It’s a new year and new realities. Those include the fact not a single serious listening session has been possible on the main system in over 3 years; not more thpan 3 consecutive tracks have been played in 2 years; and the lot is buried under toys in a room that utterly depresses me to spend “grown up” time in.
Kids in a tiny open plan flat really do make this hobby utterly impossible. So the full system got powered down today and unplugged.
Next is to purchase replacement boxes from Naim for long term storage while we look for land and build a house. I now know that my parents had two living rooms, one of which was off limits to kids, was pan act of self preservation not luxury.
Those that follow my posts know I’m planning on a much smaller temporary system around a Luxman tube amp when we move to a temporary flat later this year. Nevertheless, the power off of an underused but great system is a symbolically sad day. It’ll all be near recapping age by the time it sees daylight again.
A bit unfortunate to hear but my 202/200 have been in the same situation after I bought the 282/250DR two years ago. I recently bought a Sonneteer Orton integrated amp and the 202/200 have been unplugged and sitting on the display rack since then.
That’s a bit sad and I feel your pain. Know that it will be there for much enjoyment when the children are older and enjoy them growing up and building a new time in the meantime.You have your ducks lined up.
I always enjoy your contributions to the Forum, long may that continue.
All the best for you and your family going forward.
Sad to hear indeed, please don’t make the mistake I did - selling the lot - because when your kids grow older, you do get time again. I know that from experience
I won’t sell it. Contemplated that a while back but it didn’t make sense. There is no Naim value in this country. I had the 282 valued for the hell of it when it wasn’t even 1 year old by an ex Naim dealer from before Naim pulled out of the market here. GBP600 and change.
I know a lot of parents who are of the type “I sawed off my left arm for no reason except to show my kids I love them; cherished the expensive dining table they attacked with permant marker; and laugh at the $100k of damage to the house they did before we sold it. And happily gave up any hobby I enjoyed, and you should too!”
I’m not one of those parents. All the above happened (not the arm bit) and with it masses of stress and worry. But rather than go without music, I’m trying to engineer a scenario with a smaller system, in a bigger place where kids and daddy’s sanity stand a chance of coexisting. And eventually a house with a zero toys allowed sound proofed living room where the Naim is resurrected.
The kids don’t touch it. They’re just at ages (2 and 4) where the constant vigilance, competition for time (I lose) and very small space makes it impossible for their work-from-home dad to cope. I don’t foresee this being a problem as they get just a bit older and have their own rooms to put toys in. Right now, they even sleep in our room having no other bedrooms. The amount of toy bins piled directly in front of the speakers is unmanageable.
Both of them have got the use of the AV processor down perfect.
It’s all a matter of time and space. Something that even challenged Einstein.
Naim never released the Muso 2 range here. I’m trying to source a couple Qbe out of country to maintain the kid’s educational music and audiobooks.
For the main system, I’ll go from 3 racks to just the midi sized 40cm Quadraspire rack with a valve integrated and a dac and that’ll be it for a couple years.
Maybe another good possibility could be a good headphone amplifier and a simple DAC with some good headphones, which looks like they’re already out there… I don’t know…
This sounds like a nice approach. Your children will not be young forever. They won’t even be living with you forever. Like many of us, you’ll look back some day and miss them being around so much. Please do enjoy them – permanent markers as all – whilst you can. Happy New Year!
Already there. Have had HD800 with a HL2/HCdr for years. But always too bone weary tired after the kids are asleep. Somehow I can manage Netflix when exhausted but unless I’m very alert any music sebds me to sleep.
The midi sized Luxman tube amp I’m looking at is just 10w/channel but can switch the output stage to the headphone socket to be a nice headohone amp too. Time will tell whether I have more energy to use it.
Yes, I can understand you perfectly: since our son was born, now at 4 years old, and I already at a certain age, after beding him each day usually there is already little encouragement and less desire for almost nothing… But certainly, with all its cons, it is a very satisfying stage of our life, which, as soon as we maintain our health, we will miss much in a short time…
are you thinking about the Luxman SQ-N150? There is a nice review in the December issue of stereophile. Those EL 84 tubes can do nice things, I have fond memory of the Shindo Montille based system my Naim dealer played a few years ago.
Two children in these ages can wear you down. Mine are 7 and 5 years old now, so the memory is still fresh. We have the benefit of more space, but toys showed up at many unexpected places. I started teaching as a side job when our kids were just the age of yours and preparing my lessons after they went to sleep was not much fun. Things are quite different now, not easy, but with a lot more sleep.
looking for a silver lining here: maybe you can use the downtime to send your kit back to Naim so they can replace the pink fascias? (one would think they should do so free of charge, including shipping costs.)
I am indeed. That, the discontinued 150 USB DAC and a mini PC running Audirvana will go nicely on the 40cm wide midi Quadraspire rack with the Sennheiser HD800 perched on top. A nice separates sytem in less footprint than a Nova. And none of it needs mains earth, which they don’t have in this country and which I had the have specially installed for the Naim system.
It’s all a punt and could go horribly wrong but should fun. My current PMC Twenty5.23 will become a pair of Decware or JBL horns. It will also replace the AV system which will go into storage with the Naim.
I’m not expecting the same performance or enjoyment as my current system… but if I can actually use it then the improvement over my current situation will be vast and I’ll have scratched the valve itch.
