It's the one up in the living room. Watching TV the meters don't even move. Cranking a Blu-ray like "Master and Commander" gets them up to maybe 20 watts.
That is right in the Mac's wheelhouse! Should be about perfect as the amp gets. Try around 200, the protect does not even start flashing there, it takes about 300 for the amp to protect.
I wear a headset for testing the kit, as the 402 goes waaaaaay over the 400 mark under heavy use. Say what you will, but this is a killer Mac amp swinging wild volumes from stock. The meters bounce!
Not really SJ. As long as the speakers are facing that back wall where the front door is I will have major bass issues. I am going to get the couch and coffee table out from in front of the system, get the system on the side wall, spread out with nothing in front of it.
The wall of glass is pretty hard to get around, short of light killing draperies. The light is more important, I should think, for warming little Ava where she plays.
Nuck- Got a big pull down drapery made out of canvas material sort of like my projector screen.
David- I agree.Our next house I told Danielle has to have a single room where I can have a dedicated two channel system, another for a dedicated Theater and she can have the rest of the house.lol.
No more than the next 5 years I hope. I would to turn this place for a decent profit. Switched the room around today. Still not perfect but what an improvement. Opened the room up too. Looks like its twice the size literally. Love it. The NAIM blows my socks off. Now for the Totems.
Your stuff looks great Nick. The Nait makes me a bit jealous. Love that Naim sound.
As Art was asking, what speaker cables are you using? What other cables do you have too?
While cables make a difference, I don't hold their performance (especially their VFM) in the highest regard. Naim responds better than most to their own cabling. The NACA5 (Naim's speaker cable) works very well. It's about $10/ foot. Not dirt cheap, but not outrageous by any means. They also make/used to make RCA to DIN cables. Naim USA's website only lists the High-Line cables, which are about $1k and not what I was talking about. Naim also endorses using Chord Cables. For the longest time, Using anything other than Naim and Chord cables voided the warranty.
Also, be on the lookout for the Naim Tibia power cord. Not sure when they started coming standard with Naim gear. It was a good upgrade over the previous stock power cords. They were selling for $25. Maybe call Naim USA (or Canada if they have one) to find out if they still make entry level DIN to RCAs and how to tell if you have a Tibia or not? If you've got a Naim dealer, they should be able to help too.
And if you want a great rack (don't we all?), the Naim Fraim is the best looking rack there is IMO. At least audio rack-wise anyway. Very expensive, and I've never demoed it (or any other rack in that way), so I can't say if it's worth it or not. Looks like you just bought a new rack, so the point is pretty much moot anyway.
The Fraim would probably cost more than what it's holding, but it's just such a great looking rack IMO. The Maple or Cherry with aluminum is where it's at.
Then again, with the little one getting ready to walk around an explore Daddy's stuff before you know it, you may want something that'll keep little fingers and whatever they're carrying out. Doors on your rack may save you quite a few bucks.
All cables definitely make a difference, Art. No arguement from me. Some people go on and on about them. There was a guy on Audiogon talking about how great the Musical Fidelity V-DAC sounded with a $3k digital cable. $300 DAC connected to a $3k cable? The other way around makes far more sense to me and pretty much everyone else.
Just saying that components make far more difference than any cable I've ever heard. I've seen people get way too caught up in the cable game (not here, but a lot of other forums). I've always advised to sort out the components first, then fine tune the sound with the cables. For Naim gear, NACA5 and Naim interconnects are a no brainer and should be the baseline for performance. If for some reason those aren't doing it for you, then make a switch IMO.
Pretty sure we're both on the same page, even before that explanation.
I really don't see using a cable >$30 to carry a digital signal, let alone $3k! Even for analog, I typically use cables that are <$100 a pair unless they go over 8 ft. So far 8 ft are the longest I have ever used.
Thanks guys. Right now I am just using a 200 dollar pair of UltraLink interconnects and a glass bum UltraLink optical cable. For speaker cable I am currently using a pair I made myself with about 75 dollars worth of material and 4 hours of my time. Nothing overly good in my system for cables. I did get the Tibia power cable with the NAIM however which is one hefty momma of a power cable. I am looking for a used DIN to RCA cable from Chord online and will probably pick it up. Then I will nab up some NAIM speaker cable. I dont mind paying 10 dollars a foot. That is reasonable.
