Hello, good to hear from you yes the sopra2 are still in my system and 2 rel S812 they are fantastic with the luxman I also got gutwire vision AE speaker cable I can honestly say they brilliant especially with the Barillium tweeter.
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Amazing news! Great to hear back from you! I’m glad you are enjoying your system so much! The speaker, Sub combination is formidable!
Absolutely, but we do at times get massive thread drift! It goes from someone downsizing to someone saying they are going for full Statement. This is what I find so exciting about the forum!
But you are quite right, back on topic!
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So are you planning on having two systems?
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lol I wish. No I’ll have to sell my tube gear.
Try before you buy?/commit?
Unfortunately I cannot demo. Even so the only demo that would be worthwhile is a home demo which just isn’t possible with the Statement.
To add to the diversion (sort off), has anyone experience of a streamer with a tube stage used with Naim amplification - the AVM MP8.3 for example? A potential cheaper alternative to a ND555 - tube warmth but with Naim PRAT and slam?
This is the important thing isn’t it, you get to decide what you spend your money on, nobody can tell you how to spend it.
After we were married my wife and I both had well paid jobs, we built up a full Linn system that cost an awful lot, but we could afford it and chose to spend it because we liked how music sounded on the system. Then came a child and spending any more on HiFi went out the window (but not buying music of course!). That Linn system lasted over 30 years.
Now that we have retired and our son is self sufficient and no longer living with us we decided to downsize (house wise and HiFi). We spent a long time listening to Naim equipment until we found a system that we liked the sound of, had fewer boxes, and could afford. Does it sound like the Linn system, well no, but do we like the sound of it, yes.
Life is a continual set of choices to be made and I would imagine all of us on this forum actively decide to spend the money we have on our equipment. The trick is to be happy with what you can afford.
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Most of my friends sold or stored their Hi-Fi systems in the basement when they moved. They no longer listen to music except on their PCs or phones. My daughters have a Naim system in their room, but they hardly use it anymore; they prefer listening directly on their tablets. Even connecting to the stereo via AirPlay takes too long for their liking…
Should be for that sort of money
That is a sad state of affairs - but maybe their systems simply didn’t truly connect them with the music. On the multiple occasions that I have moved home the hifi has been next up after the bed, albeit not optimised immediately, except when building work has necessitated otherwise for a bit.
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Both my kids have Naim Qbs in their room. Bothe are Bluetooth to the tablet/Laptops.
And they don’t use them. Their reasoning is that they can’t “see” the music and tapping “Connect” on the Audio device is a bother.
To them music is 10 teeny boppers who play no instruments doing dance routines. I did explain that if they can’t read music, play an instrument, or write their own songs, then they are not musicians. But Mrs. FZ told me I sound like an old fart.
She plays music on her phone speaker in the same room as a pair of PMCs because “downloading the app is a bother”. Sometimes the only polite response to all this is to say nothing.
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I am with you in the bed, then the hi-fi order of setting up. Though I can remember one time it was the other way around, mostly because the bed hadn’t arrived yet, and the hi-fi had.
I know young people who are in both camps, re phones and proper systems. One has a developing Rega TT and Naim habit, long may it last, she is in the minority though. Interestingly, several people in their late 30s or early 40s, whom I know, are now buying their first hi-fi, mostly second-hand kit at first, again in the minority. But hasn’t good quality hi-fi always appealed to a minority of music listeners?
I agree with you.
Your kids are watching & listening to “performers”
Does it matter if they enjoy it?
Also, how many respected singers and musicians have had most, if not all, of their songs written for them?
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Hello Khan, here a part of a review wrote by High Fidelity magazine Poland. The guy has a top Ayon tubes pre with a Soulution amp:
« My point is that while Naim is one of three best amplifiers I’ve ever listened to, next to Soulution 725 + 701 and Kondo M1000 MkII + Kagura (both pre+amp sets), each of them sounded differently, each designer realized his vision of what was most important in the sound. Let me add that I would be completely happy with any of these three.
Of these three Naim is the most “neutral” sounding one. I used quotation marks on purpose. I don’t mean to diminish “strength” of this word, it is also not about winking like I don’t mean that. Quite on contrary – I’d like to emphasize the meaning of this word, because there might be no better opportunity for it than the review of Naim Statement. ‘Neutrality’ as a description of sound quality has lost its true meaning, lost it value as it’s been widely abused. I as understand while reading reviews from British and American audio magazines, and also translation of some Japanese reviews, this word is used to describe “lack of coloration”. Which translates to the fact that the described device does not add anything to the sound by itself. But that doesn’t tell us whether this device takes something away or not. So such an understanding of “neutrality” narrows its meaning, diminishes it turning it actually into a rather negative feature. Listening to devices that are “neutral” in such a way quickly becomes fatiguing, unbearable even.
Naim Statement is the most neutral sounding device I know. But I use this word meaning its original meaning. In its tonality, as neutrality is mostly about accuracy of tonality, I couldn’t find anything added nor lost/deducted. At least when comparing it to other amplifiers. The frequency characteristic is flat across the whole band, it is simply good. Nobody uses this word (good) anymore as it seems to lack “weight”. So how colorful the recording is, what its emotional temperature is depends solely on the recording. Listening to, recently released in Japan in SHM-CD format, Charlie Parker from 1952, I heard a powerful, close sound with fantastic attack combined with incredible smoothness. Leader’s saxophone seemed large and bit aggressive but not in an annoying way. It sounded a lot like a live saxophone listened from a short (2-3m) distance.
At the other hand sound from Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet’s „Polka” was extremely dense, almost sticky, due to a softer leading edge it seemed more distant. Palpability of each instrument was remarkable, but the general expression of that recording was very different from Parker’s. Listening to „Sea” by Sławek Jaskułka, jazz pianist and composer from Gdańsk („Polka” was also recorded there), one would be surprised how amazing ambiance he managed to create – his piano sounds like played under water. A very rich timbre, absolute – or so it seems – lack of treble, and yet harmonics being present in the upper treble and they are so intense that sound gets overdriven by most amplifiers while one keeps pushing volume up to finally hear them clearly. Naim presented these subtle differences effortlessly, with style. «
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Very interesting question. And probably good for a different thread so as not to continue the drift here.
Back to the OPs original point, I’m not sure how the discussion has turned to Statement level systems, which many couldn’t ever afford, whilst the OP is concerned about having to downsize through a potential financial imperative. C’mon guys/gals, it all sounds more than a bit selfish to me?
@Stu299, I don’t think downsizing is something you should concern yourself too much over. Yes you’d like to keep what you have carefully built and so you should if you’re able. However, if things spiral for the worse and you really need to raise funds, there’s always the possibility that later you can start again with a clean slate. I amongst many other forum members and many other Naim customers not on here have discovered joy in less - less boxes, less space, less power supplies, power leads, interconnects and all the tie-in’s and complexities that building a Naim separates system entails - even for less financial commitment.
Also please don’t fret over what may transpire that is beyond your control, that’s the quickest way to depression or worse. Keep an open mind, there’s nearly always a silver lining which may not be apparent yet, but will shine through for you when the time is right.
Wishing you all the best.
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Naim S1 with Nap 500 dr and Wadax player one= only 3 boxes.