worked on this over the weekend - timeline Pre 2007 Mix of NAIM source & NAD and then from 2007
got to thank @Cymbiosis for all there help & guidance over the years
2007 - 2014
CD5i/202/200/Spendor S6e
CDX2/XPS/202/200/Spendor S6e
2014 moved from CD to Digital
NDX/202/200/Spendor S6e
NDX/202/HCDR/NAPCC/200/Spendor S6e
Full Fraim added in 2017 from Quadaspire Q4
NDX/282/HCDR/NAPCC/200/Spendor S6e
NDX/282/HCDR/NAPCC/200/B&W 805N
NDX/282/HDCR/NAPCC/300/B&W 805N
NDX/282/SC/NAPCC/300DR/B&W 805N
NDX/252/SC/300DR/B&W/805N
2021
NDX/252/SC/300DR Kudos T505
Main source
April 2005
Linn LP12/Pre cirkus/Itock
2014
Linn LP12/Pre Cirkus/Ittock VII/DV 10x
2018
Linn LP12/Kore/Cirkus/Khan/Lingo 4/TP Tranquilty/Tramp 2/Ittock VII/DV20x
2019 - June
Linn LP12/Kore/Khan/Lingo 4/TP tranquilty/Tramp 2 /Ekos SE/Naim Pre/HCDR/DV 20x
May 2020
LP12/kore/Karsouel/Urika/Radikal/Ekos SE/DV XX2
Hi @Antz , hope the 505’s are proving all you hoped for and more. I’d be very interested in any updates on how you are getting on with them now they’ve had time to settle in. I’m increasingly thinking that Titans of some sort could be in my future. 808’s I know to be amazing. 505 is the one I know least.
The T505 are everything I had hoped for - took a couple of days to settle and get postion right on both channels - they are not a all room fussy and have them 8 inches from the wall with a slight toe in towards the liserning postion which is 12 feet from speakers - also the new KS 1 cable needed to be run in also which it now has done
the sound stage is a joy and effortless right accross the whole music spectum, the bass is crisp and has a lovely rich texture - nothing I from my collection has proved to be over blown
Mid range has focus and a delightfull seperation - nothing seems to phase them
there are for me my end speakers using either of my sources LP12 or NDX the music is alive and just flows with ease, so you could say I a more than delighted with them, for me there is a real sinergy between Naim and Kudos
I am hoping now with the ease of retrictions some of my musical friends can now come over and hear them - I also know @LindsayM had his T505 around the same time - he might add his thoughts also
Very nice to read this journey! Enjoy the fabulous setup.
Playing now with ND5XS2/SN2/TP/ASW Genius 510.
In the coming 10 years I want to go to my destination setup: NDX2/282/HCDR/250DR/Sonus Faber Olympica.
Unless Naim comes up with anything new and even more appealing for me.
I have had my 808s and the 500 for five months now. Last week they seemed to move to a different level of delicacy and are sounding more marvellous than anything else I ever heard (that I can remember).
I say “seem” because the improvement might partly be related to having a particular source of unpleasant work-related stress resolve - I am aware that mood can affect what I hear
I had NDX/282/HCDR which was lovely, I may well look at NDX2 - my NDX is 8 years old now and still has plenty of music - I don’t stream only Iradio (the new Caroline is great and of course paradise - and then for FLAC)
@PSAN I have always worked on source first as the main focus as my system has grown over the years
that being said - I have also always believed there needs to be on a balance in the system so if source first is 1: and then balance needs to be 1.5
Yes - really fab. Really enjoying at the moment - though about to get (this afternoon I think) new SL cables to replace the dem ones I have had for a while, so that might set me a back a touch until they are run in I guess.
With not being able to go anywhere and hear any other system for fully five months now, I have been a bit fretful that it hasn’t been possible to do any comparison. With brand new 500 and 808s just before Christmas (and SL xlrs more recently) it has been difficult to have a baseline to work from (though it has been clear that bass lines are awesome) as there have been too many to remember a clear reference point.
Back when I had the SL2s active with a pair of 300s (October ish last year?!), the brand new 808s sounded terrible when first plugged in but the next day within were sounding better. I wasn’t convinced for quite a long time (had Pete back 2 or 3 times) but in later November / early December was v happy with them. Christmas week and a brand new 500 and ditto 808s brought immediate improvement even compared to reasonably well run in 808s. Then in feb/March I got the sparkly mains block and SL xlrs and there was another lift - but still no hard reference point. Except that relatively speaking I am more disappointed with the atom / nsats in the loft than I ever was with the uq I had some time earlier
So I am fairly confident that what I have - particularly with the step up in the last week - is really sounding pdg but I am looking forward to getting out and about and hearing some reference points. So that I can come home and be v satisfied with what I have. I always used to get home to the SL2s and be happy that I wasn’t missing anything - no matter what I had just heard somewhere else - apart from 707s and 808s.
I would like to explore the second 555 on the nd555, but am otherwise “done”. Though my dealer may think otherwise But am definitely done this year…
yes I am looking forward to visiting @Cymbiosis in early July for a demo of Keel and a couple of other interesting demo’s which Peter is putting together for a very small group of HIFI friends
Pleased to read that your fairly substantial upgrades have settled in, and that you’re now even more chuffed with the music.
Since your Kudos 808s share some genetic inheritance with my Neat MF9s, am I allowed to tell you about the uplift a set of IsoAcoustics Gaia 1 isolators have brought to my system?
No, thought not!
Both vertical and front to back soundstage has increased quite dramatically … how is that possible? … dunno.
Anyway, I don’t know whether Pete stocks them, but they are available from a couple of places on a “no like, no keep” basis, so maybe worth a bash.
The only thing to be aware of is that the website calculator for specifying the thread size / pitch isn’t necessarily that accurate, so I’d ask Pete to check with Derek Gilligan, should you consider trying them out.
but I am looking forward to getting out and about and hearing some reference points. So that I can come home and be v satisfied with what I have. I always used to get home to the SL2s and be happy that I wasn’t missing anything - no matter what I had just heard somewhere else - apart from 707s and 808s.
But am definitely done this year…
