End of my tether

Yes I agree, the load of the speakers surprised me to tell you the truth. Would of thought would be more suitable for valve amplification.
Anyway, what would happen when the nac5 was pull from the speaker and the terminals touched each other without Mike knowing it? Has anybody considered that scenario?
Seriously to me it’s looking more like either a speaker issue or an AMP issue. As it happen when the nac5 was removed.

Hi,Mike did you do that reset thing yet? I see Ian had a similar issue and had success with it

Time to get back on topic. Hopefully we can help Mike solve the problem.

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The A5 has not been pulled from anything. No idea where that notion came from. All I said was that the dit’s thing that’s happened to this system on the last year was the speaker cable under the sofa being kicked. That’s literally the only change there’s been.

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Oh sorry Mike, been a number of post may have read from someone else.
Just for those that haven’t seen pics of them.

image

Responded earlier. Reset just resets the AV and balance to their defaults. I’m not plugged into AV (the Sky box uses Aux 2) and the balance was central anyway. Tried it anyway as it’s one of the most painless things to do. Tried it twice in fact. Nothing changed.

Best in mind there’s a Soul and a Soul Superfly. I have the latter.

Fully appreciate that they may be more suited to valves but the question is whether an impedance mismatch could be an issue sound wise given that there have been spells of just stunning sound.

Waiting for one of the local rocket scientist to chime in on the impedance factor.

In short, no. Valve amps are inherently suited to speakers like yours as they are a very easy load and high efficiency - both big ticks for use with most valve amps. Using an amp that can handle low impedance and inefficient speakers (like a NAP200) is only a mismatch in that you’ve effectively put a V8 engine in a Mini. Something like a Nait 2 or 3 would likely be enough to pin you to the wall with those speakers.
However, you are where you are. The thread has served its purpose - time to act on it.

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Mike , it’s painfully obvious your love affair with your system is over and it needs to be moved on . As you say you’re at the end of your tether and there’s no going back .

One product I don’t think has been mentioned here is the Naim Uniti Star . You’ll keep CD playback which is important to you , you can use all the remote streaming services effortlessly and there’s Internet Radio etc . Possibly most important for your set up is using the Digital out of the Sky box direct to the Star’s DAC , this will transform your TV viewing and listening experience.

You will also go from 6 boxes to 1. Having heard an Atom and Nova I very much doubt you’ll be disappointed with the Star and the cost of it would surely be covered by sales .

My parents are in Greater Manchester at the foot of the Pennines , I recently got them an Atom based system from a very helpful new Naim dealer in Otley which may be closer for you .

I’d borrow a Star or Nova ( Your CD as transport ) for a few weeks and see how you go . You may well be surprised.,

Your love of music is there Mike , it just needs rekindling .

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Thanks. That takes me back to the only other thing which piqued my interest, which was the issue of ground leakage (I think that was the term).

Mike, I’ll keep this simple and logical.

The TV sounds OK (but not great as the source equipment / cables are limited).
Ergo the amp and speakers are probably OK

You have a Highline (which can be temperamental!) and a CD player that is getting very old and may well be in need of a service; these are most likely to be where the problem lies.

.
1 It’s worth checking to make sure the signal path is only earthed at one point (just disconnect the A/V lead and see if the CD sound improves).

2 Try getting a ‘Lavender’ cable to test the cable (you can also use that when the High Line needs to be repaired again!) or try borrowing (or if not buying a cheapish) CD Player and trying that to test the effect of the possible need for service on the CD player.

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Well said. If the system sounds normal with any other source e.g. the TV, then this points to something upstream of the amplifier, which leaves the hiline and the cd player.

Having had the analogue output fail on my old CDX2, I would not discount the cd player as being the issue if it isn’t the hiline.

In summary, wot Xanthe sed. If that doesn’t fix it, sell the lot and start again to eliminate any lagging doubts.

Good luck! BF

This thread has given me much food for thought albeit that I remain reluctant to engage with my system at present. I’ve not even bought the new Nick Cave cd as I don’t see me playing it at present. Streaming on an iPad occasionally will be the most I do.

