I reinstated the Graham LS5/9 earlier last week and have been listening to the system for about six days, driven by a Gryphon Diablo 300. The bass particularly mid bass sounded awful, overblown and too much creating a thick and smeared midrange. The overall sound was lacking in clarity.
I just installed the Naim 282/250DR/HCDR, this time fully optimised with a Furutech mains conditioner and premium mains power cables from the primary system. The system has been powered up from cold for about an hour and the result is a perfectly balanced sound, great music and most importantly the overblown midbass was gone. The instant familiar and recognizable exuberance of the 282 is now back, perfectly matching the slightly laidback and warm sounding Grahams.
The previous Luxman/Graham combination also didn’t sound as good as the Naim/Graham with the former sounding dull as dishwater. The Naim brought life to the Grahams. This time the Gryphon brought an overblown and unnatural bass to the Grahams and it sounded even worse than the Luxman.
This experience again proves that the speaker/amp interface is of utmost importance, at least in my book.
Some of the larger thin wall BBC heritage type speakers can be a bit laid back, this was probably a case of them benefitting from the forwardness of the 282/250, just normal synergy stuff I guess.
Yes, I’ve used Naim with Harbeth SHL5+ for more than a decade, initially tried 7 amps with the Harbeth and settled with the Naim. The Harbeth speakers are gone now replaced by the Graham several years ago. The Graham LS5/9 also sounds best with Naim.
I don’t have experience with Stirling. Those LS3/6 are pretty large speakers. Yes, there are many aspects that will affect the performance. Amplifier, room and placement are crucial, stands also but not too much. BBC type speakers usually sound best on lightweight open stands and I see you got that covered but the stands are on rollers instead of spikes or footers. I find the Isoacoustics Gaia under the stands of the Graham speakers to be beneficial.
Also, these speakers need plenty of space from the walls, larger speakers will need to be pushed out further into the room.
Yes, but few Harbeth owners who tried the Hegel prefer something else. As usual it depends on personal preference. Anyway I don’t trust him too much when I owned the Harbeth as he doesn’t place much emphasis or importance on amplifiers for the Harbeth. It’s only his speakers which take centre stage.
Most British speakers are designed for amps of large peak current design like Naim, Exposure, valve etc. Gryphon, Luxman or Accuphase etc with awesome watts on paper aren’t in this category.
It’s often forgotten that ATC are an electronics company as well as speaker manufacturers. Their P2 power amp is no slouch and their SCA2 preamp is excellent, at least if you appreciate ATC’s sound world.
When I was getting a dismal performance with the Graham LS5/9, many things come to my mind. I was actually looking to add another pair of speakers to the collection which would surely add to the clutter as I already have two pairs of speakers which are rarely swapped around. I also thought of selling the Grahams and a friend was suggesting that I get rid of the Naim. Nevertheless I thought to myself that doesn’t make much sense as the Grahams sounded great with the Naim when I listened to the system about three years ago.
This time things have slightly changed as the placement of speakers is different, and there are few upgrades mainly on the power side. I would expect the performance of the Naim amps to be improved with the upgrades. After I’m done with the Graham LS5/9 I’ll switch to the Marten Duke 2 to see how it would sound with the ‘optimised’ Naim. Previous experience the Naim came in last as the Luxman and Gryphon sound better with Marten speakers.
Now everything stays put and there will no changes to the system. I’m glad the Naim saved the day. I was somehow hoping that the LS5/9 would sound stellar with the Gryphon but it’s a completely opposite experience. One thing is for sure, the Gryphon’s bass is really something else but when matched with the wrong speakers there is too much of it and it’s awful.
You mean it proves that with the BBC design speakers you prefer the Naim amp presentation (or perhaps just the NAP 282 presentation) over the other amps you’ve tried…
My understanding is that Bryston amps are known for their ability to control speakers presenting a difficult load it (also they have a reputation for being neutral), and for decades they have often been paired with transmission line speakers for this reason, That I assume is why PMC chose them, and indeed became the UK distributor for Bryston. British speakers matched with Canadian amps!
Yes, that’s true. I’m not sure about other Naim amps but the NAC 282 did it for me. If it sounds smoother or warmer than the 282 I likely won’t find BBC design speakers to sound good or appealing.
Listening taste or preference is a factor too as there are people who find Harbeth speakers to sound good with Luxman. I find Harbeth/Luxman to sound too smooth and boring without excitement. Ditto the Graham/Luxman combination. Perhaps suitable for people who predominantly listen to mellow music or vocals.
