Acoustica hi-fi show 2018.

dave marshall posted:

Hi Roger,

I'm vaguely thinking about moving on from my Neat MF 9's, and venturing into active speakers, so I wondered if I might draw on your experience with your SCM 100's.

First of all, do you think that removing my present 300 DR will result in my losing that, (often misused term), signature "Naim sound", or is that likely to survive, given that I'll be retaining my 552 DR?

As my listening room is not the ideal shape, are the SCM's in any way "tuneable", or are they fully analogue?

I'll contact Geoff to arrange a proper demo, and drive over, since I don't see Pete trundling over to North Yorks. for a home demo of a pair of these fairly large speakers!

Who knows, if I'm sufficiently impressed by them, making the change could be fairly painless, given the trading in of my 300 DR, and private sale of the MF 9's.

The fun never stops.

Dave.

Hi Dave,

I didn't lose the 'Naim sound' although I've never been an ardent supporter of that term either.  I believe it's the 552 that has the greatest influence on the music you hear coming out of the other end, so you'll not be disappointed losing your 300DR.  The ATC speakers are renouned for their flat presentation, and I heard that when the very slightly bright presentation of the B&W 802Ds was replaced.  I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Neat MF9s though.

My listening room is oblong (4m x 6.5m) with the speakers firing accross from the long wall.   The user instructions for the SCM series doesn't make a big play on positioning and they are front ported, so I'm guessing they are not too fussy, although for me I've placed them further apart than the 802s they replace.   There are a couple of tuning thingy's on the ATC amps, but the advice is 'don't touch these', so they are factory set up.  There's not a digit anywhere I can see, either.

I have to say at this point, I have the stand mounted version, not the floorstanders at the show, although it was these very same floorstanders that I had for about 3 weeks, first in passive mode (when I nearly sent them back with a "No thanks" message), and then in active, aka "Wow", mode (it's a 15 minute change over).  The stand mounts, now I've actually got them, are actually better than the floorstanders; difficult to describe, but a more open and deeper sound stage - the actual SQ was the same in each mode.  The reason I went for stand mounts was simply that I didn't fancy paying about £3,000 for an extra 15 inches of cabinet !   The improved presentation is a bonus, and SWMBO likes the stand mounts more than the floorstanders, so a double bonus 

You might disagree with me on the stand vs floor mount, but I'm certain you will not disagree when it comes to passive vs active !

With regard to demo's, if you're over to Acoustica for a listen, it's a further 11 miles down the A540 on the Wirral to my place where you'd be very welcome to hear the stand mounts in a domestic set up (driven by NDS or CD555 or LP12 and NAC552)  - let me know, I'm in most days.

Oh, and another thought, I've known Pete drive further than 100 miles or so to install demo kit, remember a pair of SCM100's 'ain't cheap!

Roger

rjstaines posted:

dave marshall posted:

Hi Roger,

I'm vaguely thinking about moving on from my Neat MF 9's, and venturing into active speakers, so I wondered if I might draw on your experience with your SCM 100's.

First of all, do you think that removing my present 300 DR will result in my losing that, (often misused term), signature "Naim sound", or is that likely to survive, given that I'll be retaining my 552 DR?

As my listening room is not the ideal shape, are the SCM's in any way "tuneable", or are they fully analogue?

I'll contact Geoff to arrange a proper demo, and drive over, since I don't see Pete trundling over to North Yorks. for a home demo of a pair of these fairly large speakers!

Who knows, if I'm sufficiently impressed by them, making the change could be fairly painless, given the trading in of my 300 DR, and private sale of the MF 9's.

The fun never stops.

Dave.

Hi Dave,

I didn't lose the 'Naim sound' although I've never been an ardent supporter of that term either.  I believe it's the 552 that has the greatest influence on the music you hear coming out of the other end, so you'll not be disappointed losing your 300DR.  The ATC speakers are renouned for their flat presentation, and I heard that when the very slightly bright presentation of the B&W 802Ds was replaced.  I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Neat MF9s though.

