1st week with my new system (500-DR, n272, Focal Scala V2 Utopia)

I recommend getting a calibrated mile (e.g. a miniDSP UMIK-1) and a copy of REW and using this to check and optimise your room response.

One thing to check if bass response is ‘weak’ is phasing of speaker cables - make sure that one of them is not inverted either at an amp or a speaker end.

Congratulations on a great system.....

one of the keys to achieving  the optimum performance is going to be room acoustics...as you have already realised...

companies such as GIK acoustics will provide recommendations for free....

Having the right Room treatment is extremely effective ...... their is no point tweaking the system until you have sorted the room

as you rightly say....work to do.... 

Adam - yes I have triple checked phasing.  Initially I had the left/right speaker placement incorrect, but fixed it.  The +/- connections are all correct.  Thx

Business in the front. Party in the back!

Huge posted:

I recommend getting a calibrated mile (e.g. a miniDSP UMIK-1) and a copy of REW and using this to check and optimise your room response.

Even a calibrated mike, as in microphone!

I concur with this, as it will enable you to see what is happening in the room. I had a major bass cancellation at the listening position when I moved into my current room and positioned things where I had planned - REW ‘Room Equalisation Wizard’, which is free analysis software, showed helped me understand the problem and assess alternatives, and resulted in a complete change in positioning of both the speakers and the listening position. And if/when you go for treatment, some companies, GIK is one, can accept REW files and interpret them to provide good guidance on appropriate treatment.

There are a few things. Firstly, you have a classic mullet, which is a mistake many people make. The bare 272 is out of its depth with the 500 and the Focals. This impact will be reduced when the 555PS arrives, but I’m still doubtful. A 552 and NDS or ND555 would be far more appropriate. To assess sound quality you need to be streaming at least CD quality music from the QNAP, ideally in or transcoded to WAV, and I wonder if you are doing that. Tidal won’t sound anything like as good, and the Project is even more out of its depth than the 272. 

The speakers are not my cup of tea at all, but they are capable of very deep bass and a huge soundstage. They need a big room and a lot of distance from walls to do that. I wonder how big your room is. If it’s too small, all the room treatment in the world won’t help, and you may be better with smaller speakers. To get tight solid bass the room needs to be solid too. We have solid fire doors on our room, which weigh a ton. They are not expensive and may be worth looking at. 

Perhaps a silly question - have you screwed the spikes in? Our Skala Evos were bass-light without them in! 

20amp supply? 30amp is what Naim suggests. MCB Type C. Not sure if it will make any difference however. 

He mentioned they were on castors

So no spikes at all yet ...

Popeye posted:

20amp supply? 30amp is what Naim suggests. MCB Type C. Not sure if it will make any difference however. 

The OP is in the US so it seems to be a choice of 15 or 20A circuits.

Agree with Hungry, and I know you don't want to hear this, but it is terribly unbalanced. Naim recommend a 250DR or a maximum 300DR as a match for the 272. I'm not knocking the 272, it's a very capable pre amp come streamer and matched with the correct power amplifier makes superb music. (I have 272 / 250DR). Your power amps really need a more capable front end and pre amp to show off the quality of the power amp and speakers. You will also need spikes for the speakers as others have suggested. Lastly did you audition the various combinations that this price level provides? Rich 

Regardless it is a mullet or not, the first thing is to get the bass right. REW was already given as an advice.

Casters won't work to get a honest representation of the bass - at least that was my experience on my Ovators. Spikes and good floor protectors are much better to experiment with - as said by others too.

Maybe you need a sub to get deep bass in the smallish room.

Get your gear set up on a proper rack with the PSU when it arrives, correct cable dressing etc. and get the speakers on proper spikes ( with floor protectors if nec.) If you still can’t get it sounding right, you could seek the help of a Naim dealer. 

I, too, am not a fan of your speakers, and it could be that they are not a match for your room. You could consider trading them in for something different. 

I have not screwed in spikes to the speakers yet, but will do that soon.  My floors are nice hardwood, and would like to protect them from the spikes.  What are some floor protectors you guys recommend?

Today I will look into a calibrated mic and a copy of REW software. At quick glance the miniDSP UMIK-1 is reasonably priced. 

Appreciate all the suggestions here. I can't get rid of this feeling of sickness in my stomach...like I've gone horribly wrong with my investment. At this point I'm living with my decision and will put in work to figure things out.  

There are lost of floor protectors around, including Naim ‘Chips’. 

Don’t give up, you’ll get there!

As to flor protectors - use anything, even coins for now. But get the speakers on spikes - it will tighten up the bass considerably.

As to the system - your N272 does need a separate power supply - 'unfortunately' given the rest of the system you are looking at 555PS DR to get it to gel together (see [@mention:4804681823084713] post above).

Spikes may refine the bass, but castors will not be the cause of low bass missing completely. And I don’t recall allegations that the 272 cuts low bass, so even though it may not be the best of sources and limiting in quality such that a better source would bring refinement, I would not expect that to be the cause of low bass missing completel - though maybe I’m wrong and it diesn’t go low?

Missing bass is much more likely to be due to room cancellations or a fault with the speakers - assuming that they are in phase, and that there is output from the woofers over part of the bass spectrum, the former would seem worth exploring.

Even before getting a microphone, if you walk atound the room is the bass present in places other than the listening position? If not, try moving the speakers a few feet (any direction) and same question? If room cancellation is the issue them there should be strong bass in some parts of the room, while it can be completely missing in others.

Just thinking about speaker phase, if any doubt just swap the red/black over on one of the speakers, and listen to the difference - out of phase will  generally making bass weak, worsening at lower frequencies (except where the bass is present in only one channel), plus there can be a defocussing effect higher up.

