I have had my 272/250dr/XPSdr with Graham Audio Speakers setup for 3 years and have been very happy with it. So this week I decided I would treat myself to an upgrade of either 300Dr or 555dr or both. I visited Acoustica yesterday to listen to the options with the thought to really change the XPS to 555ps.
I listened to the 555ps with my 250dr and there was a clear improvement in sound.
So next I listened to the 300dr with my XPS and again there was a clear improvement in sound over the 555/250.
Last I listened to the 300dr/555ps and the sound although brighter didnāt have the driving sound of the 300dr/XPSdr combination.
So I have ordered the 300DR. The only issue I have is should I upgrade to the Super Lumina Din/XLR Mono interconnects? The setup I heard was with the supplied interconnects. I will have the opportunity to trial these at home but I will not be able to do this for about a month. So any views would be appreciated.
My other option is to upgrade my Tellurium Black speaker cables to Super Lumina but I need 5 meters so this is a bigger outlay.
These upgrades are exactly those I made in autumn 2017. Iām interested in what you mean by āclear improvementsā. When I went from XPS to 555, which is what I did first, I found the sound became so much more natural, real and engaging. Adding the 300 gave a much bigger sound and a lovely musical flow. Iād certainly be wary of spending money on SL without giving the 555 a much longer trial at home. A quick A/B at the dealers may not be revealing all that the upgrade is about. With the 555 it just sounds so right musically. Certainly right rather than bright. Iām not sure if you have Fraim, but Iād suggest this should come before SL.
I would let your new wonderful amp settle in and enjoy it. I too wanted to change cables at the same time, my dealer advised to let the new amp settle and burn in, and then experiment with cables. Great advice as first outing with SL was disappointing.
I thought the 300/555 soundstage was big and clear but the 300/XPS seemed to my ears have more of a solid bass sound. Will take a couple of months of listening before looking at cables as suggested. My setup is on Quadraspire SVT which I have been happy with just now need to by another shelf.
I moved from bamboo SVT with bronze upgrade to Fraim last year and Fraim is just so much better, to an extent that surprised me. Iād suggest that the Fraim will bring more than the cables to the system. Itās entirely your business but I think if you focus on the musical performance rather than hifi stuff such a solid bass youāll start to understand what the 555 brings to the party and why the 272/555 has a number of very satisfied owners.
Roddy, enjoy your new 300DR I found in my system changing from the 250DR to a 300DR was probably the best value for money upgrade Iāve ever done at the time I was using a NDX/XPSDR as a source.
Regarding speaker cables as others have said I would wait for your 300DR to burn in before contemplating any other changes.
I also use a SVT but in 2 format in Bamboo I did find the Bronze upgrades more than worthwhile.
Sorry my way of describing the sound is too simplistic. The 300/555 combination was musically open, the separation was great and stage sounded large and I think this is a fantastic setup. But to my ears yesterday it was lacking a little bit of umph in the drive of the music that the 300/XPS was offering - I did not expect this to be the case and had budgeted for buying the 300/555. So I decided I would just upgrade to the 300dr for now - with the option of a home demo on the 555 later this year.
When I got my Quadraspire SVT with the bronze upgrade I felt there was very little to choose between the SVT and Naim Fraim in my setup. My actual next spend was supposed to be speaker cables but I have put of upgrading them due to the cost.
I have the exact same system, 272, XPS-DR, 250DR and I love it but for one shortfall, I find it slightly lacking in bass, particularly at lower volume. My speakers are PMC Twenty-23ās. Question is, should I upgrade amp to 300, ps to 555 or speakers to whatever is similar in sound but with better bass (I really like the PMCās when cranked up)? Only one upgrade option is affordable!
@Roddy I would wait a while to be honest, I have 300DR I have had a number of system upgrades and I am just letting the whole system bed in for a the summer, I use standard NAIM interconnects with my 300DR
I am going to demo a few in the autumn, the standard NAIM interconnects are very good for now and I am no hurry to change
well done on 300DR is a stunning AMP, and for me Ā£Ā£Ā£ for Ā£Ā£Ā£ the best AMP in the NAIM range enjoy!
PS - you might once in the system need to adjust speaker placement
You should also compare Chord Sarum T to the SLs. In fact, you might even consider ChordMusic at a similar price to SL. Several of us have found them to be āa bit betterā.
Atherton - I used to have a 272 + XPS DR (I have since upgraded the XPS to a 555PS DR)ā¦ but even with the 272+XPS combination, I didnt find the system lacking in bass.
Assuming that when you say ābetter bassā, you mean deeper bass and more impact.
As I understand the PMC 23s are able to produce good quality bass, but do need to be positioned correctly. Assuming that you have tried adjusting their position and are still hankering for a deeper, tighter bass, but like the overall sound of the PMC, one option might be to swap these speakers for the PMC 5.24 or PMC 5.26. (I dont think the that PMC 5.23 will improve much on the bass).
I have heard the PMC 5.26 and even with low volume, the bass was good.
Of course there is the room/speaker/positioning dependency in the ultimate quality of the bass you
can produce, but moving up the model PMC range, will keep the overall sound character similar to what you already have.
@Fernar Many thanks for your detailed reply and please accept my apologies for the late response. Iāll look into the other speaker options you suggest. There arenāt many (ie zero) speaker repositioning possibilities options in my set up. I mainly listen to Tidal Hifi and it does seem that the SQ, particularly wrt bass, is highly variable between recordings. So maybe itās a Tidal thing and Iāll just learn to live with it. Thanks again for your thought-out reply.
