Don’t worry, whilst they might seem to be looking, they can’t actually see! If I had them, which would only be for the sound / speaker control, I wouldn’t see them when listening to music as I keep my gear out of sight as much as possible.
The sound quality was hampered by, IMO, the speakers. Looked like 15” or 12” Tannoy units in some huge wooden enclosure. Completely muffled and really not great.
“Disco Reggae” eh? Hmmm.
Wonder what the other LP’s are.
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My equipment rack is just to the left and front of my listening position. I can lean over to the left a little to turn the volume knob on the 252 (which is good since volume control on the remote really sucks).
When I was young I thought the McIntosh look was cool and had a tuner/pre/pwr for several years. I would never get that now, and last time I heard McIntosh I thought it sounded dull and lifeless., rather boring and unmusical. Just befoe I switched to Naim on the 80s, a Nait loaned by the dealer smoked my McIntosh seperates system. I listed it all the Mac gear and sold it a week later.
I went from a Naim Nova, and went in a completely different direction of a tube Muzishare X7. After much - and expensive - tube rolling I decided to move back to Naim, getting a HiCap Nac 72 and Nap 140. I love it and listen to music a lot more.
Currently I also have a Cayin HA-3A tube headphone amp driving Focal Clear MG. I’m not listening to this at all and I’m wondering about moving on from it now.
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I regretted buying a Naim 250. I’d been running a pair of Linn Kans with an LP12/32.5/110 and had been lured into thinking the 250 would bring much more control. It did bring more control but for some reason it just didn’t gel musically for me. Then my dealer asked if I’d like to listen to Naim’s new mono-block amplifier. That was costly but I can still vividly remember the first night I had them set-up and playing ‘Jazz at the Pawn Shop’. Wow! The 135’s were everything the 250 wasn’t.
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how does your 72/140 compare to the Nova?
I much prefer my new system to the Nova. I mainly went this route because I have a turntable and if I played analogue I wanted a pure analogue pathway; the Nova, to my knowledge, digitises the signal for multiroom. For a digital source I went my own pathway of an IanCanada DAC system and Raspberry Pi running Volumio. For me I much prefer this set up and sound. I have Roon too but I’m questioning my commitment to this as it seems an addition rather than part of the system.
I hope to keep to this system for as long as possible. My only purchases going forward will be for an additional system when the house extension is complete but I plan to very much model it on what I have now.
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The reason I asked is that I bought the Nait 50 and much prefer it to the Atom. I still have the Atom but I use it strictly as a streamer into the Nait.
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This was my set up until recently. Sold the Atom for a ND5XS2 which was a great move and then I’ve recently added an nDac and XPSDR. It’s a slippery slope
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Bad moves:
Having my NAP 300 DR’d. It changed its voicing completely, “from a shade of dark to sparkling illumination” as a reviewer put it. In my (admittedly difficult) room it made it more spectacular, but it also induced listening fatigue after one hour of listening.
Buying Sonus Faber Elipsas - I was seduced by their physical bass and amazing look, but I missed the Harbeth sound quickly after purchase. Fortunately I was able to sell them at a good price.
Near miss:
In 1997 or so, I was listening to CD almost exclusively and decided to sell my LPs and turntable. My wife at the time made me change my mind. I’m so glad she did!
Claude
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I was actually considering buying an ND5XS2 a few weeks ago; a dealer in Vancouver had it for sale as it’s been discontinued. I decided against it for a couple reasons. I wasn’t sure that Naim would keep supporting the old format when clearly they are moving to the Uniti range. Also I mostly just use Spotify to stream and I’m not sure that the ND5XS2 would be such a big step with that format. Instead I spend some of that money on an Ittok for my LP12.
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The streaming platform is the same across the board I believe and will be supported equally despite its discontinuation.
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Meters and SQ go hand in glove…
If I could turn back time I would not have sold my SN3 and CD5si and jumped to streaming.
It’s been six months and I regret it everyday. Thousands spent that I didnt need to and I preferred the Naim sound to what i have now.
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Loads of gear . I regret buying a Roksan tt 1990 ( Oh it sounded superb but had power supply issues. I should have bought an lp12 36 years later I did ) I have the biggest problems in speakers. Maybe I have been silly with some choices but it’s been a hell of a ride. In 2026 I’m very happy with my equipment . I don’t wish to take it further
In 1986 I bought Mission 770 freedoms . They impressed to begin with but the treble was too bright. In 1988 i had Monitor Audio 352. A great all rounder but in 1990 I went for Spendor ls5/5a . Very nice but lacked balls. In 1997 I bought 2nd hand Monitor Audio ma700 . Very nice better tgan ls3/5a but lacked deep bass. 2002 Monitor Audio Silver 6 . Very nice in looks, sound & price but in 2003 I saw the original B&W 703 . I went for the B&W and put the Monitor Audio in a home cinema set up . The B&W with my Meridian 557 amp was a stonker but in 2010 the Meridian crapped out and Meridian did not carry the circuit board for it !! I went for a Denon pma1510 which was superb value and I had it until last year . In 2014 I moved house and could not get my B&ws to perform as well in previous place . In 2019 I bought 2nd hand Imf tsl50. They were great and a lot of fun but inbetween I went through complete change of components. In 2023 I bought a Yamaha as1200 ( superb clarity ) worked well with Imf s but I was curious about a pair of 2nd hand Yamaha ns 1000m 2 years ago. On some recordings they sound amazing but on others …..awful. I was lucky to sell on what I paid for them and last year I sold the Imf for Wharfedale Super Lintons. The Super Lintons took time to burn in and set up properly in room but I believe these will stay for the foreseeable. At 59 I don’t need any bigger speakers but the Lintons are big enough and small enough for me. They are superb value for money and I preffered them to Tannoy Berkley , Fynne Audio Classic 8 . I even think they are even better than current Harbeth Shl5 which I heard recently . I also heard some Wilson Audio speakers nice but not worth the outlay. I did hear when getting my Lp12 a pair of klh model 7 . If you have the room and the cash klh are worthinvestigating
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…not when superfluous, like on amps.
Superfluity is in the ear of the listener…
A cautionary tale which helps the gods to see their audio path more clearly.
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I actually only have one purchase regret. Because i was only 14 at the time (i’m 68 now lol) i was very inexperienced and swayed by adverts and bought this :
It was a complete pile of doggies droppings 
but looked the doggies danglies at the time. Because it had taken my summer holidays to save my pea picking money for it, i could’t afford to replace it until the next summer holidays. When i did replace it this was my choice:
Music was back lol. None of these pics are my actual amps by the way……………….i didn’t own a camera at that time 
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