Finally gone active

All,

I’ve finally gone active with a mix of chrome. Olive and black Naim gear. Here’s what I have setup:

Nac 52 -Supercap
Snaxo 2-4 HiCap
X2 Chrome bumper 250s

LP12, Radikal, Prefix, HiCap
CDx2 with NDX

Witch hat hat pins from snaxo to NAPs
Witch hat Phantoms to SBLS

I’ve read about the benefits of going active, but until I got this stuff put together, I didn’t really know what to expect. It’s a major step up in just about every area. So much more foot tapping and that SBLs are really singing now. Bass seems deeper, and much tighter. Everything is vastly clearer with individual instruments easier to pick out.

If anything it may be a tad bright at the mo, but I’m expecting things to further improve as it warms up and the new cables bed in.

I’d really immensely recommend anyone looking to squeeze more performance out of the system to consider going active.

Here’s to many more hits of joyful listening.

Anil.

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Oh,

I forgot to mention two sources:

Ancient Yamaha cassette deck

Home made digital streamer based on Blackberry PI. I use Roon to stream my home owned digital files and the likes of Spotify. It’s remarkable for the £200 I spent on it. Ideal for casual listening

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A lot of your units are ‘stacked’…
People will tell you this is… bad… :thinking:
Something to think about.

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Congratulations.

Your LP12 should really shine if you’ve gone active. It really works well with the SBLs and 250s.

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While we’d all aspire to Fraims or similar, there are many hi-fi racks I just don’t find visually appealing for the high costs.

If I’m lucky I may move my system to the old listening room this weekend - I may need to visit Ikea for extra cheap supports!

My aspirations are met by Isoblue. That will do… :expressionless:

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I heard so much about Isoblue but always preferred both the look and sound of Hutter. Zero aspirations to Fraim. Industrial design rather than actual furniture.

I quite like the look of Hutter - but my dealer had Isoblue… Fraim was just way too much, for me.

Isoblue replaced my previous Sound Factory set up. Apart from the Turntable stand, which still holds my LP12 off the floor…

No, not that Floor… :crazy_face:

I’ve got a 1980’s Sound Organisation rack supporting my LP12 and Nova currently. Some stuff on the floor currently too which is far from ideal. Too many boxes for domestic harmony or zen like aesthetics!

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Am sure it works - as my SF stand does… It has lots of Spikes…!!!

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Too many things have nasty spikes ! My SBLs now have Gaia feet - they were so fiddly to put on when I tested them I kept them!

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My dealer had both so the comparison was relatively easy for once.

I just bought mine… :astonished:

Been contemplating Gaias for my Sibbles, which are currently using spikes onto brass “chips” on the ceramic tiled floor.

Are you using Gaia 3? And do you think they are a worthwhile investment?

Yes Gaia 3’s I think. Try finding SBL weight online! Only found one dubious reference.

It’s difficult to A/B rapidly but I primarily got them to protect the newish engineered oak floor, having used some atacama spike protectors thingies before that. They have a video where they slide speakers to another area using a tea towel placed under the gaias which I may try later this weekend if I can clear the old listening room.

I think they made the sound tighter/perhaps thinner, bit more detailed, probably desirable especially if they go next door where I have a suspended rather than solid floor.

The reality was they were a right faff to fit as you can’t invert the SBL’s though taking the tweeter boxes might help - had to have books or similar under corners to support them as I fitted each ‘foot’.

I bought them in the end as I couldn’t be bothered to go through the process of removing them!

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So sorry for the silly question! Gone active,? Active crossover? Active speakers? Active lifestyle!

The OP has presumably purchased a SNAXO 242 active crossover and either acquired new/extra power amps to use with it or is repurposing older equipment.

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SNAXO2-4 according to his first post (“Olives rule, OK”)

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Oops!

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Thanks both. Sometimes the Naim Clan language is like a foreign language! And having typed snaxo into Google I see it’s an active crossover.

In my defence I don’t see one in the picture!