhone as the source (Spotify premium I think). It genuinely sounded better than the CD5 linked through the same amp (I forget what it was but about £1500 worth of integrated amp). I put it down to the cable I was using, a cheap eBay item bought in haste a couple of years ago to link the CD5 into my old Exposure integrated amp. I'm not convinced though that this isn't just the sound of the CD5 and it would be useful to hear an alternative - unfortunately I'm waiting for cables for the streamer and LP12 so will be Wednesday before I have anything to compare it to! 

Thanks for all of the replies, I've really enjoyed the learning curve getting to this stage and listening to some of the music I've owned for long periods of time on this new system is proving to be a genuine source of amazement at times, such is the difference in the quality of the sound.

lambretta posted:

Chris Dolan posted:

Lambretta - I ran a similar system to yours a little with ago but with a Hicap powering the Stageline - which I preferred to running it off the 282   although another Supercap would have been even better 

How would that work in terms of cabling? I'm assuming I would move the stageline to the normal aux input on the 282 rather than the powered one, but I'd need to work out which output to use on the stageline and which to plug the Hicap into. The cabling of everything is as challenging as anything else!

Yes , the cabling is interesting - but essentially you need an extra 4/5 din interconect to run the signal from the Hicap to an unpowered input on the preamp - although I think that I preferred using the tuner input 

If I decided I did need to add another power supply at some point, I could do it by combining my CD and network players into a NaimUniti2, has anyone had any experience of these? I know they are designed to be standalone but have the option to link to a preamp, I'm assuming they sound as good as you'd expect? I could then fit another Supercap into the space where the N50 was (or is).