I have given much thought as to how wedded I am to the Naim sound and each bit of my kit. It’s easy to forget that for some years I had a Pioneer A400; Epos ES11s (still in the garage. Still can’t find anyone to buy them) and a Micromega Stage 2. The latter was a very different sounding beast to a CDX2/XPS2 and we survived several years thinking it was all just lovely. Had the CDP not had a tray flaw I may never have moved into the Naim ecosystem at all. So, I have to start by saying that I suspect there are many different types of sound I can appreciate and live with.

Am I wedded to CD? I’m not sure I am. The CDX2/XPS2 has been wonderful. Mrs. H. and I would be quite content to move to streaming but I’ve struggled to find anything which matched the CDP. Granted my motivation for a move to streaming would be more that the CDP has done 17 years and won’t live forever. I don’t see too many equivalent CDPs with that kind of sound. Mrs. H. would like some space back and sees app control as a good thing. She’d like to retain the Naim sound. I remain to be convinced that ease of access is a persuasive aspect of streaming. I’ve always found it easier to pick a CD off a shelf.

I listened to the original Naim streamers at length and only the NDS appeared to be musical to me albeit in a very different way to the CDP. It was well out of what I’m prepared to pay per box.

This time round I think Naim have got it right sound wise albeit with clear software issues. The NDX2 would absolutely be something I could live with when allied to something like an Innuous Zen Mk 3. Again, different sound wise but thoroughly absorbing. The only issues there are that the money I had at the start of the year was absorbed into other projects and it still leaves me with potentially fundamental issues around amplification and speakers. Indeed as the Innuos can rip and store I’d be more inclined to look at that plus a Uniti Atom if I had the cash as it would reduce the box count to 2 or 3; give me 40W, which I think would be more than enough for the Zu and 2 walls of shelf space back. I’ve literally no idea what I would lose sound wise as compared to when my system was working optimally.

On reflection I think the one thing I may be wedded is the Zu. I could go down the valve route but again, like the original Naim streamers, I’ve not been especially persuaded. Demos of Zu Druids with Naim were very persuasive indeed. I have contemplated a downgrade there to Omens, which are designed with solid state in mind but I’m not sue there’s a need of the sound I can get when all is working is more than good enough.

Used to live down the road from Otley decades ago as a student. I have dealers within 15 miles of me but little faith in any of them so that is something to think about as my current dealer is a tad further away in the opposite direction. Thank you.

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Not sure it does sound “normal”. Maybe just less bad. Going to see if I can loan a lavender din to din and start there. May also have a period with the Sky signal out.

The new Streamers and Uniti range are much better . Depending on budget a NDX2 and SN3 with a Core or similar would be a great sounding and stylish solution for a long time .

Streaming is actually a lot of fun . Probably the most enjoyable evening’s music this year was watching my parents ( mid 70s) get going with their Atom rediscovering the music from earlier days on Spotify Premium . Nat King Cole and the Platters had never sounded so good . The Party wasn’t over , it was just beginning .

Good luck.

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So you’re saying that a Star or Nova could outdo 202/200, CDX2/XPS2 etc? Would welcom views on that.

In terms of amplification, is my understanding correct that both devices could just go straight to speakers?

If that were correct then I’d literally be looking at say Sky to Nova; Innuos to Nova; Nova to speakers (plus of course Innuous to backup)?

If only!!! They are good as one box solutions, and easy to set up, but they are no match for separates when it comes to sound quality.

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That was my thought and why I was aiming for the NDX2 but of course the latter leaves me needing amplification and potentially the same unresolved issues as now.

I bet the Nova would be very close at least and NDX2/SN3 would beat it . My point wasn’t really what’s better or what should be in theory . It’s just that something in your system hasn’t been working for you for a long time and you seem to want a lot less faff and more space . A lower box count might suit you more and you wouldn’t be worried about this and that .

It’s at the very least worth a listen .