Disappointed with Star and path moving forward

Posted by: mech on 03 April 2018

Hi, I am a first time Naim user and first time buying Hi-Fi. I recently got myself Dynaudio Special 40 and Naim Uniti Star paired with a 2.5m Chord EPIC cable. I know the cable should be longer (3.5m), but I know no better at that time

Hearing the Star with my speaker is not a special combo to my ear. It just sound strange with all instruments unable to hear clearly enough. When I put on my cheap Klipsch IEM I can hear the instruments clearly, but the speaker unable to provide it. I can understand the Star is the best all-in-one (except of course Nova), so I am not terribly complaining much on the Star.

Is my source of frustration due to:

1. Speaker cable length? It must exceed 3.5m?

2. Star does not pair well with Dynaudio Special 40? I doubt so.

3. Can hear in the earphone does not mean projecting to the speaker you can hear it. Stupid question due to nearer to the ear.

If I were to upgrade, is the NAC 272 + NAP 250 DR a more significant upgrade than the Star. When I say significant, I really want it to hear a big difference when compared to the Star.

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by Huge

Hi Mech,

Interpreting all REW results obtained using a microphone is... well... quite convoluted.

However just tweaking the speaker and listener positions in the Room Simulation to get a flatter response is actually very easy (you can even 'drag and drop' the speaker and listener positions, then the readouts tell you the distance you've set in metres, or you can set the distances by typing into the readout fields).

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by mech

Sound indeed interesting to play around with it..

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by Huge

This is how I did the initial positioning in my room (I identified two possible configurations that were both practical and acoustically OK), on listening one was quite a bit better than the other.  The final positions after listening tests were all within 75mm of the positions suggested by REW!

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by Innocent Bystander

Two layouts to try, reducing the early reflections from your window - while also improving your view out of it!  (use the link if the pic doesn’t appear):

https://imgur.com/rTfz9nj

The first will reduce window effect because the high frequencies are fairly directional (be sure to have the sofa away from Rear wall).

The second also will reduce window reflections because of the angle. The lack of symmetry isn’t ideal, but may be overcome by the benefits. 

I can’t say how these will sound, but maybe worth playing with.

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by mech

I think REW is one objective way I can use to make some confirmation. I'll probably leave that off til the last resort thing to do after subjective ear testing haha

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by Innocent Bystander

REW is highly recommended if you really want to optimise, rather than just try a few different layouts. In my own room, which is an awkward shape, I had a lot of trouble and that is whe I got first used REW for that purpose - and wished I had do e so earlier, as with  REW I could  literally see the effect of changes, almost instantly, which made it far quicker to find the best speaker and listening  positions than if I had soent time listening after each change, maybe swapping back to be sure, etc.

Posted on: 05 April 2018 by mech

sound very worthwhile to give it a try sooner rather than later.. will download it (but need to buy mic)...