Bi amping really?
Naim have always said NO to this, and here we are. If so, then it says rather a lot, too me.
Seems a few must do naim ways are being dropped.
I can probably see why they felt they needed to run more than a pair on them focal’s but really they probably should have picked a better matched speaker to first show the world the new 350 amp.
As too me it says it’s not man enough and so straight away gives off the wrong impression.
Naim have always said no to biwiring, not to biamping.
Naim have never had an issue with passive bi, tri, of even quad amping where it’s most appropriate with certain speakers, e.g. with the big B&Ws etc…
I stand corrected then, guys
But i still stand by. Why use speakers that need 4 amps to drive them? Surely not giving the right impression?
To me, it’s saying, " This is our new amp, its great but not very powerful as you need 4 to drive speakers like these"
In fact it was the logical step between single amp and active. Buy amps. Save. Buy SNAXO.
While it adds nothing for speakers fully in the amps control, it certainly isn’t detrimental. For speakers that need the extra grunt, bi-amping is far more affordable than buying the next amp up the range that has more power.
For example, if a 250 struggles, a 300 isn’t going to massively change that. A second 250 is easier to afford than a 500. And needing multiple amps doesn’t make a speaker a bad match necessarily.
Now that the PS is no longer in the connection chain, I’m surprised that the NC250 and NC350 don’t have a pre-out for daisy chaining the amps like other makers do. You’re going to need non standard splitter cables on the new range. Seems odd.
Got myself confused with the word "bi
Lol
As it’s normally passive or active with naim
It’s a bit a Focal show, less Naim. If it was Naim at the command, they would show something like Sopra 3 with 2 X 350.
But as Focal wants to impress with their big speakers, they have no other choice that bi-amping them in order to reveal them enough. Normally they are advertised with Statement or other big amplifiers from other brands in other shows.
What are your favourite rock test tracks Mike?! 
I’m partial to the 20 minute opening tracks on Rush’s 2112, Metallica’s Spit out the Bone, to name a couple.
I kind off guess you are right.
Shame, really as with all the new naim gear, it would have been nice to see a more representative set ups.
Like years ago, when you would get the demo’s showing what each box did over the other
I think the message has been that instead of bi-amping et al, in Naim-land it would be better to get the more powerful better quality amplifier.
It’s a tease with many manus who put 2 sets of terminals at the rear of the loudspeaker.
It’s a beast of an unit. Heard it at a friends it’s fantastic.
Would be an end game for me. But too late, I would have to sell my electronics at third their cost and buy this 50 k beast. It probably challenges something like 4 boxes of 552/500.
I’ve been recently working in Germany again and I always fly into Munchen. Love the city and have visited/stayed sooooo many times.
I think I owe it to myself to visit this show next year. Never been, but would love to do so.
Last year at my first Munich Hifi, I behaved myself and did not ask to play a specific music but at the US hifi show I quite often ask for a music I am familiar with or go though their stack of vinyl and ask them to put it on a turntable. Exhibitors are generally very accommodating. Plus these days most are streaming so they would have many choices of music.
This year at AXPONA I brought a newbie who has never been to a hifi show and at the end of the day he asked why noone was playing Hendrix or some rock music. So one of the last room ( IIRC, it was Soulution room ) I asked him to see if he could play Hendrix on the system. They really made the day for my friend.
I often pick something from Magenta as that is well recorded, or the likes of “Arriving Somewhere but not Here” by Porcupine Tree. A lot of a Rush is very good for testing, anything from Moving Pictures or Power Windows for me. For a test of really pushing the system hard, my current favourite would be “Left Out” by Riverside, or any of their new album ID.Entity. “Left Out” in particular has huge dynamic range and it needs a top system to hold it all together.
Stating the obvious remember the demonstrators have to listen to their tunes all day and often have very close neighbours.
I’ll take mine in black
Yes you will get a report on that one later this week…