My listening room is oblong (4m x 6.5m) with the speakers firing accross from the long wall.   The user instructions for the SCM series doesn't make a big play on positioning and they are front ported, so I'm guessing they are not too fussy, although for me I've placed them further apart than the 802s they replace.   There are a couple of tuning thingy's on the ATC amps, but the advice is 'don't touch these', so they are factory set up.  There's not a digit anywhere I can see, either.

I have to say at this point, I have the stand mounted version, not the floorstanders at the show, although it was these very same floorstanders that I had for about 3 weeks, first in passive mode (when I nearly sent them back with a "No thanks" message), and then in active, aka "Wow", mode (it's a 15 minute change over).  The stand mounts, now I've actually got them, are actually better than the floorstanders; difficult to describe, but a more open and deeper sound stage - the actual SQ was the same in each mode.  The reason I went for stand mounts was simply that I didn't fancy paying about £3,000 for an extra 15 inches of cabinet !   The improved presentation is a bonus, and SWMBO likes the stand mounts more than the floorstanders, so a double bonus 

You might disagree with me on the stand vs floor mount, but I'm certain you will not disagree when it comes to passive vs active !

With regard to demo's, if you're over to Acoustica for a listen, it's a further 11 miles down the A540 on the Wirral to my place where you'd be very welcome to hear the stand mounts in a domestic set up (driven by NDS or CD555 or LP12 and NAC552)  - let me know, I'm in most days.

Oh, and another thought, I've known Pete drive further than 100 miles or so to install demo kit, remember a pair of SCM100's 'ain't cheap!

Roger

 

Many thanks Roger for your kind offer to let me have a listen.

At this stage, any thoughts on changing the Neats is more of "an itch which needs to be scratched", and, in the long term, may amount to nothing, Geoff's persuasiveness notwithstanding. 

I didn't make it to the show this year, largely since I didn't really want to stare pointlessly at the new ND 555, so maybe I'll put off the speaker demo until I can listen to that too. 

Last year, at the show, I was most taken with the Kudos active setup, and that may equally be a consideration, though, again, some serious demo's are called for, given the outlay involved.

Again, thanks for your thoughts.

Regards,

Dave.

pete T15 posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

pete T15 posted:

The ATC 100 Actives are very special indeed , If only I had the space  and no neighbours ... . 

.

Not sure what neighbours have got to do with it? They don’t have to be played loud  - indeed someone commented on how well they do at playing quietly. Space of course is another matter...

 

That is of course true  but temptation after a glass of red or 2 is another thing . I've never had any complaints and just had some insulated and acoustic plasterboard installed between the fireplaces so I need not worry . 

Space is an issue as my room is 3.7m wide but now 14m long . The 40s will fit perfectly and maybe the 50s but after 6 months of renovations I'm thinking very much along aesthetic lines .

Are aesthetics limited to visual beauty? What about aural? Having extended the room, maximising aural enjoyment should be a prioity!

IIRC Roger was concerned about appearance when considering these speakers, and tgere were suggestions as to how to improve them visually - but beautiful music sings for itself!

living in lancs yearning for yorks posted:

Forgot to say on the yoof listening to music angle - my daughters don’t seem to register the quality thing - it’s all about Spotify quantity. Oh well: give them time

if she goes for quality music than it's good. 

Polarbear posted:

dave marshall posted:

Hi Roger,

I'm vaguely thinking about moving on from my Neat MF 9's, and venturing into active speakers, so I wondered if I might draw on your experience with your SCM 100's.

The fun never stops.

Dave.

Tread very carefully Dave, you know how I feel about the MF9's and replacing them. 

 Make sure you do the right thing,

 Regards

 PB

Hi Nigel, 

As I've mentioned in my reply to Roger, at this stage it's certainly not that I'm having any doubts over the MF 9's, more of a "what if", scenario, much the same as your current journey on from the Arts.

I've no real experience of active speakers, as opposed to active systems, which I heard for the first time, and was impressed by, at last year's Acoustica show, with Kudos Titans and active Naim amps.

Whatever, if I do audition either Kudos or ATC speakers, I do think we're agreed that they will have to be something special to replace the Neats.

