He was and very knowledgeable too ( think he had worked for Linn for some time).
Allowed me to play a bit of Melody Gardot which I thought sounded wonderful on the system.
For me that was the most realistic system I heard in terms of attainability and wife acceptance
Thanks, donāt know how I missed thatā¦
Trying to work out that Naim combination. Is it 333 into Statement into 350ās? No NPX?
Cheers
G
Thatās a 555 with twin PS I to Statement pre and power. No NCs involved.
That makes sense. Iād forgotten the 500 series had gone white light. I should have zoomed in - no perspex.
G
Kudos to Acoustica for using Naimās best sounding Streamer and not the latest mid range model. I will no doubt be having a listen to the combo when Iām there in a couple of hours from now 
Interesting how perspectives can differ.
G
Well Iām also going by how the guys at Acoustica and the top brass at Naim feel. But itās cool that you are happy after the switch . Itās all subjective so no need for any bad feeling just because we have different preferences
"Jason Gould from Naim Audio
will be showing this alongside
a full 200 and 300 series
system. "
i was looking forward to jason taking us through the upgrade path - which i understand he planned to do but acoustica didnāt provide him with the 300 series - a real waste
Well I donāt know the name of the Naim rep that was there ( there were 2 of them ) but he was predictably knowledgeable and extremely helpful chatting about Naim products and diagnosing the problem with my CDX 2 yesterday.
yes jason was there and was very helpful but wasnāt able to do the demo he had planed
Acoustica Show Report (from Saturday)ā¦
Thoroughly enjoyed the event, but as per last year, it was a slimmed down affair, to just a couple of rooms downstairs and four upstairs.
Downstairs there was the Naim 200 system, and that sound āokā, but every time I went in (three times) the bass of the huge Focals seemed to be all over the place, that said, it was probably more to do with the space as it was a large room.
Also downstairs was the KEF room. It was great hearing the full fat Naim Statement & 500 streamer playing into KEF speakers, although, there was a degree of artificiality that I sometimes pick up on with KEF speakers, that makes them sound a little odd to me, hard to describe, but it is there. I asked myself, was this system worth the price. Always subjective, but on hearing what I heard in the Dynaudio room, the answer would be no - Iād have bought that system and used the rest to move house to accommodate it! It would have been interesting hearing the Statement powering a pair TOPTL Dyns, or Kudos Titans - yes please.
Leading to the Dynaudio room, and that sounded overall, very good indeed. The new ltd edition Contour Legacy being fed by a large Naim New Classic double Fraimed stack, consisting of streamer, pre, twin power supplies and 350 monos. On some tracks the bass got a little out of control and boomy, but that was only occasionally, and that was at a bonkers 1-2 (or 11) on the volume knob.
Kudos & Chord. An excellent sounding room if your like your sound impressively āHi-Fiā. Amazingly tight punchy bass, superb projected airy high end detail, and a walk in soundstage. But, for those strengths, it was a sound I admired rather than liked, as it somehow sounded āplasticyā and lacking soul or engagement. Taste in music was āvariedā and the room didnāt feel welcoming. Kudos reps - have a chat to the Dynaudio rep as to how itās done. Having heard Kudos speakers with Naim amps, I know how good they can sound (as do many here), so this may be the Chord amp effect - just a bit too sterile - buy some tubes Chord.
I missed the Chord Cables demo, as each time I passed their room it was not āon the hourā, but would have liked to hear the power block dem as it were, just experience if there was a difference.
After hearing āaccurate and soullessā in the Kudos room, then to āaccurate and engagingā in the Rega room, well, partially. My show highpoint was hearing the Rega Naia and Mercury pre-amp and Solis power amps. Competition, be afraid. Although, I really felt for the Rega rep (as others have mentioned), as the speakers were just not working in the room at all. The bass of the Acoustic Energy Corinium was dominating the space and sound. They switched to KEF (oh dear) in the afternoon, which to me sounded worse, and very lacklustre. They were aiming to try Kudos Titans today, so all being well that has worked for them.
For reference, the rep said they had to rely on what Acoustica had in stock for speakers as they do not (yet) manufacture anything in the appropriate price range and so context of the system on dem.
