Finally gone active

I started my Olive journey in the mid 90s (olive was recently new when I started and I was lamenting the loss of the trad CB look as I forked over wedges of cash!) and I only comparatively recently went fully active, all Olive thanks to the second hand market, the fastidious care our fellow naimees had taken of their equipment, its durability and the availability of dedicated servicing. The end point is truly joyous and the SBLs have kept on revealing at each step. However, it has been a lot of wires, a lot of shelves, a few harrumphs from her indoors and a lot of dusting!

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Hi Anil,

It’s a nice setup. Enjoy it. At some point you might like to consider changing the Hicap on the SNAXO to a Supercap. I thought that changing the Hicap on the SNAXO to a Supercap did give a worthwhile improvement in my system (250s driving Sibbles via NACA5), but, hey, as ever, YMMV.

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LOL, I can see three “half width shoes boxes” which may be a SNAXO and two Hicaps, or three Hicaps, or maybe even three SNAXOs or NAXOs.

From reviewing the first post, my Sherlock-like deductions have settled on a SNAXO & two Hicaps….

Trouble is, the buqqers all look the same from the front! “Laughing:

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Yes one of the shoeboxes would be an olive SNAXO.

And indeed the OP has listed them as such :grin:

Interestingly on my (albeit) small sample of a NAXO, SNAXO and two Hicaps (all olive, naturally), there is a subtle difference between the HC and the XO boxes, when considered from the front………

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A naxo right on top of a big toroidal …

Ah, but which one is the SNAXO?

I would guess at the one on the right at the top. Slightly bigger and the dial position. Probably could do with moving if I am right. How did I do?!

Also slightly newer based on the shade of olive. They seem to move from grey to brown over time

Hmmm…my olives range from 1993 to 2002. They are all grey-olive, except for the NAXO (1994) & SNAXO (1995), which are brown olive.

Go figure that one :laughing:

I’d assumed it was age. My Supercap is the greyest and newest. But it could be they just varied at the time

Slightly artificial colours here but you can see the range (CDS PS, Supercap, 135s dropping down the stack)

Great question!!

I do mean active crossovers!

A

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Truly, t’is one of the mysteries of the age.

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I think that’s my next move. I’ve still got my old 82 and when I move the HiCap on, it should be a straight swap.

I’m told the Prefix will love a supercap too, but I’m seriously running out of room so I many have to leave that indefinitely….

A

You nailed it. I’ve got a HiCap driving the Prefix, with Snaxo beside it to the right.

Both are above an XPS power supply. Bad idea?

A.

Snaxo is the shoe box to thr right if the pair of shoe boxes

So @Steve wins the prize…………

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The “received wisdom” is that Naim alway mount the big mains toroids on the right hand side of their full width boxes. Any toroid will generate a significant EM field, which has the possibility to interact with “small signal” electronics that are nearby. Therefore is makes sense to separate “small signal” electronics as far from the Tx as is sensible - most often to the left… So you should have the SNAXO on the left and its Hicap on the right.

That’s the theory…and electrically it makes sense (I used to do this stuff). Whether you can actually hear a difference is another debate.

Hi,

Good to know, thanks. Next time I move the sideboard, I’ll swap them around: it certainly won’t do any harm!

Shame I don’t have enough room to stack the items on separate shelves…

A.

Anil.

Nice set up, I have had more or less the same at one of point, and not a million miles away now. Yours is a classic Naim system.

Not wishing to spend your money but my active journey made two jumps that are worth considering at some point.

Firstly an SL ‘active cable’ in the chain from the pre to the SNAXO power supplies. You might try WitchHat perhaps. Great value upgrade

Second a Scap on the SNAXO if you can.

Both seemed to allow the system to do more of the things that active does so well, if that makes any sense

Enjoy.

Bruce