As I constantly say on here, "the fun just never stops, does it?"

Aw ra best,

Dave.

Innocent Bystander posted:

pete T15 posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

pete T15 posted:

The ATC 100 Actives are very special indeed , If only I had the space  and no neighbours ... . 

.

Not sure what neighbours have got to do with it? They don’t have to be played loud  - indeed someone commented on how well they do at playing quietly. Space of course is another matter...

 

That is of course true  but temptation after a glass of red or 2 is another thing . I've never had any complaints and just had some insulated and acoustic plasterboard installed between the fireplaces so I need not worry . 

Space is an issue as my room is 3.7m wide but now 14m long . The 40s will fit perfectly and maybe the 50s but after 6 months of renovations I'm thinking very much along aesthetic lines .

Are aesthetics limited to visual beauty? What about aural? Having extended the room, maximising aural enjoyment should be a prioity!

IIRC Roger was concerned about appearance when considering these speakers, and tgere were suggestions as to how to improve them visually - but beautiful music sings for itself!

I think the Active 40s could be the perfect "Compromise" they were referred to by ATC yesterday as the best value in their whole range and sounded incredible fed by the Auralic Vega G2 . 

rjstaines posted:

Yetizone posted:

- Naim NDS / 500 & Focal in the barn - Not exactly inspiring given the price and scale of the system on show. In Naim’s defence, its a huge unforgiving space to work with, even for that hefty system. I didn’t like the Focal Utopia’s overall sound,

- Bowers & Wilkins - Using Naim amplification. Just not for me. Again, could be the space, but I came out of the room a little disappointed. 

- ATC - I’ve never heard active ATC speakers before and found it a mixed experience. The room with the (huge) SCM100 active speakers was simply a case of where do I sign.

If anyone’s planning on visiting today, I’d make a point of visiting the Kudos room - the sound of the show for me.

Firstly Yetizone, appologies for the drastic editing of your post, but you touched on 3 items I wanted to comment on...

The Focals in the barn - I've always said a speaker looking like this would never cross my threshold... and the sound did nothing to pursuade me otherwise.

Bowers & Wilkins - this gentleman appears to think he owns the upper floor and is entitled to leave the door of his dem room open, with complete disregard for anyone else with the volume wound up high.  The Revox guy outside was totally drowned out and in my opinion would be justified in having his stand cost returned.  The B&W speakers themselves were, as you say, 'just not for me'.  ..which is why, when considering a change from my B&W 802 D2's, the D3's were a real disappointment, and why I now have the ATC 100 actives in place of the 802 D2s.

Your experience with ATCs was the same as mine six months ago when I first heard the active SCM 100's at an Acoustica store demo... "Where do I sign?".  Well, I signed (after borrowing them for a couple od weeks) and have absolutely no regrets.

Roger

Hi Roger, 

No problems editing the post at all

I just don’t know what it is about B&W speakers. I want to like them, but for some reason they just do not gel somehow - this has been the case every time I've had a dem or heard them at a show. Yes, agree, the rep also had the door open when I was there - and the volume quite high too. A little indulgent given the Revox stand so close by.

You know, I have to disagree about the Focal’s Utopia design in the main barn - I think Focal are very adventurous in their designs and this IMHO is to be applauded. The dark metallic blue / grey was a rather bland choice for such striking designs and would do little to persuade the doubters - my buddy along for the ride, likened them to a Samsung fridge, which amused me! 

Congratulations on the ATC SCM100’s - you lucky devil! I was genuinely impressed with them and they are certainly something special. Even at the low volumes they were engaging. Big though! Interesting observations and comments about the standmount variants - didn't know that was an option. Have you posted any pics?

Also, somehow, I missed the room with the active SCM40's

Yetizone posted:

 

The Titan 505’s look much better than in press photos too - and when the pending (larger) redesigned stands are released this will balance their top heavy stance. Impressive.

 

There are some good pictures on Sunbeam's blog (audiophile musings) including the network player internals - interesting to see the changes as they go up in price - I still reckon as a S/PDIF source, the baby ND5 will be a bit of a star in the range. 

