Nap 300 into Briks - oh yes!
Posted by: Richard Lord on 08 November 2014
Elsewhere in other threads, I have alluded to my upgraded system, so I would like to clarify and enlarge the hints in the other posts. I also want to avoid posting in George's thread and inadvertently either skewing or unintentionally high jacking it 
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History: My system is a little idiosyncratic. It suits me, which is all that matters. For many reasons, I prefer simplicity and a minimal box count. I also enjoy a digital source only, my Mac Mini with its associated iTunes which I control from my iPad. Actually, it is not quite a single source as I feed my television digital out into the V1 for the fairly infrequent times I watch television.
The system originally consisted of the Mac Mini, into the V1 then a 250.2 into PMC OB1i’s. A pleasant and enjoyable sound. However, things were about to change.
Whilst browsing on eBay, as one does, I found an offering by someone who was selling a pair of refurbished Isobariks. The photo shots showed what looked like an immaculate pair. He claimed they had been completely refurbished and they looked it. He offered a free delivery and install service, so after a chat I bought them. A rather spur of the moment decision, but that is the Celt in me.
Simon, the seller, turned up at the agreed time to install and did a very meticulous job. It took him well over 2 hours with just short breaks for coffee. As an aside, he even gave me a written 5 year Warranty, with a promise to do any needed work by returning to my home. He comes across as a keen enthusiast for the Briks in particular and for Naim in general.
I was utterly gob smacked by their sound. No way was I expecting such an improvement. These are 25 years old for goodness sake. My only caveat was their tough load on my 250.2. I was told by Naim this was perfectly OK and if the worst happened it would shut down to protect itself. Fortunately, it never did shut down. I have no doubt they know what they are talking about, but I did not want to provoke it into doing any such thing, so I kept the volume reduced on heavy Rock. There was no noticeable heating on other genres, such as pop, jazz or classical.
This heating continued to be a small but niggling irritation to me, so being a man of extremes 
I decided to do something about it. After exchanging Emails with people and reading a lot, I decided to upgrade to the Naim 300, just to reduce this heating effect. On paper the 300 has only an extra 10 Watts more power, but I was assured by J.N. to try it. He promised to eat his hat if I did not notice any SQ improvements, quite apart from running cooler. A risky thing for him to say, but as it turned out he was safe.
Then fortuitously, I was offered a 300 from someone who had upgraded to the 500 series. As long as it runs cooler I thought, I would be satisfied. I totally under estimated the 300 amp. I should have been prepared for what has happened. The difference was immediately obvious and outstanding. After installing it last night, I switched it on with some trepidation. Just a quiet almost muted thump from the Briks. I left it for a few minutes to settle down, then using the HIFI News test disk, I checked phase and left/right settings were all correct before trying it out.
Better? Oh yes, better in all sorts of ways. The most obvious to me was a greater sense of depth, even to really old recordings. On went some heavy rock, first Pink Floyd, The Wall, followed by AC/DC, then Talking Heads, then Metallica, etc. BTW, I am not primarily interested in Rock, I ordinarily prefer old 1960's pop, AOR, jazz, and classical. I just wanted to reassure myself my original reason for the upgrade was valid, which it certainly was. The 300 ran cool throughout my session. I was impressed.
More importantly, the 300 was a very real improvement in SQ. On Rock the bass was noticeably tighter, yet somehow deeper. Maybe this is because the tighter control was allowing notes to be more clearly discerned. That was just one obvious manifestation of the many all-round improvements I was noticing. It is possible that part of this improvement is despite the heavy load the Briks impose, the 300 has far greater reserves of power and can handle it all without strain.
I still insist the 250 is a very good amp and can handle the heavy load, but runs a little hot under hard driving into the Briks, whereas the 300 not only runs cool under heavy load at volume, but sounds absolutely brilliant - another step up the ladder. Remember, this is with supposedly just an extra 10 Watts of power availability. Of course, that is not telling the whole story. There is much, much more to the design of an amplifier than its published power rating. All this is why I would never replace my Naim with any other amp. (Aside: I very nearly deleted that last sentence for fear of it being interpreted as a sycophantic rant about Naim - it is not intended that way at all. It is just the way I feel about my system.)
On another note, my V1 appears to hold its own very well here. I believe it punches well above its weight and if you are an analog fan and wanting to try digital I am sure it is well worth your time auditioning. I am not doubting the system would receive yet another nudge in performance if I were to go after say, the NDS - no way, I cannot afford it 
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I can say with absolute certainty, that what I have suits me perfectly.
