End of my tether

I think recent posters may have missed my assertion of “no definitive conclusions” at such an early stage and “fairly uncontrolled bass” on one track as opposed to general uncontrolled bass across the board.

@Svetty appears to have also missed the bit about having had (and still having) the speaker cables free in the middle of the lounge and battering them about so much it becomes obvious that so-called “dressing” or indeed my original kick, are clearly of no relevance.

I’ve been coming home late from work for days now so I’ve not been daft enough to then sit down and trust my ears @Don but certainly the 202 recap/service was clearly needed as the level of detail on TV alone is a clear and obvious gain. Musically I shall wait until the weekend and see what’s offered up but I still think that powering up the 200, HCDR and NAPSC for the 1st time in 6 weeks and then throwing in a refreshed 202 means it would be folly to rush to absolute judgement just yet.

Certainly the little Nait took 3 weeks to come on song so I can’t imagine perfection and consistency awaits just yet.

Hi Mike, thanks.

I think many of us, both on this thread and other threads, suffer from a failure to read or recall details of more than about three posts previous.

I agree it’s far to soon to come to any firm conclusions. I guess we’re all just a bit anxious that your system is on the road to recovery !

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I genuinely appreciate the interest (and who knew this would last this long to be fair).

@mikehughescq has missed the humorous intent in my lighthearted post. Sorry if this wasn’t sufficiently evident…

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12 days in. No contact from dealer re: the XPS2/Burndy but I’ve found an album to love - Cheap Queen by King Princess - and there are signs of things coming on song.

Negligible sibilance on the TV sound. No complaints from any of the family. I’m listening to the above album all the way through without musing on the component parts i.e. I’m enjoying music.

Whisper it but It feels a tad like a breakthrough.

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Update please Mike. :slight_smile:

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Nothing to report. Sounding decent with TV but not had a moment to myself to listen to music beyond the last post. Thanks for asking though. As soon as there’s something to say I will add a post.

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So, finally. Much music listening this week. Leading me to some odd findings.

TV bass and mids are fine to occasionally overpowering. A little sibilance but i associate that with the cheap cable.

CD is hugely variable. Billie Eilish had plenty of what I crave. Guy Clark, King Princess and then especially the Tighten Up compilation (no. 2) did not.

Given that CD and TV are playing through the same boxes I’m struggling to see how this can be. Two thoughts?

1 - it’s the CD player. I can’t see how it can be. Good bass and mids on some stuff. Negligible on others.

2 - it’s the room. Is this possible? Could it do stuff like this?

Mike, could it be just showing the quality of the CD itself?

are there more CD albums that your playing where the SQ is meeting your expectations?

Well there’s certainly more than before the 202 was recapped. The detail is excellent, albeit that that would have hopefully been enhanced further by the return of my XPS2 and Burndy had it not been for Covid-19.

Of course I wouldn’t expect huge bass from Old No 1 by Guy Clark but essentially there’s something missing and it’s really not missing from TV.

I’m playing music I know really well on this system and it still sounds nothing like I think it has sounded in the past on this system.

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No further comments anyone?

C’mon. Best chance I’ll ever have to sit at home and mess about (after work). The more I think about this the more I suspect the room and a new set of sofas which arrived last year.

Mike,
With the majority of CDs that system should sing. I know this has been said before but I suspect your speakers.

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Mike, any chance your dealer could lend you a decent Naim CD player to try at home? It would at least discount that as the source of the problem.

Also I take it that you have not had your XPS2 and Burndy returned yet. Maybe you should wait for these before drawing conclusions.

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It’s free to experiment with speaker placement and now is as good a time as any. Just a small movement can make a difference

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In the absence of the XPS2 and Burndy, I would systematically set about adjusting -

Speaker positions
Furniture positions, especially the new furniture
Seating position

How does the existing setup compare to the interim loan system you recently had ?

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Hi. My pennies worth.
If it’s 1 then it the CDs are being reproduced as they were transferred. Always been variable now revealed with the “new” preamp.
I also think you should wait to your XPS2 returns but no harm trying another CD player if you can. Even play an offending track on your DVD player, assuming you have one.
Personally I would be very surprised that the room change is bringing on CDs sounding different to how they did and some not. If you have some CDs sounding great, others not so great then that is how it is I fear. We all have hugely variable quality of CDs in our collections.

Thanks guys. I knew the current boredom might get the better of someone if I poked :slight_smile:

To take them in random turn then.

Lindsay - why the speakers? They’re fine with the TV and fine with some music. They’re also full range with no conventional crossover. The 10” full range driver can fill the room with bass and mids on some stuff and yet on others… near zilch. So it’s not like something has disconnected or a driver blown.

Dayjay - it’s certainly something I’ve considered. Dealer took a good long time to set them up as they are now. I’ve spent some time in the last week moving around in front of them at different heights and lengths. I can detect at least one position where the bass is more present… but I’m then halfway out the door. If speaker position is an issue though surely that’s a similar issue to my thinking it’s the room. Standing waves could reinforce bass at some frequencies and cancel it out at others. I could move the speakers (albeit that they can’t really come out further into the room or go wider) but I’m already thinking that it’s an issue which may need to be addressed in other ways. It could be a simple thing to fix it all but I’m thinking that the sofa is the quick win here.

Don - the room would look odd whatever I do but for the sake of experiment moving the sofa on the back wall forwards is an easy one to do so I’m definitely up for that. That deals with seating position too.

Much more detail with the serviced 202 and loads of PRaT so clearly there was an issue there. Even on the albums with no/limited bass/mids the PRaT is there.

In theory much more to come when I get the XPS2 back (assuming my dealer doesn’t detect issues). Dealer said they’d listened and on the face of it the XPS2 and Burndy are fine but they had no other XPS2 to compare to bar a DR and that’s an apples/oranges scenario. Social distancing not helping my cause for the next few months until the shop reopens or I can get down there.

As regards the Nait 5, this is as good on PRaT; better on detail but inconsistent on bass/mids. My suspicion is that a working Nait 5 wouldn’t necessarily have highlighted those issues to the same extent as it struggled to power the speakers. Equally, it also wasn’t perfect (and taking the XPS2 out improved it to my ears) so that would perhaps also point to another box or the room.

NigelB yes I think trying another decent Naim CDP would narrow things down further. However, shop shut at present and he’s 40 miles away. Asking him to travel at present whilst I’m on the 12 weeks would not be fair or appropriate really. So yeah, waiting for my stuff back and then maybe a conversation about a CDP.

The only thing I’m wholly not buying is the CD sound argument from seakayaker and cdboy.

I’ve played albums I’ve had for years on this system. I know his great they can sound. Right now they just don’t. I can’t see how that could possibly be the music itself.

So, unless Lindsay clarifies with something to stop me in my tracks I’m going to start with the sofa.

Apologies if this has been mentioned already. Have you checked the power to your house? Have the electricity board made changes to the sub station or something similar? How about interference from Led bulbs or WiFi/radio equipment? Try and turn everything electrical in your house off for half an hour and then play some music and see if there’s a difference. What about your interconnect and speaker cable plugs. Are they damaged or coroded etc?

And finally, your ears. I woke up with a stuffy nose over the weekend and hifi sounded like it had all the life sucked out of it. A few hours later when my sinuses cleared everything sounded fantastic again!

Yes, much earlier on on the thread :slight_smile:

Would imagine people would lose the will to live if they had to start at the top.

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Have you tried physically swapping the left and right speaker? Also what speaker cable is it the Nac5 ?