As for the Kudos 505 speakers, it'll be interesting to see what they look like in the flesh (and with the new stands). They look a bit 'awkward' in the photos but given the quality and the superb looks of the rest of the range i expect they look a lot different when you actually see them for real. 

James

Sloop John B posted:

Halloween Man posted:

sunbeamgls posted:

Halloween Man posted:

Not surprised show goers have been impressed with atc active 40s - I've been using Hugo TT direct into a pair for around two years now. There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe how good this combination is. There is a caveat - you need a large enough room to take the low end of the speakers. My room is 4m x 4.3 and struggles. Forget the modest ATC specs, in reality these are full range foor-standing speakers.

I compared the 40 actives to the 19 actives in my room and there was a considerable difference. The 19 actives were pretty ruthless in comparison, sounding too forward/bright for my taste. Interestingly, I've recently tried the 19 passives and from memory much preferred them to the 19 actives. They were much more forgiving and I perceived them to be less forward/bright. I'm not sure why this is but reasons could be the additional 'clarity' that actives bring, better bass driver control, and also the height of the tweeter in comparison to my ears. With the active 19 floor-standers my ears were above the tweeter (not ideal) but with the stand mount 19 passives my ears were just above the woofer but below the tweeter (perfect). Both 19 active and passive were a perfect fit for my room acoustically with no noticeable bass issues.

Due to the bass issues with 40 actives in my room that I've been unable to satisfactorily resolve (I've tried everything that is domestically acceptable!) I've decided to trade in for 19 passives.

Hope this helps folks!

 

Swap out the Hugo for a Linn DSM (suggest Akurate level) and you could deal with the room.

Nah  Hugo TT is just too good.

Try Roon with DSP or room correction?

.sjb

Great suggestion, Roon and iTunes EQ worked remarkably well, best solutions I found. Only problem is that Roon applies EQ to all tracks being played, not just individual bass heavy tracks that you want it applied. There is also no way to switch it off and on remotely. Using iTunes you can apply to individual tracks but its a graphics eq (not as precise) and its a pain trying to set eq to the tracks you want it on, especially when you have thousands of tracks like I have. When using eq the back of my mind nags away at me that my audio is no longer bit perfect, which is daft as I can't hear any audible loss of sound quality when using a small amount of eq (-6db at 45hz).

The room correction software I have tried completely destroyed sound quality.

Halloween Man posted:

 

Swap out the Hugo for a Linn DSM (suggest Akurate level) and you could deal with the room.

Nah  Hugo TT is just too good.

Try Roon with DSP or room correction?

.sjb

Great suggestion, Roon and iTunes EQ worked remarkably well, best solutions I found. Only problem is that Roon applies EQ to all tracks being played, not just individual bass heavy tracks that you want it applied. There is also no way to switch it off and on remotely. 

You know it might be worth sending the Roon team a feature request - I bet they could devise a way to implement EQ on a per track basis, it would only probably need a small sidecar file either where the music is stored or in the Roon database to apply various presets or individualised settings on a per song/album basis.  Not looked at the mobile app much yet but must be a way to implement EQ on/off there too if it's not there already.

With their mobile app I'd love to change the categories on the left - I really want Album, Artist etc instead of the 'discover type' options accessible without clicking more.

Good idea Alley Cat

Just got back from the show and interesting to compare my impressions with others.