I actually looked at getting a NAIM Frame but shipped to me would cost 1250. wowsers. Thats a used pair of Totem Hawks almost.lol. I wanted something with a close in bottom but with a well constructed frame on it so I just went with the 350 dollar TechCraft. Nothing crazy but it is a huge improvement over what I had and looks much nicer/modern than the silver and glass. It also holds my Media Center properly so I dont have a huge box on the top of the stand.lol. I think I am going to pick up that DIN to RCA cable today. More pics to come.
You really don't have to spend a whole lot on cables. I was sorry I spent $120 or $130 (not sure) on a pair of 8ft AQ Sidewinders when 8ft AQ G-snakes sound just as good for $90. Then a guy showed me what he was sorry about. He spent over $1k for a pair of cables only to find out that they no better than G-snake. Now I don't feel SO bad.
$1250 is for a Fraim base, which will hold 1 component. Each standard-height shelf level costs another $850. So if you needed a Fraim for 3 pieces, you're talking $2950!
Check out some of the pics on the Naim forum's system pics threads. There's guys with two or three Fraims, side by side, with about 5 shelves in each one. Must be nice.
You don't have to spend a fortune however you do need to find quality and that usually ain't free. I've been sorry about the money I've spent on cables as well as other gear but am not one bit sorry about what I've spent on my Van den Hul cables.
That's just crazy! I could build my own for much less and it would be much stronger. Granted, it would be ugly as sin, but you'd be able to put 2 Mac 1200 monoblock amps on it and I guarentee you'd have to replace the amps before you had to replace the rack!
A lot of people have found that there's very little correlation between price and performance with cables. Some very expensive ones sounded great, and some didn't do anything to my ears. Same can be said for cheap ones. When buying cables, make sure you can return them for a full refund or sell them off for little to no loss IMO.
Once the new DAC comes and the system and set up are maximized, I'll get a handful of cables from my dealer to try out. He's got boxes of them in the back room. His approach is try a bunch of them out, buy what works best, and bring back the rest. I can't think of a better way to do it.
I hate how cables complicate things. You'd figure wires are wires and can't make a difference. I'd rather they not make a difference, but I guess you can't have everything.
You're dealer has the right idea, I just hope no one violates his trust so that he no longer does that. You would think that wires were wires in that as long as they are thick enough for their use, they'd suffice. However, many cable makers advertise the use of different materials that are supposedly better able to carry a given signal. For instance, AQ claims that using silver in subwoofer cable makes the bass cleaner. They warn you not to use it for full range audio. When I replaced my sub cable with the AQ, it sounded better. Was it the silver or just better wire? I'm guessing the latter.
I probably could have gotton a refund on the sidewinder, but I needed the cable and use the G-snake for another source. So, I don't feel any great sense of loss.
When I first started hanging around his shop, he took a credit card number/imprint as a collateral on gear that was lent out. His policy is if it doesn't come back on time, he'll give a phone call warning. If no timely response, he'll charge the card.
He hasn't taken my card info in a while. I'm sure there are several other regulars who he doesn't need to take there's as well.
Cool. I am told you havn't heard a NAIM until you hear it on its DIN connections. Its a very musical amp even on RCA so I am very curious to try it out on the DIN.
I personally can't see what could be inside a cable that would benefit by usage. Although I would definitely agree that it would take time to hear what the cable has brought to the system.
Some believe it isn't the cable that needs the burn-in, it's the insulating layer. I tend to believe that's at least partially true. The wire I use has a very thin coating and it seemed to settle in very quickly. Wire I've had with a thicker covering layer and harness seemed to evolve for a number of hours.
Regarding "You haven't heard a Naim until you've heard it's DINs," it's a little true. It's not going to sound like a completely different amp by any means, in a good way. Switching from RCA to DINs, I've heard a little better everything - less noise, grain, veiling, etc. The biggest immediate difference going from DIN to RCA was it seemed like it added a small layer of graying to the sound, if that makes sense. Went back to DIN and it was gone. The RCAs weren't cheap crap by any means. Can't remember what they were, upper end Tara Labs? I really liked them until I heard the difference between them and the DINs. The dealer said it's all RCAs in a Naim system that do that. The ones he used had less of it than most.