Here is the final system:
https://imageshack.com/i/f0pAymPYj
The full story is here:
https://imageshack.com/user/GW3NCT/a
Happy listening
Richard
The 250 is absolutely fine for driving Briks of course, but they're one of a small collection of speakers that really respond to improvements in amplification. Listen to a pair driven actively by three 500s - they really sing then! (bit pricey though...)
I am going to have to visit my lawyers. I will hold you entirely responsible for making me bankrupt 
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I am sure you are correct, a 500 would do even more, but I have to draw a line in the sand and the 300 represents that line. Of course, you could always sling me one of your spare units, Tony 
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@bluedog - I agree, the 250 is a superb amp. No quarrel with that. I just used the heating effect as an excuse, I believe, to upgrade. Audiophiles will stoop to any depths to obtain an improvement .
Happy listening
Richard
Some nice pictures there, Richard. Your listening room looks lovely. Very inviting and cosy.
I'm not familiar with 'Briks but the bass driver looks very like the one that used to be in big Kef speakers. Or am I imagining things?
Thanks, I like it .
You are right, well spotted that man. The bass unit is the Kef B139.
Happy listening, Richard
The 250 is absolutely fine for driving Briks of course, but they're one of a small collection of speakers that really respond to improvements in amplification. Listen to a pair driven actively by three 500s - they really sing then! (bit pricey though...)
I am going to have to visit my lawyers. I will hold you entirely responsible for making me bankrupt .
I am sure you are correct, a 500 would do even more, but I have to draw a line in the sand and the 300 represents that line. Of course, you could always sling me one of your spare units, Tony .
@bluedog - I agree, the 250 is a superb amp. No quarrel with that. I just used the heating effect as an excuse, I believe, to upgrade. Audiophiles will stoop to any depths to obtain an improvement .
Happy listening
Richard
Hi Richard, you'd be very welcome to one of the many spare 500s I've got kicking around here, just got to dig them out...
Right, Tony. I will hold you to it, but I might want to consider going active, so one will not cut it 
, so you had better dig out 3 .
Richard
Richard,
What a beautiful DMS!
What is the vintage?
Hi kuma,
It was built February 1988, I believe. However, it appears to be to the almost last version. Meaning, no distinguishing marks to denote either PMS or DMS, plus it was built for the external crossover, which is situated at the bottom of the stands. Hence the infill panels to hide it.
The earlier models had internal crossovers and were very difficult to change from DMS to PMS. The external crossovers have links which can be cut to give a sort of quasi-active setting. Requiring three stereo amps. Or this crossover can be bypassed as there are 4mm sockets at the back for a direct connection to the units.
From photographs, the external crossovers are far bigger, at least in board area. No idea if the components were enlarged or just transferred onto a larger board.
I feel honoured, as I see you are number 1 in Forum rankings, or as we would say in the Navy, of Commodore rank .
Happy Listening, Richard
Richard,
I use a much older DMS ( '81 vintage ) with much simpler XO than yours. I also have a newer PMS.
A few years ago I purchased a pair of In-stand XOs from another Brick user. Passive xover became redundant when he switched over to active.
His beautiful pair was also 1988 vintage.
You can check out his system here.
So, I'd reckon your xover looks like this, right?
I had them recapped by my dealer and had the links restored in case I want to use them with my newer pair PMS.
I would think they sound very different from their simpler xovers intended for Naim amps and that folks who have heard them confirm it.
It seems that after Naim/Linn split, the xover got bigger and more complicated. Designed specifically for Linn amps. ( makes sense )
I would still love to try the newer Xover to see. My guess would be they should be much more neutral sounding than mine.
Once I got to know what they do well, I realised that there are very little substitute today. They keep surprising me by coping with upstream changes.
Anyways, congrats on your DMS and hope you enjoy them. Take good care of them and they reward you with musical insights!
Bonjour Richard,
I like your idiosyncratic system! John had told me you had purchased Isobariks!
I really understand your preference for simplicity and a minimal box count!
The Dac-V1 seems to be an amazing piece of kit, I just wish it had one analog input and i.tuner!
Like you I wasn't expecting much when I swapped my 250.2 for a 300, but I was right away so impressed with the 300!!!