I enjoyed it as usual but overall some expectations were met or exceeded, others proved a bit disappointing.  I started with the Auralic/ATC room (I think the speakers were 40As, not 19As.)  Loved this setup which gave me a standard for comparison for the other rooms.  I then enjoyed the big Naim/Focal demo in the barn, more so than others it would seem but still the setup is no way worth the price for me.  Of the other rooms, the way the little Dynaudio speakers filled a big space was most impressive but overall I didn't feel the wow! factor which I found with the Contours and little Emit M20s (with Atom) last year.  Russell K is obviously enjoyed by many here but the floor-standers on offer failed to cohere into a fully convincing and realistic sound to my ears.  But then I didn't really "dig" Russell K's offering last year either -- they're just not for me I guess.  Surprisingly, one of the most disappointing demos was the Nova room.  I presume it was the speakers (Kantas I think, apologies if wrong) as I am sure a Nova ought to sound much better than this.  Then, on to the Kudos demo to which I would like to offer two awards, one for the finest sounds I heard and another for the worst music I heard!  I've not been a fan of Kudos up to now (I never quite got to grips with my C20s) but these Titan 505s were really special and showed just how good a 272 can be (at least with a 555 and 300) even if almost fresh from the box.  Definitely a sound I could live with long term, at least if they didn't boom in my listening room.  Finally, I returned to Auralic and ATC to see if my earlier favourable impressions were confirmed as they certainly were.  Indeed so much so that a visit to Hoole Road for an extended listen to SCM 40As and then Auralic with some of my own music seems in order.  I can feel my wallet trembling.

Roger

Yetizone posted:

Hi Roger, 

No problems editing the post at all

I just don’t know what it is about B&W speakers. I want to like them, but for some reason they just do not gel somehow - this has been the case every time I've had a dem or heard them at a show. Yes, agree, the rep also had the door open when I was there - and the volume quite high too. A little indulgent given the Revox stand so close by.

You know, I have to disagree about the Focal’s Utopia design in the main barn - I think Focal are very adventurous in their designs and this IMHO is to be applauded. The dark metallic blue / grey was a rather bland choice for such striking designs and would do little to persuade the doubters - my buddy along for the ride, likened them to a Samsung fridge, which amused me! 

Congratulations on the ATC SCM100’s - you lucky devil! I was genuinely impressed with them and they are certainly something special. Even at the low volumes they were engaging. Big though! Interesting observations and comments about the standmount variants - didn't know that was an option. Have you posted any pics?

Also, somehow, I missed the room with the active SCM40's

Well I hadn't but here they are just now.  In all honesty, they look less overbearing in real life than they appear in this pic.

Very smart Roger, they look great. The ambient lighting behind the speakers remind me of my recent stay in a Premier Inn 

Peakman posted:

Just got back from the show and interesting to compare my impressions with others.

I enjoyed it as usual but overall some expectations were met or exceeded, others proved a bit disappointing.  I started with the Auralic/ATC room (I think the speakers were 40As, not 19As.)  Loved this setup which gave me a standard for comparison for the other rooms.  I then enjoyed the big Naim/Focal demo in the barn, more so than others it would seem but still the setup is no way worth the price for me.  Of the other rooms, the way the little Dynaudio speakers filled a big space was most impressive but overall I didn't feel the wow! factor which I found with the Contours and little Emit M20s (with Atom) last year.  Russell K is obviously enjoyed by many here but the floor-standers on offer failed to cohere into a fully convincing and realistic sound to my ears.  But then I didn't really "dig" Russell K's offering last year either -- they're just not for me I guess.  Surprisingly, one of the most disappointing demos was the Nova room.  I presume it was the speakers (Kantas I think, apologies if wrong) as I am sure a Nova ought to sound much better than this.  Then, on to the Kudos demo to which I would like to offer two awards, one for the finest sounds I heard and another for the worst music I heard!  I've not been a fan of Kudos up to now (I never quite got to grips with my C20s) but these Titan 505s were really special and showed just how good a 272 can be (at least with a 555 and 300) even if almost fresh from the box.  Definitely a sound I could live with long term, at least if they didn't boom in my listening room.  Finally, I returned to Auralic and ATC to see if my earlier favourable impressions were confirmed as they certainly were.  Indeed so much so that a visit to Hoole Road for an extended listen to SCM 40As and then Auralic with some of my own music seems in order.  I can feel my wallet trembling.

Roger

I would try 40 actives with Hugo TT or wait and try with the Hugo 2 TT (not yet released but coming soon) and compare with the Auralic before buying. Hugo TT into 40A is really special.

rjstaines posted:

Well I hadn't but here they are just now.  In all honesty, they look less overbearing in real life than they appear in this pic.

They look fab! Especially with the stands - remind me of Linn 'Briks of old.