Can't go wrong with DINs in a Naim system. Haven't heard any DIN to RCA cables, so not sure if this makes as much a difference. Pretty sure you won't be crying about $35 if it's not as good as you hoped. I'd still get a hold of a Naim dealer or the distributor to see if Naim makes their own DIN to RCA that's not $1k.
Chris, I have had the same experience with my DIY cables and the MITs I replaced them with. Even when I had damaged my DIY wires and had to rebuild them I had to let them burn in a bit. It had nothing to do with getting used to them as they were the exact same wires I already had in place.
The MITs have Network boxes as well as multiple articulation points. There is significantly more there to work with which is why MIT says 2 days to get 80% there and 2 weeks to get them completely burned in. Then there is a period after that where you get used to the system's sound with the new cables in place. I found that MIT's timeline was accurate.
My old man gave me a new camera (well, new to me) so I can take good pics of my duaghter. Still trying to figure out how to use the damn thing. Its a Canon 400D for all you camera guys out there. Here's some updated system pics...
Covered up...
Full frontal...
My listening Buddy makin' sure everything's set up right...
That's actually a slimming angle for him! He's a big boy. He was 24 lbs before we changed vets. He's down to about 18 right now, and he's got another 3 or so lbs to go. 3 lbs doesn't seem like much, but it's a lot of a cat. We recently found out dry food is all carbs, which is really bad for cats. Switched him over to grain-free wet food on the advice of the new vet, and he's been so much better off.
The gear is sitting on hockey pucks. I wrapped the pucks with a little red hockey stick tape for aesthetics. Looks pretty cool IMO. The B60 sits very low, so the pucks raise it up to help with air flow, and to take some pressure off the cables.
Buddy is actually gray. Kind of like smoke. Not that I know much about cat breeds, but he's mainly Russian Blue.
Funny you guys say he looks like a bear. I always thought that, especially when following him around. He's got a bear-like walk. My wife shakes her head when I say it.
If there were such a thing as a husky breed of cat, mine would be it. He's got the blue eyes and beige and tan fur on his back along with a white chest & stomach. That with medium hair and a bushy tail make the look. He also has two black spots on the end of his nose, one above each nostril. He's a strange cat too.
I'm still waiting for my copy of Garage Inc. on vinyl, but I'm not sure Amazon is going to be able to find it! I ordered it in October. They are hoping to ship it this week, but they've said that twice before.
I agree about Death Metal. I like the hard stuff too, but you have to be able to carry a tune as a singer, and the music's got to have some melodic quality to it. If all you're doing is yelling like an idiot over a wall of guitars - nah, not for me.
Dan - Be careful with Garage Inc on vinyl. On my copy, and one or two others here, the speed is off on the side with the Garaga Days Re-Revisited on it. 33 is too fast, 45 is too slow. Really pi$$ed me off, because that was 90% whay I bought the album. I bought it from a local store, and we opened up all 5 copies he had to try to find one that wasn't like that. No luck.
He offered me a full refund, but I kept it anyway.
Thanks for the tip, Stu. Maybe that's why the vinyl was so cheap. $17, vs. $25 for the CD version. You don't see that too often (vinyl being cheaper than CD). I'll go and read some user reviews. Might have to cancel that order.
You wouldn't want a picture of my listening room. Trust me. I was thinking of tackling a remodel after I send my amp out for a tune-up and mod. I won't be using the room for a month or so anyway.
Pic's please folks! Make my surfing experience even slower.
Thats what this thread is about! Show us your Orange carpet(thanks Art). Show us your bade studs and drywall. Show us your meek..your opressed.....your
I am planning on uploading some pics. I am waiting for my new stands to arrive first. The pair I have now (in silver) are borrowed from the dealer, since it was taking so long for the black pair that I ordered to arrive. Black looks way better, so I must wait to take pics. However, the dealer now has them in hand and will deliver them on Sunday. I've got some pics of my Avons though, they obviously don't need stands. I'll see about getting those up tonight.
Thanks Nick! We ordered the matching coffee table (it's actually called a "cocktail table" which suits me better anyway), and the matching end table.
This weekend I have to get some wall anchors and move the shelf above the TV for my center channel.
For a brief period of time my wife was saying "Those Sierras don't match the new furniture". I thought I had a new set of HT speakers in my future, but later that night she said "You know, I think they look just fine after all". Darn.....