Adam Zielinski posted:

As to flor protectors - use anything, even coins for now. But get the speakers on spikes - it will tighten up the bass considerably.

As to the system - your N272 does need a separate power supply - 'unfortunately' given the rest of the system you are looking at 555PS DR to get it to gel together (see [@mention:4804681823084713] post above).

Op says 555DR is on the way, so not unfortunate!

JeredH posted:

I have not screwed in spikes to the speakers yet, but will do that soon.  My floors are nice hardwood, and would like to protect them from the spikes.  What are some floor protectors you guys recommend?

Today I will look into a calibrated mic and a copy of REW software. At quick glance the miniDSP UMIK-1 is reasonably priced. 

Appreciate all the suggestions here. I can't get rid of this feeling of sickness in my stomach...like I've gone horribly wrong with my investment. At this point I'm living with my decision and will put in work to figure things out.  

That's part of the game. Personally, I really enjoy(ed) tweaking a setup until it works good.

I've done a possibly sillier purchase as you - I bought Active Ovators - similar size to your loudspeakers. Once they were there, my wife said that they were not going in the livingroom until the kids are grown up so they reside in my 4x4 meters home office now. It took a few months to get them right, but now they sound fantastic - also thanks to this forum. With help from this forum I got to know many ins and outs which were not known by my dealer (e.g. the so called 'active leads').

Careful positioning (half a centimetre makes a difference), floor chips and cabledressing were important.

I had to make one trade-off: not all music sounds right on this system. Not really an issue for me, 2 other systems are there.

I suggest to try to convince yourself to have an interesting journey ahead. I'm sure it will teach you in listening to a system.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Missing bass is much more likely to be due to room cancellations or a fault with the speakers - assuming that they are in phase, and that there is output from the woofers over part of the bass spectrum, the former would seem worth exploring.

Even before getting a microphone, if you walk atound the room is the bass present in places other than the listening position? If not, try moving the speakers a few feet (any direction) and same question? If room cancellation is the issue them there should be strong bass in some parts of the room, while it can be completely missing in others.

Just thinking about speaker phase, if any doubt just swap the red/black over on one of the speakers, and listen to the difference - out of phase will  generally making bass weak, worsening at lower frequencies (except where the bass is present in only one channel), plus there can be a defocussing effect higher up.

I definitely will use more time with speaker placement. I've spent about 5 hours moving these Scala V2's around one listening position.  Fortunately the Super Lumina cables are long and I can play around with the speaker placement.  I am curious how much difference the spikes will make versus castors. 

Throughout my testing of speaker placement so far, I have noticed a collection of bass on the one far corner of room, which is exactly what I suspected before ever connecting the system.  More time needs to be spent on things in my room. 

Ardbeg10y posted:

Regardless it is a mullet or not, the first thing is to get the bass right. REW was already given as an advice.

Casters won't work to get a honest representation of the bass - at least that was my experience on my Ovators. Spikes and good floor protectors are much better to experiment with - as said by others too.

Maybe you need a sub to get deep bass in the smallish room.

With those speakers and their 11 inch woofer? A sub would be the last thing I'd think he needs!

Don't panic or feel sick about your purchase

You mentioned that it was all good used gear ..so if you have to swop out one or two items to get the best sound..it should not be expensive and may even return some funds

There is no reason a 272 into a 500 shouldnts sound great ..it is only a question of setup I believe and you have time to experiment and adjust

Did you mention what the naim gear is standing on??

ChrisSU posted:

Get your gear set up on a proper rack with the PSU when it arrives, correct cable dressing etc. and get the speakers on proper spikes ( with floor protectors if nec.) If you still can’t get it sounding right, you could seek the help of a Naim dealer. 

I, too, am not a fan of your speakers, and it could be that they are not a match for your room. You could consider trading them in for something different. 

the Rack for my system was inherited from my old equipment. I'll get to it soon enough I suppose. 

I feel good about my cable dressing, however the setup is less than 7 days old, so it too will be addressed again & again.

I figure I will buy a microphone and get a REW reading. 

I wanted a loudspeaker for my room, and listened to several brands.  Starting with my hometown local EgglestonWorks, then several models of the Focal (Kanta no.2, Sopra 2, Sopra 3), Wilson (Sabrina and Sasha), and a few others. Of course, all of these speakers were played in rooms other than my own.  I do not have a local Focal dealer, and the closest one is realllllly far away. 

When I auditioned the various Focal speakers, it was through McIntosh power (mc611) and a McIntosh mc2600.  I listened to the Wilson's on Simaudio and McIntosh power.  Various streamers included a Bluesound Node.

Shame on me for buying the Scala V2's without listening, but others told me they are better than the Sopra 3.  Ugh.  I fell in love with the Sopra 3 at Park Avenue Audio in New York City, powered by McIntosh mc2600.  

As far as electronics, I bought Naim without spending a single second listening to it. I thought the 500 would be impossible to beat. 

I searched these forums and have read many mullet posts.  I won't give up, but have to admit I'm sick to my stomach. 

Later this week the Naim 555PS-DR power supply will arrive, and I'll get it connected to my n272 using a Burndy cable. 

Don’t get disheartened! I mentioned before my own problems in my room. But as I knew the system, the only change being the room, I knew it was the effect of the room. Absolutely no bass at all just where I planned to sit - and moving the speakers didn’t make a lot of difference. The listening position had to change as well, and I ended up completely rearranging  the room - and the missing bass came back!  Annoying, because everything planned for the room layout had to change, but all’s well that ends well, as they say! Once you’ve found where things work right, tweakery can commence, and the time to replace the castors with spikes is when tge bulk of your movements are over (assuming they improve things further).