SuperUniti-AV

Zorba,

A UnitiAV is an idea, but would it sell? And who to?

As an AV2 owner I keep looking at Onkyo et al, BUT just don't see any need to move.

At best it would be sideways, and in reality it would probably be a down-grade.

As the AV2 cost me on excess of £2k when new, that probably equates to nearly £3k with todays devalued currency. Could Focal, sorry Naim, improve the quality, add extra functionality, and then sell it for circa £2k?

Ultimately I suppose what drives my thoughts about changing is the 'HiDef' BlueRay formats. But these are only slightly less compressed sound, and I can get these off my Oppo and into my AV2.

I wouldn't see a UnitiAV as an AV2 successor, but as a machine to open up a new, cheaper, market ....which might be the point in this brave 'new' world.

M

M,

It makes me happy to read the experiences of very satisfied long term av2 owners that it only rubs salt to the wounds of missed chances to buy one. I only just missed an ex demo last month (maybe the last one existing) I took too long to check my account before I hit the buy button and it went - damn!

SuperUniti-AV who would it sell too? I would imagine all the potential new age customers it is aimed at and those already buying in to the Uniti range that it is actually expanding its range and product performance level. It is one box and has everything in it apart from surround.

I would bet a 555 9 times out of 10 that if it was up to the Mrs they would choose a one box all in one every time. 

With the risk of getting shot by everyone on this forum I bet that if Naim integrated a proper ipod/ipad dock on the top panel it would sell even more units (just before you all start shooting don't forget who the uniti is aimed at and also how many of us listen to ipods).

With surround pre outs and adding active speakers it remains a 1 box solution.

Just healthy conversation......

Z,

Know what you mean, wish I'd picked up a Naim Axent when they were going.

When I was waiting for the AV2 to see the light of day I toyed with buying an AV1, a shop had one going for a song - still wish I'd given that a go as well.

If your priority in AV is music I think the AV2 is in a league of its own. If your into sound steering then maybe not.

Just had mine re-fettled by Naim HQ.

M

ND5 XS - another new product. I wish every success and more to come, I don't wish to keep flogging what may be a dead horse but can we expect ANYTHING AV?

Ahhhh my dear Mr. Underhill...

The Axent is a real treat ... we didn't have complete sets of parts here at the factory when I first wanted to get one so I couldn't build one but I did manage to obtain a rather poorly looked after one secondhand as a "second chance" offer on a well-known auction site. One of the guys here checked it out for me and after extensive counselling due to the mental anguish caused by the state of the cabinet (it has a few "knocks") it has been singing sweetly for me for about 18 months now. Huge, yes, but definitely a superb centre if you can accomodate it.

Not so sure I would agree with your comment about the AV2 and sound steering though ... it's not as blatantly "movie" as some processors I'll agree but mine still catches me out on a pretty regular basis with a well-placed subtle effect. It's still a blindingly good processor and I think that even on DD or DTS soundtracks still sounds better than a lot of modern kit on the HD audio tracks from BluRay.

Phil

Without wanting to upset you Phil is there a subtle hint in the last post to not hold our breath and make do with what is now stopped production?

Just a little off subject - we know that the old DVD5 was probably the best musical dvd player produced. I read somewhere on this forum that musically even that was bettered when fed digitally in to the AV2. My question to all that may know is how good is the dac in the AV2 when playing AIFF?

Has anyone here using an AV2 felt the need to add something like a cambridge audio dac or v-dac to their system? Obviously a Naim Dac alone or in the form of the Unity range would present a different challenge altogether.

I always say that I won't be drawn on what we may or may not be developing unless an annoucement has been made by either our PR people or Paul S.

My last post simply says that the AV2 is (IMO) an excellent processor that, support for the new "HD" audio formats notwithstanding, still betters much of the kit that is out there today.

Cheers

Phil

Hi Phil,

Thx for making me feel soooooo much better about the Axent.

As to the AV2, I suspect we don't disagree.

