The main thing I found was the gap between the PS units in their Fraim stack.
So - in your case - having the 500PS either right at the top or at the bottom (not ‘sandwiched’) is optimal I found - and also having in my case the ‘bass’ 500PS units both apart from each other and the other large transformer boxes, such as Supercap (for SNAXO), was very worthwhile - actually it was critical here.
Bass clarity and definition leaps into focus as soon as the 500PS box has a healthy gap between it and the next box - and in my case three of them compounded this.
In your case - if the three PS boxes to the right are for the head units then try if you get a spare empty standard level or a medium level to have your 500PS with a gap away from the others and you may find it really opens-out the sound.
I borrowed levels from my Dealer and tried them until I reached optimal - having spend all that money I want it all working for me the years ahead was my approach.
…it seems to be the large dynamic current pulled through the Power Amp transformers that magnetically-couples to other boxes and causes coloration - at this level of replay it is very easy to hear.
People argued that is impossible - but they never actually try for themselves - and it is present as a mechanism of how fundamentally these devices work; you can’t screen magnetic field coupling with aluminum boxes.
In fact it was part of the Statement design criteria to reduce that, so what I found is what could be done to optimize the Reference 500 Amps to work with Statement Pre.
@TimOopNorth Hi Tim, I took note of this advice (more space between boxes) over two years ago. I have an empty medium shelf between 552 and 500 heads (31cm top of 500 to glass of 552) and medium shelves (15cm) for my three PSs.
Now you have your full SL loom and the rest you will need to do the tweaks. I have been having lots of OMG moments listening to the Naim Audio Bristol Show 2020 play list after another routine bit of mains plug maintenance.
@Darkebear
Interesting observation. Unfortunately I am not familiar with the ovators 800, lest driven actively. they require two amps ie 500s for the bass and one amp/500 for mid tremble then ? Would love to hear them at some point in an active setting with an S1 up front. They seem even rarer than DBLs. What’s interesting is that you have observed some better bass lining when you gave the bass 500pss units more air around them using intermediate shelves. I currently have 5 pss on my brown stack with just one intermediate shelf between the ScDr for Snaxo bottom and then a 555ps. The three 500pss are on regular fraim shelves above that. It sounds quite otherworldly that way already😉. What I found is that the proximity of the pss right side to the upper part of the S1 seemed an issue.
They do recommend distance in the manuals, e.g. here from the pre manual, but they give other reasons:
3.1 Siting The Equipment
In order to reduce the risk of hum audible from the
loudspeakers, power supplies and power amplifiers should be
located a reasonable distance away from other equipment. The
maximum separation distance for connected equipment is that
allowed by the standard interconnect lead.
That said, there is lots of Naim lore that many people take for granted on the forum but is nowhere mentioned in the manuals. In the cases I asked, it was always well-founded, like coming from Richard, or Naim staff on factory tours, etc. It’s wonderful to have such great sources, but I often wonder how anyone would know who is not on the forum
The most obvious one for me is cable dressing. So many details on the forum, I learned so much from being here, and there is nothing in the manuals, from burndy massage to 252/SC snaic/burndy routing, and so on and so forth. And it is not very easy or obvious what to do (or even that any of this would be important!) if you have 10 boxes with cables going every which way
Yes, there is the expectation regarding dealers, but it is not realistic. (And I have seen pics of major dealer blunders on the forum, too)
I was led to this explanation after years of Active use with lots of PS boxes and finally realizing it sounded better when the PS boxes were apart. I did this to an extent when I used 552 Pre to good effect - but the S1 Pre gave a lot more low-bass and I needed to clean it up as described.
System balance may be that in a lot of systems it is preferred more closely-stacked as it gives a ‘fuller’ sound, but with S1 Pre it was overpowering into the Active 500DR-S800s.
It is just information - I can only say it worked for me and a couple of other Reference systems I did this in.
They are a two-way design so can be driven by two Amps, one for BMR diver one for paralleled-up Bass drive pair.
I had three NAP500 from an earlier Active system I ran for 25 years using Isobariks which did need three amps. It seemed a good idea to use the three with Ovators and get better power-handling and linearity from each driver getting its own amp - if starting from scratch I may have just used two Amps.
Yes - use one SNAXO output or both, there are two identical outputs for Bass and one for BMR.
The two Bass drivers need the same frequency band - it can be delivered by two Amps or one with two sets of speaker leads - or a link.
But I’ve personally never tried it - just know it is an option - or was!
Interesting So Comparing the three big speakers possible for active ie DBLs, ovator 800 and titan 808 it’s only DBLs (and bricks) then that are truly three way. The 808 as far as I know have tremble and a mid/bass line with the third amp driving an additional bass low frequency range.
Always a set of compromises with Speaker design for a price and size.
Splitting into too many frequency-bands is to be avoided, but also there have to be some splits to produce a capable full-range speaker. Every crossover point introduces non-linearity in phase or frequency and usually both.
Every design has its own approach and people that like one or another more.
So I am sure you did compare your 800 then driven with two vs three amps. Obviously you are preferring the three amp variant. Just curious how big the difference is ?
Not completely, because at the place of the Master tape will be the Cd555, and under it all the ps. @Mitch lacks probably some space, but in optimal set up, we all know that ps has to sit in a separate rack from the sources. An empty shelf helps, but it’s not the best.
Best Peter
ATB Peter
