Mike's system

pdub said:
Looking good Mike. Amazing how much it transforms the room with everything racked, just speakers on floor.
Parker
Click to expand...

Thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
500DR arrives.

552 has been in the system for a couple of weeks.

Next week (hopefully), 555 + two PSU’s.

ef971c986afcd0741faeac66ce5b9b41.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
4978bd47bafb620dbcdd2dcac5aeff9b.jpg

ab7129b087a7af83a8da2af5873d4c52.jpg

1e36fc3a2f539c1c445448db9fcc61f8.jpg

e0ee99addee63e170966e537c8168e29.jpg

dd4ccc34bc47494e183cd6962d97d164.jpg

51ac70100478e36715a518c497d17fb7.jpg
 
Congrats! That 500DR is a thing of beauty isn't it?? Too bad the very artistically done heat-sink fins are hidden at the rear.

Getting the burndies secured into the rear of the 500 can be a bit of a pain. Partly due to having to fit your hand into that 'tunnel' where they go. I think the last time I did it, I secured them before putting the thing on the Fraim shelf.

Be prepared for a few ups and downs as it gets some hours on it; very common. Enjoy and congrats again!
 
Bart001 said:
Congrats! That 500DR is a thing of beauty isn't it?? Too bad the very artistically done heat-sink fins are hidden at the rear.

Getting the burndies secured into the rear of the 500 can be a bit of a pain. Partly due to having to fit your hand into that 'tunnel' where they go. I think the last time I did it, I secured them before putting the thing on the Fraim shelf.

Be prepared for a few ups and downs as it gets some hours on it; very common. Enjoy and congrats again!
Click to expand...

Thanks Bart. I didn’t really have too much trouble connecting the Burndy cables. Went smooth.

Going to let it run and hope in a couple hundred hours it’s broken in. So far, the level of realism is uncanny.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Mike with the addition of a full assault Naim system will you be providing us uneducated Naim viewers a flow chart of how it all works together? Thanks
 
Mike’s certainly the pro. I’m happy to talk Naim from the owner perspective. I’ve owned only Naim electronics since 2011 moving up the ladder from a Nait preamp to the 500 level system I have now.
 
Bart001 said:
Mike’s certainly the pro. I’m happy to talk Naim from the owner perspective. I’ve owned only Naim electronics since 2011 moving up the ladder from a Nait preamp to the 500 level system I have now.
Click to expand...

NAIM is definitely weird and cult like. You know that when you ask a question and the answer is “try twisting the din cable around the burndy cable at the back of the preamp”, you know you’ve entered an alternate universe.

Even connecting speaker cables is back asswards. The right speaker connects on the left and the left on the right. NAIM says it sounds better this way. When connecting the amp to it’s PSU, the cables look like XLR to DIN, but they aren’t. One has a tiny green ring and the other a tiny red ring. If you mix them up, you’ll get no sound. Looking at the back of the amp, the green ring is on the left, the red on the right. They look identical! But no sound if you mix it up.

That being said, with NAIM, everything really does matter. It matters HOW you stack the components. It matters where the PSU’s are located in relation with the component. It matters that you turn off the displays. It matters that you disable unused inputs and outputs.

The thing I’ve learned the most is that NAIM takes 14 days of being on before it reaches it’s absolute best. Not 13 days, nope, 14 days. Yes, day 13 to day 14 it sounds optimum. But it never sounds bad, even from day one.

For power cords, I found nothing better than Shunyata with NAIM. Nothing came close. Not even the best NAIM power cords.

NAIM is one of those companies where you truly get more of the great sound as you move up the ladder and they purposely created the SuperNAIT as the gateway drug. A SN3 + HiCap DR and NAIM source is the hook for sure.

Then you start thinking of 250DR, 282, etc. Pretty soon you’re into 300’s and then 500’s. The hardcore NAIM guys feel the 500 is the stopping point. The Statement stuff is superb, but you have to really need the power. Their best source is still the 555 with dual PSU’s. My SN3 (in family room) has plenty of power. The 300 was more than I need. My 500 is off the charts. I would have to have a 30 x 40 room with 84db speakers to need a Statement amp!

I’ve since reconditioned a 250DR to the family room and using the SN3 as the pre in my family room.

NAIM sound is dynamic as heck (Soulution like dynamics, slam and bass), but so musical (your toes will be tapping), sweet on top and effortless once you hit the 300/500 series.

Naim is meant to be turned on and left on. That works best for me. They don’t produce any heat being Class B.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Bart001 said:
I'm slumming it with just one PS for my ND555. Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Ha! My second one is coming tomorrow - supposedly. I was going to only do one, but with the big price increases coming Jan 1 for NAIM, I figured now or never.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
The gamechanger within the Statement is the preamp. Some people have made the upgrade just like that and are reporting great results.
I agree fully on Shunyata fit with Naim - the uplift in performance is palpable. Congratulations Mike!
Best, GN
 
GiorgioNuvolari said:
The gamechanger within the Statement is the preamp. Some people have made the upgrade just like that and are reporting great results.
I agree fully on Shunyata fit with Naim - the uplift in performance is palpable. Congratulations Mike!
Best, GN
Click to expand...

Thank you! I found the 555, then the 500, then the 552 made the biggest difference as I moved from the NDX/252/300 system a piece at a time.

The second PSU for the 555 arrives today. Will be fun to see what it adds.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Another hole to make/fill in that rack eh :D.

I think you might set a record for most boxes in a system ever :P.
 
There's a guy on the Naim forum (a Brit) who runs an S1 (Statement) preamp and 3 500DR amps active into Naim 800 speakers. So pre, 3 power amps, the crossover, and a power supply (SuperCap) for the crossover. Before he owned the S1 it was a 552 pre which of course has a separate power supply. So yeah - a lot of boxes!

Prior to the current generation of stereo power amps, these guys ran a "six pack" -- six NAP135 power amps for actively tri-amping their Naim speakers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top