Certainly from my perspective there is a business case for a hifi expert and luckily there is a chap who co-owns the Listening Suite hi-fi shop near Dublin who provides this service. One of their listed services is a home visit to optimise your current hifi setup.
I initially contacted them with a view to demoing ATC actives and David asked what’s wrong with your current system and what are you trying to improve and I could only answer with a vague “I think it could probably sound better”. He explained his service and ideas about the listening room and a near field listening position. I went out to his showrooms and he sat me down and moved speakers far further apart than I was used to, it looked wrong but sounded right. David has very strong ideas particularly about the error of the equilateral triangle listening positions. He was a sound engineer both in studios and live and was Riverdance’s sound engineer for several years.
He came out for 2 hours to listen to my system and said he thought he could improve the sound and that I may not need new speakers at all, that all the elements were already there. So I agreed to “employ” him to re-set up my system.
I explained that SL2s just were not speakers that can be easily moved around. He solved this by re-setting them up on a slab plinth which allowed him move them without effecting their delicate setup.
He re-soldered the speaker plugs and upgraded the cable from speaker to the sub. He knew little about Naim but researched both the SL2 and n-sub before calling.
He spent a considerable time on micro-adjustments and then we sat down and went through some tracks and depending upon my responses did some further fine adjustments. David has a great ear and can very quickly hear differences and I might disagree with him and he’d A/B it again and I’d hear it his way.
He spent about 2 full days sorting everything out and I had a much better sounding system in my room after he left. He is very knowledgable and pointed out all the issues with my room and how to alleviate them without turning it in to a studio setup but also is very strong on explaining that it’s all an illusion and you try to get the best sounding illusion your room can provide. He’s been in studios doing the recordings and knows that the sound is never replicated faithfully in any room other than the studios themselves.
Now it wasn’t cheap but I’ve spent double on a Chord cable and got nothing like the musical uplift and change in presentation.
If you search for the Listening Suite website there is a link to a HI-FI Plus article done on them under information at the bottom of the website.
One downside is that he is a staunch advocate of no grills on speakers asking how anything that is between the speakers and your ears can possibly not impact on the sound - which is a pretty strong argument. SL2s look much nicer with the grills on, but I now take them off for serious listening !
So yes, a person with a good set of ears, who can solder and get down and dirty with Naim Fraim, for me, was a godsend and I’d imagine I’m not alone in appreciating this type of service.
.sjb