Another Sunday visitor just arrived home. The Dynaudio  Special Forty did a superb job of filling quite a large room and will be something I plan to follow up. My recent post on my Shahinians prompted me to check out possible speakers. Despite some tweaks resulting in improvements, the bass still dominates. The Kudos speakers sounded good, but I didn’t care for the music playing when I was there.

visited the Naim set up in The Barn. I have to be honest here, but I didn’t stay too long. How can such an expensive system with a 500 at the heart sound so disappointing.

Peter

The Spendor A7s were impressive too. Also the passive ATC on the end of the Naim system was superb.

rjstaines posted:

 

 

Well I hadn't but here they are just now.  In all honesty, they look less overbearing in real life than they appear in this pic.

They don’t look overbearing in the pic at all - they dob’t even look all that big, but then it is quite a long room.

Best in show- Dynaudio Special 40. Big sound from relatively small speakers with no hint of harshness, very relaxing to listen to.

Honourable mention for the Kudos 505 with an agreeable sound with no particular emphasis across the frequency spectrum. Also the ATC SMC 100 actives which were easily the most convincing in the sense of sounding natural and "being there." A bit wasted in the small room as they were barely ticking over given the power available.

The barn with the NDS/555PS/552/500 and Focal Utopias was Naim's flagship system but at c£70,000 it sounded overblown and lacking finesse, so not doing the company any favours.

On asking when the ND555 would be on sale, a Naim jobsworth said he was not allowed to tell me. OK I said but is it likely be this summer? Again the response was he wasn't allowed to say. This year? Same answer: bizarre. So what's the big deal?

Good heavens Jonn. A Naim “jobsworth”. That would definitely be a first. Could it possibly be that as of yet, no date had been set for availability, and fearing that anything they said might be quoted online/tweeted, and hence could turn out to be highly misleading, they decided to say, quite honestly, that they couldn’t say? 

I wasn’t there, it’s true, but it must quite possible, surely?

Richard Dane posted:

Good heavens Jonn. A Naim “jobsworth”. That would definitely be a first. Could it possibly be that as of yet, no date had been set for availability, and fearing that anything they said might be quoted online/tweeted, and hence could turn out to be highly misleading, they decided to say, quite honestly, that they couldn’t say? 

I wasn’t there, it’s true, but it must quite possible, surely?

So WhatHiFi must have made the following up: "All three of these players should reach the dealers by summer of this year. We can’t wait to try them out."

I wasn't asking for a precise date, just confirmation of the above.

Many similar thoughts being shared form the show today and I have to say a very enjoyable few hours spent listening to some great kit. Although i've only been to a few of these, i think it was one of the best shows I've experienced and i thought i might share a few additional thoughts. Apologies if its rather subjective rather than any great technical insight but I'm better able to convey musical enjoyment than analysis......

Really enjoyed talking to the chap in the Innuos room.  The system sounded lovely and, technically, i really liked the look of the interface and seeming ease of operation of their range

Russel K sounded nice, and don't mean that in a bad way, but I wasn't really inspired to sit and listen for a long time as i was when i first came across the range last year. I'd really like to spend a bit of time with this range of speakers and some of the music I enjoy playing to get a proper feel for whether it works for me or not as i get the feeling it might be great with certain genres but may be not all

ATC SCM50s sounded great and, with a couple of tracks in particular were absolutely stunning. I ended up there 4 times and if the chap from the demo room can share his play list so that i can use a couple of the tracks I heard to audition these in the future i think it may be well worth investing the time and sharing the details. I was soooooo impressed with the way these things got down so low, whilst being so quick and tight in the upper frequencies.  All i need to do now is figure out a way of convincing my wife they aren't pug ugly-frankly i don't care! The fact the the demo was done using an NDX, 252 and 300 rather than the top of the Naim range just increases my admiration. Wow

Across the hall, ATC active SCM100s. if this room had played a couple of the tracks i heard on the 50s I am sure I would have been figuring out ways of making a reasoned argument for giving these space in the house instead of the SCM 50s but i'm afraid i wasn't really able to hear what they may be capable of. However, having heard the way the smaller versions convey music the size and possible capabilities of these monsters at the low volume levels i heard  was just a little intimidating. hearing these, in the right place with the right track would doubtless be incredible......

