250 vs 300

You need a good shake out :joy:

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After using my new fraim/fraimlite combination that replaced my Target rack in order to make space for the 300, I’ve finally installed the 300. My plan was to use the fraim in combination with my faithful old cb 250 of c. 25 years for about a month to give it a fair crack against the newcomer. The fraim itself turned out to be such a great upgrade it really wasn’t that difficult to keep my hands off the 300. In fact I became reluctant to change anything as my system had never sounded so good. The thought of having to potentially take a step back into the running in of a newly DR’d 300 didn’t seem that attractive. Darran at Class A, who kindly organised the upgrade for me, said that in their experience it can take up to about 3 months for a 300DR to come on tune!

Anyway I took the plunge a couple of days ago and rebuilt my whole single stack with the 300 in place and boxed my trusty 250. So far it looks like I need not have worried. After being powered up for only a day, the 300 is giving a very respectable account of itself, only occasionally does it sound off. Not withstanding it’s off moments, I feel its pretty much left my system sounding where it was with the 250. Its sounding pretty musical and in addition showing glimpses of the other strengths mentioned on the forum, such as wider deeper sound stage, better bass definition and greater detail and space. One thing is for sure is cable dressing activity has gone next level. It’s been

a very promising first couple of days and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how things develop from here. I’ll check back in if there’s any major change.

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Hello everybody . I recently upgraded my speakers to Focal sopra 2. I am currently driving them with 252 / 250dr and am in the process of upgrading to 252 / 300dr. the focal are new and therefore need a few hours of running in. do you think there is the 300dr can drive them better? I don’t know if it’s because they are new, but I have the impression that they have a slightly swollen bass. I hope the 300 can give it a slightly tighter and drier bass.

I would wait. The 300 also goes through ups and downs while being run in. If you compare 250 vs 300 while both the Focals and the 300 are running in, you will not be able to separate the variables.

That said, the 300 is fantastic and for me it was an obvious choice when choosing between 250 and 300

Edit: And did you rule out room influence? That’s usually the most likely cause for bass troubles with new speakers

hi Suedkiez. the room has a fairly well-done acoustic treatment, but I don’t rule out that being the tops larger than my previous speakers there can’t be something to revise in the treatment. the transition to the 300 was already planned. I believe that by the time the 300 arrives I will have already done about 150/200 hours of running-in with the focal and I will be able to understand. do you think the 300 is still able to have more control over the bass than the 250?

Even if the room is well treated, the Focal will have different properties than another speaker. Just before reading your post, I came across this one by Thomas that sums it up perfectly:

In theory, the 300 should have some more control and is a bit more powerful. In practice, it will depend on speakers, room, and you. To my ears and in my room (as well as at the dealer’s), the 300 does everything better than the 250, but it’s not just about control and power and instead it was clarity, precision, detail that was the big game changer.

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If you put the power supply box to the right and the amp side with fan to the left - one of the distances from burndy connection to t’other is very small.
The other distance is still minimal - how do you dress both but does having them the same length?
Would you loop the shorter distance one?

It is indeed a bit annoying that the burndy plugs are on the same side of the 300PS. They don’t need to have same length though, necessarily, if you can avoid both touching the floor. The typical solution is to put at least one of the head unit or PS higher up in the rack.
The loose knot is an option for interconnects, I would be reluctant to try with a burndy, but I don’t know.

Thanks
Contemplating going from 250DR to 300DR but alas both units would need to be on the bottom shelf of racks side by side.

Cabling would be the potential problem/dealbreaker

Hi Mick, this was the only way I managed not to end up with my 500 Burndies lounging on the floor. Maybe this could be adapted to your situation and they are not touching each other nor the wall btw.:+1:t3: ATB Peter

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I see. Let’s not forget that proper dressing is important to get the ultimate but if it’s not perfect it won’t make the 300 a poor amp. It’s about minimizing the vibrations transmitted to burndy and units - these are never zero. You can also pad them with heating isolation foam tubes or use clever suspension like PeterR.

My dealer e.g. is not super diligent with dressing when demoing. Can you audition at your dealer with the burndys placed as you will have to?

Thanks Peter and suedkiez.

I wouldn’t be auditioning at a dealers, I always jump straight in.
Never gone wrong with naim (just don’t ask the bank manager🤣)

Thinking out the box I could swap boxes and put the psu side on the left (below a 252 supercap anyway)
That would help a bit👍

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You can always try both imperfect options and choose the better one. I surely would appreciate a bit more flexibility by Naim for cable lengths, though I understand the logistical complications.

My 300DR head unit and power supply both sit on the bottom shelve of my rack, so the burndies touch the floor. Still huge improvement over a 250DR.

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If an amplifier sounds bad because a cable is touching the floor, that is poor design. If a multi thousand pound amplifier sounds bad because a cable is touching the floor, that is terrible design.

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The reason why you have a Star and won’t be tempted to upgrade :smiley:

Actually, thinking of trying a 250DR home demonstration. Anything can happen. (In the next hour.)

No burndys with the 250 dr. So you can’t connect wrongly. Snaic cables are very flexible.

Nobody’s really saying it sounds bad. Many people here just obsess about getting the very best out of it after spending that much money.

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Couldn’t get the dressing right. It looks like a rat’s nest. But I decided to forget about it. And the system (555, 552, 300) is nevertheless a joy to listen to.

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