Hi Paul, so I have a 252/SCDR/NDX2/250 system which I love Rather than being content with that, I started tweaking things by adding an EE8, two EE1s, a LPS for the EE8, a DC blocker, a Puritan PSM156, a Chord Ground Array, Sarum cables…you name it, if I could find a good deal on eBay, I got it.
So…for partly financial reasons (!); but mainly because I found myself incapable of enjoying the system I worked so long and hard to obtain without constantly wondering if it needed tweaking further or which upgrade delivered which improvement, I stripped out the whole lot.
I did it incrementally and as I removed bits, the sound improved again and again and again. I have kept my very nice power cables and MusicWorks G3 Lite but the rest is now all out of the box Naim and it has never sounded so good!
ps. I think it was your good self who recommended Chord Epic X speaker cable to me when I was deliberating a while back. I went for it and have been very pleased
Yes, you need to be careful with extra earth rods. Your electrician has assessed your existing mains earthing arrangement and advised accordingly. Luckily the DIY days of idly bunging in earth rods without proper consideration of existing earthing arrangements seem to be behind us…
Hope your install has gone ok and you’re pleased with the results.
That sounds quite expensive, so maybe worth shopping around for another quote. Electricians and other trades seem to think they can name their price these days due to high demand.
Having said that, if the cable routing is long or difficult it may be awkward and time consuming?
The cable route would need to go across the garage, then up the outside wall into the main roof loft, then down the other side to reach my music room. Even so.
As they would be fitting a Solar / battery system at the same time I thought might help reduce costs.
I know prices of specialist work varies across the country but I recently had a new CU and feed completed. This involved going from one side of the house to the other via external walls and the loft. Terminated in x4 double unswitched sockets. I also had an additional feed for the AV from the main house circuit including x4 double sockets as well as adding two ethernet feeds. Together with chasing out (it is a modern house so easy) - all in for £800. The price you have been quoted is steep IMO.
Just got home from work and fired everything up after the radial install. System cold and everything round the back needs redressing but already sounding like a step in the right direction. Cost me approx £600 but that’s mates rates and included approx 12 meter run of 6mm cable, Hager consumer unit and internal gubbins into one dual socket which I already had in play. No doubt sound even better after a few days of settling in. Not a free upgrade but jolly good value.
My experience over the years has been that sometimes the simplest and most basic system configurations seem to have a charm and appeal that more complex systems can sometimes lack. It can seem illogical, but no doubt in my mind that it happens.
One possibility is that systems that feature many tweaks are like a ‘house of cards’, with one tweak being dependant on another. If one thing fails to perform on an occasion, for whatever reason, the whole thing comes crashing down. Simple systems don’t suffer from this dependancy and so tend to be more consistent and reliable in performance.
Anyway glad you’re pleased with your system and with the Chord Epic X.
I deepen my sound stage and roll off a sometimes bright top end (track dependent).
I have also given some extra separation to the sound stage so I can hear slightly more of what I presume the mastering engineer was hearing with regard to position.
How many of us through necessity have to have these big glass reflectors in between our speakers?
I have just ordered 4 GIK 100mm deep rectangular SlatFusors for the front wall and 4 square ones for the rear wall. I can’t treat the side walls because of domestic layout.
I’ve also ordered a 50mm deep Diffusor / Absorber which will be placed in front of the tv to improve on the cushions. It’ll slide under the sofa when not in use and is coincidentally the exact same size as the screen.
As Trump once said, Treat the Room! Treat the Room! Treat the Room! (I may be remembering that bit incorrectly…)
I personally also use my system when watching anything or playing games on my console. When not in use, I have panel curtains to block it off. Looks nicer and helps with reflections!
Yup. I have wall to wall curtains 35cm from the back wall. TV and all the AV speakers sit behind that. For music listening I just draw them shut. Both the distance between the screen and front plane of the speakers, and the fabric of the curtains tames any noticeable HF reflections. It’s not a “free” upgrade, but curtain rails and simple single layer unbacked curtains are not expensive.
To be honest, the ceiling and floor are usually a bigger problem.
I bought a square metre of black felt which I hang over the television screen when listening to music. My better half obviously thinks I’m bonkers. Initially she didn’t realise what I’d done and spent a few minutes thinking there was a problem with the television remote control before I removed it. The improvement in sound is apparent when it’s in place - its a cheap way to treat the room.
Strictly speaking, not a free upgrade, but £7.50 is close!!
Ok, so not a ‘Free upgrade’ but in comparison to buying expensive components I think it merits a mention. In short, isolation, I use Townshend bars on my speakers and a platform for my CD player. Yes, these are not exactly cheap but I have also purchased so fairly affordable ISO acoustics in addition to some risers for my speaker cable, amp and CDPS555’s. All have made a difference to my support, I do not understand al of the science, just listen with my ears, benefits all components, just experiment with whatever you and see where it takes you.
Rather than being content with that, I started tweaking things by adding an EE8, two EE1s, a LPS for the EE8, a DC blocker, a Puritan PSM156, a Chord Ground Array, Sarum cables…you name it, if I could find a good deal on eBay, I got it.
The improvement in sound is apparent when it’s in place - its a cheap way to treat the room.