Enjoy your system and keep posting about how it performs
Regards,
Edouard
Richard,
I use a much older DMS ( '81 vintage ) with much simpler XO than yours. I also have a newer PMS.
A few years ago I purchased a pair of In-stand XOs from another Brick user. Passive xover became redundant when he switched over to active.
His beautiful pair was also 1988 vintage.
You can check out his system here.
So, I'd reckon your xover looks like this, right?
I had them recapped by my dealer and had the links restored in case I want to use them with my newer pair PMS.
I would think they sound very different from their simpler xovers intended for Naim amps and that folks who have heard them confirm it.
It seems that after Naim/Linn split, the xover got bigger and more complicated. Designed specifically for Linn amps. ( makes sense )
I would still love to try the newer Xover to see. My guess would be they should be much more neutral sounding than mine.
Once I got to know what they do well, I realised that there are very little substitute today. They keep surprising me by coping with upstream changes.
Anyways, congrats on your DMS and hope you enjoy them. Take good care of them and they reward you with musical insights!
Hi kuma
Yes, that board looks exactly like the ones I have. I was told by the seller that the person he bought them from had used them as passives for less than a month, then had gone fully active. So he packed these boards away in their original boxes. fortunately, included them with the sale. So they had never had any real use. They look clean, no hints of any component changes and certainly no burn marks around the resistors (a typical sign of over driving).
I the doubt I will ever replace them.
Happy listening
Richard
Bonjour Richard,
I like your idiosyncratic system! John had told me you had purchased Isobariks!
I really understand your preference for simplicity and a minimal box count!
The Dac-V1 seems to be an amazing piece of kit, I just wish it had one analog input and i.tuner!
Like you I wasn't expecting much when I swapped my 250.2 for a 300, but I was right away so impressed with the 300!!!
Enjoy your system and keep posting about how it performs
Regards,
Edouard
Hello Edouard,
I agree about the missing analog input to the V1. I believe Naim missed a trick there. It does not bother me as I have no need of it, but most users do need at least one. I have been half expecting Naim to bring out a full width unit with at least two analog inputs, plus the option of an external supply.
Perhaps it might cut into their dedicated analog preamp market .
I am still discovering new things as I work my way through my music. Isn't HiFi wonderful?
Happy listening
Richard
I use a much older DMS ( '81 vintage ) with much simpler XO than yours. I also have a newer PMS.
A few years ago I purchased a pair of In-stand XOs from another Brick user. Passive xover became redundant when he switched over to active.
His beautiful pair was also 1988 vintage.
You can check out his system here.
Anyways, congrats on your DMS and hope you enjoy them. Take good care of them and they reward you with musical insights!
A wonderful Californian Brik System Kuma, I remember it well .
Last time I was with Chris we replaced a couple of tired B139s and the tweeters. it sounded amazing!
KR
Peter
Peter,
Yes. Chris told me about that!
Those KEF139s & 110s are dear. I hope I never have to replace them.
But over all scheme of things much cheaper than replacing the ATC drivers in the DBLs.
Hi Richard,
They look great.
A few years ago I saw a pair of 'Sara's advertised in the Friday Ads, would you believe, for a very low price and was VERY tempted, decided no - but do feel that it would have been worth a go. The 'bariks are too big for my living room!
Do you use them for AV duties too?
M
No, I do not have home theatre. I am a strictly stereo type .
I once had Saras. Pleasant but not earth shattering. The guy who sold me my Briks, offers a full in your home demo before buying. I took advantage of that, after paying him a deposit. I then paid via Bacs once it was installed and I was happy with it. A very clever business plan, so far as I can see.
Happy listening
Richard
Richard,
Are you running the Briks with one of your subs?
Richard,
Are you running the Briks with one of your subs?
Absolutely not .
i did have a Studio, the biggest we made. It was too physically big in my room. So I gave it to my son-in-law - he has a home theatre setup.
That was why I went after the PMC's. They were reasonable, although I always had a nagging doubt about the small size of their bass units. Now I have real bass, absolutely no requirement.
I am am one very happy bunny .
Happy listening, Richard
Originally Posted by DavidDever: That (DAC-V1 into NAP 300 into Isobariks) sounds like a great system!
(kuma -> office system!)
David,
V1/300 experiment sounds interesting but the 52 isn't going anywhere!
Olive Supercap just came back from AV Options and sounding nice as ever.