Auriliac and the SCM40A. Wow, this guy knows his stuff.  From so few boxes i have never heard anything like the great sounds coming from the setup in this room. If i had to scale back at any point in the future i wouldn't have any regrets if this was the system i lived with 

Naim 500 and Focal room. Much has been said about the combination and i am sorry to say that I was left a little cold with this as I really wanted to be blown away with it. I'm sure the room didn't help but i have to say that i think a better showing of the brand was given by some of the other rooms.......

As much as i wanted to like the Kudos 505 i found this demo a bit of a let down, although I think I might be in the minority here. Maybe the music being played didn't show them at their best and this may highlight something I found at the show this year where tracks were a bit formulaic in some rooms and the ability to influence the choice was less easy than previously. Many of the rooms were being fed from what looked to be personal mobile phones and asking for a quick look at the library of tracks available is difficult in this case. 

Found myself back in the room with the SCM50s towards the end of my time at the show, and left with many thoughts about how these speakers could find a way into the house in the future. A great show, and hats off to Geoff and Peter for organising such a friendly and relaxed event, cheers guys!

Halloween Man posted:

Very smart Roger, they look great. The ambient lighting behind the speakers remind me of my recent stay in a Premier Inn 

That's a coincidence, Halloween Man, I stayed in a Premier Inn the night before I arrived home and my missus found these lights in my suitcase  

Jonn posted:

Best in show- Dynaudio Special 40. Big sound from relatively small speakers with no hint of harshness, very relaxing to listen to.

Honourable mention for the Kudos 505 with an agreeable sound with no particular emphasis across the frequency spectrum. Also the ATC SMC 100 actives which were easily the most convincing in the sense of sounding natural and "being there." A bit wasted in the small room as they were barely ticking over given the power available.

The barn with the NDS/555PS/552/500 and Focal Utopias was Naim's flagship system but at c£70,000 it sounded overblown and lacking finesse, so not doing the company any favours.

On asking when the ND555 would be on sale, a Naim jobsworth said he was not allowed to tell me. OK I said but is it likely be this summer? Again the response was he wasn't allowed to say. This year? Same answer: bizarre. So what's the big deal?

 

 

I suspect they don't know about the ND555, John.  I remember one of the early HDX software releases being 'anytime soon' for almost a couple of years (well that's what it seemed like to me).

As for the Utopias, I agree completely... not doing Naim any favours in that environment.  In fact you gotta' wonder if that appies to the whole Focal deal (unless their cash injection is funding the ND555 development, in which case "Veuillez continuer messieurs")  

rjstaines posted:

Jonn posted:

Best in show- Dynaudio Special 40. Big sound from relatively small speakers with no hint of harshness, very relaxing to listen to.

Honourable mention for the Kudos 505 with an agreeable sound with no particular emphasis across the frequency spectrum. Also the ATC SMC 100 actives which were easily the most convincing in the sense of sounding natural and "being there." A bit wasted in the small room as they were barely ticking over given the power available.

The barn with the NDS/555PS/552/500 and Focal Utopias was Naim's flagship system but at c£70,000 it sounded overblown and lacking finesse, so not doing the company any favours.

On asking when the ND555 would be on sale, a Naim jobsworth said he was not allowed to tell me. OK I said but is it likely be this summer? Again the response was he wasn't allowed to say. This year? Same answer: bizarre. So what's the big deal?

 

 

I suspect they don't know about the ND555, John.  I remember one of the early HDX software releases being 'anytime soon' for almost a couple of years (well that's what it seemed like to me).

As for the Utopias, I agree completely... not doing Naim any favours in that environment.  In fact you gotta' wonder if that appies to the whole Focal deal (unless their cash injection is funding the ND555 development, in which case "Veuillez continuer messieurs")  

Or perhaps, given the erroneous  price expectation given for the NDX2 at Bristol, they’ve been told not to give any information that isn’t set in stone to avoid another wave of discontent.