System Pics 2017

Wasn't the original poster addressing polarity? 

Just look at the amp:

Chico posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

It matters if you want your orchestra to be the right way round. Or you don't want the guitarist standing where the bass player should be. Or Ruth sitting where David normally sits. 

Thanks for that. For me that kind of stuff doesn't matter. Just needs to sound good.

That's fine, but it might as well be right

Or left, come to that. 

It may matter in some instances where the track has been mixed in such a way to balance each channel with different instruments or effects etc so it sounds the way the artist and engineer intended. For a time I had my left and right mixed up and wondered why I walked around in circles. However when switching round many tracks sounded better to me. 

Saw this and immediately stuck my head in behind my rack fearing the worst but I'm all wired correctly. 

It's an interesting challenge with 135s. If your speaker plugs are wired conventionally (as opposite pairs) you have to have the cables approaching from below and above. I lived with that for years, before twisting the inserts round in the naim plug housing.

Alba1320 posted:

^ BX EDDIE's pic:

 

 

 

Ahh, the lovely Sansui..

stuart posted:

It may matter in some instances where the track has been mixed in such a way to balance each channel with different instruments or effects etc so it sounds the way the artist and engineer intended. For a time I had my left and right mixed up and wondered why I walked around in circles. However when switching round many tracks sounded better to me. 

Unless of course, if you are in the southern hemisphere, in which case it is reversed and you will walk in circles the opposite way...

ljudpuff posted:

 

Rp1 , Cd5i , Nait 5i ,  fono mini , Dynaudio audience 42 

Very nice system, Naim and Dynaudio, very tough combo to beat!!!

DrMark posted:

stuart posted:

It may matter in some instances where the track has been mixed in such a way to balance each channel with different instruments or effects etc so it sounds the way the artist and engineer intended. For a time I had my left and right mixed up and wondered why I walked around in circles. However when switching round many tracks sounded better to me. 

Unless of course, if you are in the southern hemisphere, in which case it is reversed and you will walk in circles the opposite way...

Of course 

tonym posted:

Whilst my 500s were away with the DR fettlers, I decided to make up a pair of "Mana" style soundbases to go under my DBLs. The chap who I bought my DBLs from swore by them, but as he was keeping the Manas for his new DBLs (he just changed them for a different finish) he didn't want to sell them with the speakers, but I took several photos and a few measurements before I left. I hadn't gotten round to making these up so the absence of amps gave me the opportunity. The only thing I didn't go with was the baseboard - following advice from a very knowledgeable lady, mine are a sandwich of 12mm marine ply boards with a 3mm sheet of aluminium bonded between. Anyway, now my amps are back where they should be and have settled down a bit, I've concluded these stands are a success. There's a crispness and focus to the sound, some of which I could attribute to the DR effect, but it does seem to mostly come from the support. I suppose I should try the speakers without them but TBH, given the "interesting" time I had getting the blasted things up on the stands,  I can't be bothered!

 

Very similar to my set-up except in black. Interested in the stands as I've often thought about replicating the Mana sound base. I've always thought that the character sound and effect was 50% frame and 50% top board. The frame is easily fabricated but the top board is another matter. I still have a 3 tier Mana table for my LP12 and have messed around changing boards but nothing sounds quite like the Mana ones, so it's kind of put me off.

A mate with DBL's has at least 3 tiers of Mana under his and I can testify what a great improvement it was. One interesting aspect is the spring the DBL's now have. Prod the top and they move backwards and forwards for 15 to 20 seconds. A bit like tapping the platter on an LP12.

Another friend recently purchased a set of the Townsend suspension bars to go under his Fact 8's. Guess what, they have this same oscillation effect and a very similar improvement in performance akin to the Mana effect.

Now I'm left wondering if I should try a set of these bars under my DBL's?

^ The Townsend stuff is sale or return isn't it? So it would seem to be worth a try at least.  From people I know who've tried them, don't do it until you're ready to spend the money...

A room in Amsterdam. System placement compromised due to WAF, luckily Naim doesn't run hot...

sunbeamgls posted:

^ The Townsend stuff is sale or return isn't it? So it would seem to be worth a try at least.  From people I know who've tried them, don't do it until you're ready to spend the money...

They're not something I've tried, but most things Max Townsend develops work exceedingly well. I still think his turntable outperforms anything else I've heard; I don't know why I've continued to invest in my LP12 and not switched to the Townsend turntable other than the fact that I'm stuck in the LP12 rut. 

Geko posted 

Very similar to my set-up except in black. Interested in the stands as I've often thought about replicating the Mana sound base. I've always thought that the character sound and effect was 50% frame and 50% top board. The frame is easily fabricated but the top board is another matter. I still have a 3 tier Mana table for my LP12 and have messed around changing boards but nothing sounds quite like the Mana ones, so it's kind of put me off.

A mate with DBL's has at least 3 tiers of Mana under his and I can testify what a great improvement it was. One interesting aspect is the spring the DBL's now have. Prod the top and they move backwards and forwards for 15 to 20 seconds. A bit like tapping the platter on an LP12.

Another friend recently purchased a set of the Townsend suspension bars to go under his Fact 8's. Guess what, they have this same oscillation effect and a very similar improvement in performance akin to the Mana effect.

Now I'm left wondering if I should try a set of these bars under my DBL's?

The Mana Effect's an interesting one. Logic says that the speakers should be firmly coupled to the floor but if, say, I use my DBLs spiked directly to the floor they sound quite dead and lifeless in comparison to using the spikes into Naim "Chips"; which sound better if these are used upside down. Using marble slabs under my previous SL2s similarly killed the sound to a certain extent.

I've used a Mana Reference Sound Shelf under my LP12 for donkey's years & it's a great way to support a turntable. The board, as with the Soundbases, is MDF with a laminate skin. The objective is to absorb energy from the speaker (or turntable) & not feed it back. MDF's not the best medium for that, according to someone who understands such things far more than myself, hence the ply/aluminium/ply sandwich on the boards I'm using. Seems to work! I admit the springy movement you get from mounting the speakers on these stands is a bit disconcerting but, hey ho, the proof of the pudding and all that.

Tonym,

Thanks for the info on the base boards. Are yours 12mm ply then 3m aluminium and another sheet of 12mm ply?

Geko posted:

Tonym,

Thanks for the info on the base boards. Are yours 12mm ply then 3m aluminium and another sheet of 12mm ply?

Hi Geko, yes, 12mm marine ply - 3mm aluminium - 12mm marine ply, bonded with epoxy resin.

ekfc63 posted:

Those are the most attractive SL2s I have ever seen. 

The rosewood finish does lift the aesthetics of an already attractive speaker.

Slightly different from last years post, added Fraimlite and Flatcap and Circus and Kore on the LP12 and it's all sounding pretty great, possible speaker up grade if funds permit later in the year but just enjoying the music at the moment.

Hanumike posted:

Slightly different from last years post, added Fraimlite and Flatcap and Circus and Kore on the LP12 and it's all sounding pretty great, possible speaker up grade if funds permit later in the year but just enjoying the music at the moment.

That, may I say, looks very cool. I am a sucker for an all black Fraim which is probably why I own one.

Long may you enjoy the music and fend off the upgraditis!

Haim Ronen posted:

Alba1320 posted:

^ BX EDDIE's pic:

 

 

 

Ahh, the lovely Sansui..

really nice setup

FRAIM installed just before Easter, really added to the whole system - LP12, NDX, 282, HCDR, 200 B&W 805N