What is the fixation with Foot Tapping?

Foot tapper posted: 

On a slightly more serious note, foot tapping for me is merely one symptom of something much more important.  What I do crave is the emotional engagement in being captivating by a well crafted piece of music.  When immersed in a great song, sometimes the listener should want to sit still, transfixed.  Other times, the emotional connection will drive a desire to get up & dance around the room, to practice air guitar, to practice the drums, to cry, or indeed to tap one's feet.   It's all about the emotional engagement, not the foot tapping.  

 

Spot on. Emotional engagement is the thing. Happy / sad / anger / love / whatever .... High quality reproduction makes that lever more effective.

analogmusic posted:

 I think these cliche toe tapping descriptions of Naim, completely miss the whole point.

You won't understand this from a forum.

Either you need to make a trip to a dealer, or take punt and buy a second hand Nait Xs.

This thread wasn't about how good Naim amplification might be, but about the fixation on foot-tapping as if it is some kind of Marvelous Thing to tap one's feet.

However, in response to your suggestion, I'm nowhere near convinced that a Nait Xs would be a good match for my speakers, PMC EB1i (4Ω), so no way would I take a punt on it as you suggest. I know from experience that when I play loud the transients powering my speakers can momentarily exceed 500VA - indeed Tchaikovsky's 1812 can produce that without turning the wick up all that much - so something with less headroom than about that would seem unwise.

I do find the Naim approach to power amp design interesting, and for some time now I have thought I would quite like to hear one in my system out of curiosity, and indeed I would be tempted to have a listen if there was a dealer near me. However, being quite content with what I have at present, and thoroughly hooked on music played through it, the major 2-day expedition needed to take my speakers to a dealer means it is simply not going to happen until at least a few years' time when I will have retired and maybe moved to somewhere where an audition can be achieved with less effort and cost.

As for model, given my speakers I'm guessing the 300 is the minimum. Of course looking at that price bracket I'd want to compare with the next Bryston model up from what I have, or even the one above that if I was auditioning a 500. And while at it it would make sense to take the opportunity to hear the NAP with a pre as well as standalone fed by Dave. However, even though I would only buy secondhand this may all have to await a lottery win as well as retirement, in case I am convinced enough to want to buy!

Adam Zielinski posted:

I tend foot-tap when I play bass - helps me to keep the timing - a sort of inner click / metronome.

So for me foot-tapping is a necessity 

Adam, I am from the wrong school of bass, when I try to tap my foot I suddenly have three things to do instead of two and my foot gets left behind. I do tap my two playing fingers when following a bass track on the hifi though. Not sure if this counts.

My foot-tapping story is set some 15 years ago. I had several trips to a shop on Holborn Street in Aberdeen to try out various gear. I had a rack of Arcam Diva boxes at the time. We had listened to some Cyrus gear that day as arranged. I told the sales person I was planning a trip down the coast the following weekend to hear some Naim gear in Montrose. He lep into action and plugged in a Densen amp. This was "The Naim Killer" and he cranked up the volume and sat beside me. His raised foot was waggling around like a waggly thing for some reason. I recall this as just being odd at the time. Now, with 15 years of time to become more cynical, this was his blatant attempt to let me know how much fun he was having with Densen, so I should too. I sounded harsh and metallic to me. I thanked him. I went to Montrose the next Saturday and had a long Naim demo. Never looked back. Still don't tap my foot though. Or even waggle it.

Dave

Bodger posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

I tend foot-tap when I play bass - helps me to keep the timing - a sort of inner click / metronome.

So for me foot-tapping is a necessity 

Adam, I am from the wrong school of bass, when I try to tap my foot I suddenly have three things to do instead of two and my foot gets left behind. I do tap my two playing fingers when following a bass track on the hifi though. Not sure if this counts.

Dave

 

I had to train my foot to manage that  Being a simple 'one-task-at-a-time' guy meant my head had enough of a challenge to handle both of my hands playing the bass.

While driving down the A1 today listening to Rostropovich, it crossed my mind that Naim for Bentley must be a serious health and safety risk. I'm not sure that an insurance company would be impressed when you explained you rear-ended someone because you couldn't stop tapping your foot on the accelerator. 

Following a bout of involuntary toe-tapping just now, it struck me that there are certain occasions when I am moved to such uncontrolled activity upon hearing music - and the trigger has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of equipment through which it is heard, yet rarely fails to have this effect. It is hearing a piece of music I love in an unexpected circumstance - in todays instance, background music during a programme on TV, hearing through the crummy TV speaker. And thinking about it, it is not uncommon for me to react that way -yet not a Naim or any other bit of hifi kit in sight!

Innocent Bystander posted:

Following a bout of involuntary toe-tapping just now, it struck me that there are certain occasions when I am moved to such uncontrolled activity upon hearing music - and the trigger has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of equipment through which it is heard, yet rarely fails to have this effect. It is hearing a piece of music I love in an unexpected circumstance - in todays instance, background music during a programme on TV, hearing through the crummy TV speaker. And thinking about it, it is not uncommon for me to react that way -yet not a Naim or any other bit of hifi kit in sight!

IB, I think you are onto something here regarding what provokes foot tapping. But I am listening to a Harry Manx album for the first time and blow me down my foot is a-tapping like a good un.

The mystery continues.......

(Part of me hopes this mystery is never solved and foot tapping remains an enigma).

Michael_B. posted:

Sadly foot tapping as a sales tool - transparently crass though it may be - is quite common.....

Some one in the last century told me that Linn told there dealers to do it when comparing LP12's to other turntables. I lived near Preston, a member of Staff at a dealer called Norman Audio told me about this a couple of years after he had left the HiFi retailing scene

djh1697 posted:

Michael_B. posted:

Sadly foot tapping as a sales tool - transparently crass though it may be - is quite common.....

Some one in the last century told me that Linn told there dealers to do it when comparing LP12's to other turntables. I lived near Preston, a member of Staff at a dealer called Norman Audio told me about this a couple of years after he had left the HiFi retailing scene

I have seen the foot-tapping sales strategy on occasion (mostly confined to HiFi shows) but it is so blatantly obvious and crass that few dare to indulge in it these days, certainly no Naim dealers I have visited.

Hopefully the days of treating hi-end HiFi customers as morons are behind us.

nigelb posted:

I have seen the foot-tapping sales strategy on occasion (mostly confined to HiFi shows) but it is so blatantly obvious and crass that few dare to indulge in it these days, certainly no Naim dealers I have visited.

 

I have seen it happen at some Naim dealers, admittedly it was a while ago, but then most Linn dealers are also Naim dealers

djh1697 posted:

nigelb posted:

I have seen the foot-tapping sales strategy on occasion (mostly confined to HiFi shows) but it is so blatantly obvious and crass that few dare to indulge in it these days, certainly no Naim dealers I have visited.

 

I have seen it happen at some Naim dealers, admittedly it was a while ago, but then most Linn dealers are also Naim dealers

If anyone sees this ridiculous display today, I would respectfully suggest the salesman in question is told to 'stop the ridiculous foot tapping fiasco, treat me as a potential customer and not a moron who might be swayed by such a fatuous display.'

You never know, you might just get a discount!

Depends on the music but dancing with the blinds closed or playing air (or real guitar) is more fun. 

Incidentally does anyone dance salsa - it's great fun and social scene is tremendous - sounds a bit odd from a hard core rock guitarist but the music is what counts and naim makes rhythm addictive!!