Naim 272/ 250 and Totem Hawks

Giomak posted:

Got the system up and running and it just gets better every day.  I liked the Super Uniti for 4 years but this is just in a different place.    I am streaming and hearing stuff I have never heard before and now get the PRAT piece.  The bass from the Totems is just right for my ears.

A great sound....XPS DR hmmmmmmm.   Any other suggestions ?

G Mac

 

Enjoy?

G

You have a brilliantly balanced system Giomak. Just boogie.

The obvious other suggestion is the 555PS. That having been said, the advice offered by Graeme and the Kiwi cat is sound. I would add to that and suggest buying more music.

Giomak posted:

Got the system up and running and it just gets better every day.  I liked the Super Uniti for 4 years but this is just in a different place.    I am streaming and hearing stuff I have never heard before and now get the PRAT piece.  The bass from the Totems is just right for my ears.

A great sound....XPS DR hmmmmmmm.   Any other suggestions ?

G Mac

 

Since you asked I would suggest SL DIN-XLR between 272 and 250. Works great in my system. I would do XPSDR first however. 

Lovely sounding system.

I’ve owned the Hawks then the Forests. Now have 272/250DR combo linked to PMC 25.23s.

Blew up 2 drivers on my Hawks so thought I needed bigger speakers hence the Forests!

I have Hawks and love them - running off a UnitiCute2 and NAP100 in the lounge. I’m shifting the Cute and NAP downstairs to a new media room and will run them through old Acoustic Research 22BX speakers. I’m getting the Nova to push the Hawks as an upgrade. I’m wondering whether to move to Forests off the Nova and the Hawks to the media as an upgrade stage 2, or whether the Hawks will work best with the Nova and go for a different speaker in the media room.

Mike, just wondering if you’ve had the opportunity to listen to the Nova with the Totem Hawk ...

Klout10 posted:

Mike, just wondering if you’ve had the opportunity to listen to the Nova with the Totem Hawk ...

 

I have thank you, its been a throughly enjoyable journey. I set the new system up yesterday, the new Nova with my few-years old Hawks. The lift in sound from the Hawks using the Nova is breathtaking really. All the natural presence of the Hawk sound stage lifted up a few notches - fuller and more open, deeper and fuller bass, crisper treble and full mid range. And the Nova still needs a months burn-in, so more joys to come. It proves how much additional front end power and quality will push even better performance through the speakers.

I also tried the Forest Signatures at the dealers, run off a burn-in Nova. That's another level up again, all of the same, just better and fuller. I think that budget depending, that would be the ultimate setup, but if you have Nova's (or that's your budget limit) they are an excellent match. For me, a final end game would be the Forest Signatures with the Nova, no upgrade-itis after that.

I now need to try the Hawks back with the UnitiCute2/NAP100 in the media room, in place of the 30 year-old Acoustic Research 22BX's. It's a different, and smaller room with good acoustics. The 22BX's are actually pretty good, they were top notch back in the day, but I need to run a real life comparison off some bluray music videos.

Options are to go with the Nova/Forest Signatures in the larger lounge and the UnitiCute2/NAP100/Hawks in the media room, or stick with the Hawks off the Nova and the UnitiCute2/NAP100/22BX's in the media room. The first option is a $10K (NZ) investment, the second no more money!

Anyway, Hawks on the Nova are excellent. Forest Signatures better again, but twice the price. 

Thank you for your extended review, much appreciated!