Source First ? Really?

Posted by: The Dude on 12 October 2016

I have a...Naim Uniti with latest board,Spendor A6s, NACA 5 & recent upgrade from a Nap 150 x to an ex Naim employee Olive 250 with a 250.2 case...

Sounds simply sublime;weighty,detailed and very easy on the ear...however whilst I recognise the source first argument such a statement is currently questioned (perhaps/surely/perversly?) by the fact that Naim developed the Statement rather than a source?

So we currently have the principle Naim amplification costing a significant factor more than any source they produce!

I anticipate members adopting a critical view on the status of my system (which of course is their prerogative) however all I can say is that it sounds lovely despite its perceived incongruity...

Posted on: 16 October 2016 by Innocent Bystander

Why not try it, a home audition? Without knowing the items he might be right...

Posted on: 16 October 2016 by Kevin-W

I'm very much a "source first" person, having invested more in my front end (principally an LP12) than I have in any other part of the system. I still use the same speakers I bought as a student 32 years ago; and I would upgrade to a Radikal before I changed those.

I think the most disappointing system I've ever heard was almost certainly let down by its front end. It was at Abbey Road Studio 2, and was a playback for the Beatles mono LPs. The system consisted of a Statement, top of the range Focals, and a Vertere reference TT, an acrylic oli rig monstrosity that was as aesthetically offensive as it was musically boring. The cart was an Ortofon IIRC.

Now, ARS2 is perhaps not the world's best listening room, and I didn't much the like the boomy Focals much, but the TT was really "draggy" - slow, undynamic and not very involving. The levels of detail retrieved from those old recordings was staggering, but the sound was curiously uninvolving.

A lot of it boils down to personal taste about how music should be presented, of course, but I kept wondering what a good fully-rigged LP12, or a Bauer dps or another good deck would have sounded like with that amplification and those speakers. I am convinced the TT was the culprit.

If I'd spent £250,000 on a system like the one I heard, and got results like that, I'd want my money back. To be honest I prefered Dr Steve of this forum's LP12-Keel-Geddon-Ekos-Kandid/552/500/B&W system; or even my own, which cost me about a twentieth of the price.

Posted on: 17 October 2016 by Tabby cat

Kev

Shame you where underwhelmed at Abbey Road.On paper it's should have sounded pretty amazing.Not heard the Vertere Turntable but it seems to have a good reputation and I would have loved to have heard some vinyl on Statement.Maybe it was a cartridge mismatch ?

It's been a reggae last couple of hours here.Bob Marley's - Babylon by Bus.Now playing Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution.Sounds wicked on my LP12 Ittok Decca London supergold and a bit of Bryston and Focal

Who's the latest Avatar lady ?....very nice but can't place her.

Hope your Hammers rally....think they will be fine

Cheers Ian

Posted on: 17 October 2016 by The Strat (Fender)

I have to say the aesthetics of the Vertere are not for me but I understand the sonic quality is up there with the very best. However, several have said that Abbey Road was disappointing but it does seem it was down to a cartridge mis-match.

Regards,

Lindsay

Posted on: 18 October 2016 by Kevin-W

Tabby cat posted:
Kev
Shame you where underwhelmed at Abbey Road.On paper it's should have sounded pretty amazing.Not heard the Vertere Turntable but it seems to have a good reputation and I would have loved to have heard some vinyl on Statement.Maybe it was a cartridge mismatch ?
It's been a reggae last couple of hours here.Bob Marley's - Babylon by Bus.Now playing Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution.Sounds wicked on my LP12 Ittok Decca London supergold and a bit of Bryston and Focal
Who's the latest Avatar lady ?....very nice but can't place her.
Hope your Hammers rally....think they will be fine
Cheers Ian

Hi Ian

The avatar lady is Bobbie Gentry (my favourite female singer-songwriter). Love Handsworth Revolution - the late 70s was a golden age for British reggae.

As both you and Lindsay (immediately above) say, it could have been a cartridge mismatch, but at that sort of level, one would have thought they'd try and get these things right. I too was looking forward to hearing top notch vinyl through a Statement, but went away didappointed.

Anyway, the Vertere is so offensive to the eye, so hideous, that it could be the best-sounding TT on god's green earth and I still couldn't have it on the front room. I don't think, for looks, you can beat a fluted afro LP12; although the Bauer dps has to be just about the prettiest latterday deck I've ever seen:

PS - I'm sure the Irons will struggle through to mi9d-table mediocrity. Eventually.

PPS - Hope all is well, with you.

Posted on: 18 October 2016 by james n

Kevin-W posted:
although the Bauer dps has to be just about the prettiest latterday deck I've ever seen:

I'd have one of those in my system and i don't even listen to vinyl (it could persuade me).

It's such a beautiful turntable.

Posted on: 18 October 2016 by dave marshall

If we're talking pretty turntables, I had this one, during my short-lived excursion into vinyl.

Posted on: 18 October 2016 by Mulberry

james n posted:
It's such a beautiful turntable.

nod ...still pretty after a few years. And Willi Bauer is a very nice guy, too.