B&W CDM 1 (original) need not warming amplifier

Hello.
My new B&W CDM 1 from the late 90ies need an amplifier for summer for my 15 m2 bedroom. It should not get more than hand warm.
Supernait 2 (2019) or Audio Refinement (YBA) Complete from around 2001 ?
It should be musical and refined for violins, piano and saxophone.

Which one to choose?
Thanks

Supernait 2 would be a safe bet. I’ve used my Supernait 1 with hicap DR on a few different B&W loudspeakers and it always had a good, warm, full bodied sound which gave the violins, piano and saxophone a nice timbre.

The danger with B&W’s is that they tend to boom when too close to a wall. Make sure you have sufficient space especially when listening on higher volumes.

Hello. Yes space is perfect, need to get Atacama stands 54 cm.
No Hicap possible, but perhaps possible for a short period as it is needed for the Naim stageline M. So if I listen to CDX2 or tuner, I could take the Hicap. But normally without Hicap for listening to music, not to Hifi.
I bought the Naim Dac from the same man, who is my 1st ever real hifi friend I waited for around 35 years. But it’s 1700 eur, the other 600 eur.

Regards
HF

Here are the final candidates:

YBA Integre DT
Naim Supernait 2
Classe CAP 100 integrated
Audio Refinement (YBA) Complete (ARC)

Let’s eliminate 1 by one with arguments

Kind regards
HF
YBA


This is the Naim forum…

SuperNait 2.

No info or knowledge of the rest…

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Objectivity is needed. I love the Naim Audio Forum!

No, no! Hifi is about subjectivity.

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Then ask elsewhere. You really expect Naim forum members to have experience of 3 specific amps, which compete with the SuperNait…?

You might find one person who knows about one of them.

Seriously… ask somewhere else… :thinking:

PS. You cannot really love Naim, if you are asking such a question. Just Believe…

in life one has to try out different things, but of course you are half right.

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50/50 chance… :crazy_face:

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Does Schrodinger make amps?

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did he ever have a cat?

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I don’t know the other amps, I’m confident that the SN2 is a good pairing with the loudspeakers. Sorry!

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Holy moly, Naim does not fit at all the CDM 1, at least my mid-end combo. Awfully aggressive without any body in the music. Nils Lofgren sounds awful.

whats the length of your loudspeakercables and what are they?

2 cables each 2 x 2,5 m Naim Naca5, a sound engineer who is the owner of the shop and a big other shop, long time ago, did them for my exact hifi system. Nobody talked about 3,5 m. They said it does not matter.

Your dealer might need a checkup of his ears.

I’ve sub 3.5 m Nac a5 cables which I don’t use, Nac a5 at 3,5m, linn k20 of 5 metre, linn k20 of 10 metre, Nac a5 of 12 metre and the order of sound quality is the same. Long runs sound best.

The only time I’ve heared Naim / b&w sound as you describe was with underpowered diamond loudspeakers.

I’m afraid you need to try longer runs it the warmup does not make a difference.

What is your distinction between listening to music, and listening to hifi?

listening to music means that I get the overall emotion of the song, for relaxing and doing some stuff or nothing beside: listening to hifi means concentrating on the details in the music, understanding how the instruments interact (communicate) and trying to remember the sound characteristics as I know that some days later I change 1 element of the system. This is called analytical listening, or listening to the hifi, it is pure stress, but normally does not lead to stomach pain. As a former musician I focus on the sound texture of hi-hats, cymbals, piano, saxophone and violines. For that I need a refined piece of equipment which I did not have any piece not getting warm in my quietest room until 3 days ago. Summer is magic but too hot for a hot amp.

Hello. I have some comprehension difficulties as I’m half Belgium. What do you mean by …and the order of sound quality is the same. Do you mean tonality and global sound is the same but small variation in nuances of treble and bass. News: I found out that the Naim-CDM 1 only works with good quality CD’s and so I am streaming now and it sounds less harsh. Now 10% of my CD’s sounds good, the rest really bad.