Negatives aside, I can tell there was something very special going on with that new Rega pre / power set up, especially being fed by the Naia, as I was hearing things on records I know very well, that I hadnāt heard before from my current RP6 and LP12s of old. It is the system I would have taken home, irrespective of cost and issues with speaker matching. The poor repās frustration was palpable.
All in all good day out, so thanks to Acoustica for making it happen - fabulous! Please expand the show to other smaller rooms like it used to be, as most UK listening rooms are not cavernous hotel suites!
Some picsā¦
Those Contour Legacy speakers look fabulous. I was just looking at the Dynaudio blurb about them, where they describe the speakers as āfriendly lookingā. I know what they mean, contrast that with the Kef Blades, which look more like a scary sci-fi weapon. It sounds like a really good show, with some of the really good companies. Six rooms sounds perfect, much better than 106 rooms filled with esoterica that costs as much as oneās house, which is what big shows like Munich seem to specialise in. I so hope the new Rega pre and power do well; Rega are such a good company, and if they keep Naim on their toes thatās got to be good. And made in England too.
Those Contour Legacys look pretty much like my old 1.8 Mk 2s. I wonder how the spec compares?
Thanks YetiZone. Any insights into the prat level from the Naia, and fit/finish of the new amps? I root for Rega but those are the two areas where I have struggled with the brand over time.
Worried it might upstage the 500 Series 
?
G
Watching the debate around the new firmware in the Streaming topic I wondered if anyone would discuss the āissuesā with the Naim reps. Seemed like a golden opportunity?
for me the p6 (Ā£700) was a substantial improvement on the basic tesco (tho that was new and hadnāt been burnt in 
). i was a power-block skeptik but now convinced i should do a proper demo at my dealers. the guy demoing didnāt demo s6 as he felt the p6 gave most of what that could
m6 (Ā£2800) was a further improvement but i would need a-b-a demo to work out how much - to be honest the constant sales-blurb between demoing each unit made comparison difficult
@HungryHalibut Those Dyns did look lovely and are very nice for what they are. I also do really admire manufactures when they step away from the predictable wooden coffin aesthetic though. From a design perspective, I much prefer something from the upper Dyn Confidence range - the 60s that were on show last year were a triumph. In fact, I asked the Dyn rep to play Come Together from Abbey Road, as per last year (yes that was me again, sorry) and it sounded great, but not better than the Confidence 60s (unsurprisingly)
Mmm, Iām not sure about just six rooms, maybe double that, with a cross section of different Acoustica stock, in differing room sizes, just to give a greater cross representation of listening room sizes.
@snarfy Rega amps. As I mentioned - the competition, be afraid!
Iāve heard what an Aethos can do (wow), and now Iāve heard what this Rega pre / power can do, and in just two boxes, instead of four Naim boxes.
Prat, engagement and boogy from the Naia was simply top notch. No hint of any shortcomings at all. For reference, there were no posh audiophile (FFS) repressings being played either. Just well used original records owned by the rep.
I was there when they played Suzanne Vegaās Tomās diner, and of course there was no heavy bass (from the Corinium) to contaminate the high end treble and voice oriented midband. Iāve heard that track a thousand times - the hairs on the back of neck were standing up. That deck can move your soul aplenty - its not just Linnās monopoly.
Aesthetically, Iām not a 100% sold on the twin layered carbon fibre sandwiching the foam. Iād much prefer there to be no foam and the chassis a fully encased carbon one piece like the Naiad. I was hoping they could have done something like that and improve the manufacturing process, but I am really nitpicking and being a ādesign arseā on that point.
The design, fit and finish of the Rega amps felt top notch - like chieftain tanks to me - just like the Osiris and Aethos. What I still donāt like (sigh) is the source selection process, having to cycle through each input to get to the desired one - annoying. A rotary knob for this (Exposure) is far more immediate and intuitive.
Negatives aside, thereās something special going on with Rega at the moment. There was a valve like fluidity to the sound (even with those bass issues), coupled with that solid state punch - the best of both worlds. This is the system I would have taken home on purely sonic terms, Iād then either source some vintage Rega TOTL RS10s or RS9, or alternatively, some hefty Neats or Dyns.
@indexical Ah, thatās great, so there is a viable difference then. I wonder how āhigh endā you have to go to make it worthwhile, as the costs for Chord power blocks are near used black box territory.