I have owned a fair few processors over the years, inc: Lexicon, Parasound, Denon, Yamaha and Meridian, and they basically didn't completely float my boat, not in the way the AV2 does, hence my sticking for the forseeable future.

BUT, on certain blockbuster type films the sound steering can be more obvious, or perhaps, as you put it, 'blatantly movie' on other processors; and sometimes that 'in your face' effect can be great.

What I love about the AV2 is its musical presentation, I love soundtracks and this renders them brilliantly, and atmosphere.

It is a great product. Unfortunately, I think that the fast moving world of AV, and its licence fees, is a poisonous environment for small HiFi companies. Naim gave it a great shot with the AV2, DVD5 and nVi, and I hope that that work has paid off in products like the Uniti & Qute; I suspect that Naim made very little from AV and will think very long and hard before re-entering the fray.

In the meanwhile it was good to have my AV2 re-fettled recently.

.....question, is there ANY chance that Naim might update the options on the AV2? Specifically, I'd love the LaserDisc entry to be changed to BluRay. Think I know the answer, but hey, don't ask - don't get!

Cheers,

M

You're welcome ... if I'd been feeling really evil I would have suggested you popped round one evening for a beer-pizza-and-movies evening.

Hmmm ... you see the way I look at it is that you can get kit that sounds great for movies but sucks for music...

(I'm specifically thinking of my old Yamaha DSP-A3090, my old Pioneer AX-10i and my Miller & Kriesel speakers.)

...they all sounded great for movies but were so uninvolving when used for music that I just never bothered listening to music on them. I even had a Meridian for a while (561? 565? 5 something...) and again it did boom-bang-scream-thud but just didn't make me want to sit and listen.

The AV2 on the other hand really revels in soundtracks. I hate to admit it but I watched "Burlesque" a couple of months ago ... and then watched it again straight after simply because it sounded so good ... and I may just watch it tonight when I get home because I'm now thinking about how good it sounded.

I couldn't possibly comment ... I think that the AV2, DVD5 and n-Vi are all products that were capable of exceptional performance though. I still have an n-Vi as a "bedroom system" and love it to bits!

Why not rename a couple of the inputs? You have the "User 1" and "User 2" inputs names that can be changed, no? Or have you already done that and need more than two user nameable inputs?

Cheers

Phil

What I meant to say there was:

"...the way I look at it is you can get kit that sounds great for movies but sucks for music and yet I don't think I've ever heard it the other way round."

The only concession I make to "movies" over "music" is that the AV2 runs a pair of n-Subs which aren't in any way connected to or used by the 252 for music.

Phil

Phil,

1. Thanks for the tip - just looked in the manual - RTFM!

2. The AV2 does not suck at anything, it is just tilted more towards subtlety than wham, bam thank you mam.

3. Like you I have a sub that is for movie only use.

When it comes to pure music, i.e. Music DVDs, I try and buy DVDs with PCM soundtracks, and play them back via the nDAC.

For DTS/AC3 Music DVDs I decided to keep my DVD5, you get so little for them - and they sound very good.

M

Thx Phil,

Input renamed.

Is it possible to rename the AV1 & AV2 to something other then MULTI. Just searched through the manual - it appears to be no.

Cheers,

M

Are you wanting to have the AV1 and AV2 inputs still tied together as a multi-channel input and just change the "Multi" tag? If so then no - I don't think that's possible.

Obviously if you have them as AV1 and AV2 then you can change their names to one of the two USER tags.

Cheers

Phil

Dear M,

I have seen in a previous post of yours that you use a 21:9 philips tv which is very impressive and I hope you are enjoying. When feeding the video to the tv and routing the HD audio through the AV2 do you experience any lip synch issues (picture and sound not in synch)? 

Hi Zorba,

No. Historically I have had some issues, but there are setting in the AV2, DVD5 and my Oppo83 to adjust the timing if needed.

WRT the HiDef soundtracks, there are a number of people on the forum who prefer the HiDef tracks. Personally I would say they are different, but on the whole I listen to the AC3/DTS track decoded by the AV2; but I wouldn't pick either as a winner.

M