I was pretty sure I knew the answer to this one, given all the praise the ND555 has been rightly receiving, and, after all, I have always been a source first bloke. Well it turns out I know nothing!
Thinking it was time to move to the new streaming platform and take advantage of possibly one of the best streamers ever made, I was keen to hear the ND555 at home but, due to the steep incline in costs for future upgrades, any upgrading now will need to be done in stages. That means the ND555 will need to be able to show its capabilities with my current 252DR/250DR and MA GX300 speakers until such time I can pay attention these other components.
There is a problem though. In the back of my mind I remember the praise the 'classic' component in the Naim range, the 552, has received on a continuous basis over the last two decades. But that would need to work with my current NDS/555DR/250DR/MA GX300s. As luck would have it, my dealer happens to have both a mint pre-loved 552 and one of the first ND555s (so well run in). A plan was forming.
To solve this puzzle my trusty dealer set up two systems for me to listen to. The first - ND555/PS555DR/252/SuperCapDR and the second - NDS/PS555DR/552(non DR), both systems used with a 300DR and Kudos Titan 707s. I would listen to both and decide which I would take home for extended dem, the ND555 or the 552. A forgone conclusion, I thought.
I brought 4 favourite CDs which the dealer ripped and I listened to the system fronted by the ND555 first and waited with bated breath for the fireworks. But there were none. The initial problem I had was that the dealer's listening room was over double the size of mine and was less damped. I was also used to listening 'near field' but was further away from the speakers at the dealers. It took me a while to acclimatise and the system was, I believe, improving over that first hour of listening. No denying the detail and coherence on offer but I felt the whole presentation was a bit on the clinical side. I was a tad dissappointed and checked with the dealer that the ND555 was fully run in, and it was. Might it have been the 252 struggling a bit with the detail it was being asked to process, or was it the unfamiliar listening environment. Not sure, but something wasn't quite right.
So onto the NDS/552 based system. From the first track I could tell this was rather special, although I was still struggling with the brighter, slightly echoey listening room. Again, as this session went on things started to improve, either the equipment settling in or me becoming more in tune with the listening room, or both.
After a further hour of listening, I had decided it was the 552 I wanted to take home for an extended listen. But before it was packed up, the very accommodating dealer married up the ND555 with the 552 and this was when things really took off, even in those unfamiliar acoustic surroundings. It seemed to me that the NDS/552 was less of a compromise than the ND555/252, so off I went with the 552 for home demo.
I have been listening to the 552 in my system for much of today and have been pretty much blown away. I will save all the detailed descriptions for a couple of days when I have had a chance to listen more. But this 552 ain't going nowhere!
Posted on: 15 December 2018 by yeti42
Back when I was using Thiels from a 250 I found I could halve the toe in (from 1cm in 22cm to 0.5cm in 22cm, I didn't calculate the angular difference) around the time I put a supercap on the 282. As I was powering the superline from the pre it could have been source or amp that allowed this. They never made it to no toe in however without the depth disappearing. Having moved that system to a much larger room (7m by 6m instead of 3.8m by 4.1m) and back with the hicap on the pre I measured the final speaker positions after fine tuning their location by ear. Side wall distances was much greater but I was back to the earlier toe in and what surprised me even more, their distance to the back wall was identical to that I found in the smaller room.
Yeti, how do you judge what is best? Phil
Ok make that best so far. I start, listening from the centre, with both speakers back against the wall and move one forward until it sounds like nearly all the music is coming from that speaker. Using music with a wide range of bass notes I then move it by small increments to try for an even bass. The second speaker is then moved out to match it and there follows a lot of trial and error over an extended period with a variety of music adjusting lateral position. At this stage I’m listening from off centre as there’s two music lovers In my household and I know I can get a wide sweet spot to encompass two arm chairs because I’ve done it before, when that appears I’m nearly there bar a bit of fine tuning of toe in. Straight ahead gives the widest soundstage but a little bit of toe can add to the impression of depth, there’s a balance to be struck. I have Herbies Gliders under the speakers which makes moving them easier but initially I couldn’t get rid of the glare of a sharp piano so set up as best I could regardless of it. Three months with the system off and undisturbed and on our next visit the glare had gone and the system was sounding wonderful. I still don’t know what caused it but tend to think the Gliders needed to settle.
The Thiel CS1.6 needs a bit of wall reinforcement to fill out the upper bass/lower mid region. That first step with one speaker out can find several possible positions to work on but they’re not all equal in how well they suit, again it’s suck it and see.
Posted on: 15 December 2018 by nigelb
Must try me one of those 552s at home! Although I have heard a few demonstrations of systems with 552 in over the years, I have never heard a comparison with a 52 (what I have) or even a 252. Perhaps worth adding that a local friend has just had his system rebuilt by his dealer (nds/ 555/ 552dr/ 300dr into some big B&W’s with SuperLumina throughout) and he is absolutely over the moon with the improvement
As I have never heard the 52, although reading about it on here I know it is extremely capable, I have no idea how it would compare to a 552. What I do know is that the 552 moves everything on significantly from my previously cherished 252 in my system at home. But it was only a lengthy home demo where that became clear to me.
The home demo also proved that my NDS/555DR had far more to give in all important SQ areas as well as pure musicality. This demo also showed me just how amazing the 250DR is and that it is capable of revealing just how much the 552 moves things on from a 252.
Looking at your system, as we have the same source and power amp, I would expect that you would hear just how superb the 552 is, although I have admitted I have not heard a 52. But you will need a decent home demo to reveal the wonders of a 552, IMHO.
Oh and make sure you are prepared financially before you demo a 552 at home. Grabbing a pre loved 552, should one come up, like I did, will help.
Posted on: 11 January 2019 by living in lancs yearning for yorks
Phil - interesting stuff.
Geoff spent a good half an hour or so on listening, basic checking and minor tweaks, then replaced the mains block for a wiremold fed by a powerline - that all made quite a difference (including putting the block on a Tupperware box). We checked the sound as we went with a reference track. Then he put the 552 in and away we went.
The saxophone on Dave Brubeck at Carnegie Hall is sounding so mellifluous (don’t get to use that world often) but the overall thing is the wonderful timing. Also, the scale has increased and there is more (entirely balanced) bass now listening to King for a day on that same album and the double bass solo sounds remarkable.
Nigel - I am rather poor at putting sounds into words - I am the same when it comes to describing coffee flavours (my wife is rather good at that but utterly uninterested in the stereo) - but I have made some brief comments above.
I really didn’t want to like it - much cheaper to do without. But am rather smitten and it hasn’t warmed up yet
