Kudos SIGAO DRIVE Crossover

I don’t want half a dozen additional boxes in the living room

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Why not try a snaxo on your SBLs?! I bet it is a great step up :slight_smile:

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I heard one at a Kudos demo at Cultured Audio, Oxfordshire, back in April 2024. However, have heard nothing since.

DG…

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The cabling will also be a headache. Now DIN to RCA then RCA to stereo XLR is required if using naim old classic and another arrangement of cables if using the new classics. Also not taking advantage of the new balanced connections so some of the new classic features will be wasted. Makes the older single ended stuff a bit more suitable in my opinion. I dont think any of the required cables are available standard from naim.
I wonder what Cymbiosis used when demonstrating active with 3 new NC250’s - Chord??? Reports were that the 808’s sounded sensational in that setup.

Ooohh, interesting…

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Full Blog of the Cymbiosis open day is here.

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They used basic Naim cables which are available with RCA plugs.

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I believe it was in development before they knew Naim were going down the balanced connection route with the New Classic range. And of course, balanced connections are active circuits so considering it is a passive Xover, it would have to be back to the drawing board.

But balanced isn’t the be all and end all. And I am sure most of the other non Naim amplification people are likely to purchase this for also are also intended to be used with balanced connections. So perhaps even if they had known, it might not have changed their design decision.

Worth noting that while it is a passive Xover, it is a line level passive Xover and not a high power passive Xover as used in a speaker. A very interesting elegant solution. I wonder if the concept will catch on.

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The last price I could find for a Naim SNAXO was £2,999 - plus at least a HiCap at £1,599 - both prices from the Dec’21 list. So £4,600 then… :open_mouth:

Is the Kudos box likely to ‘beat’ a SNAXO…??

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Yes, very expensive even before you think of the amps needed (unless of course your name is Gates or Buffett or suchlike).

Whether it is nonetheless VFM is another question - time will tell and I’ll be interested to hear it in due course.

Brian & Trevor and Kudos themselves were using the xover at the NW audio show. B&T with Linn & Kudos with Chord. Several on here, like me, will have heard the xover. They, unlike me, might be the target audience.

But what if, say, 2 x 250 beats 350 or 500? Thats a big factor in the value proposition.

I don’t think the word ‘expensive’ is particularly helpful here. For 99% of the population a Mu-So is very expensive. And even here you have systems ranging from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand, and beyond…

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I also heard it at the Cultured Audio demo earlier this year. My recollection was that it performed very well. I believe that there was another demo with another dealer a bit later. Main release was IIRC at the Munich show.

Sadly my Naim Qb will not drive Kudos speakers in active mode. :frowning_face: :frowning_face:. No it is not time for an upgrade.

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If using 250DR / NC250 or above, then imho a SC DR is really desirable in the mix, so higher price!

‘beat’, well one box less with Kudos, but likely an alternate, as against one better than the other, ahead always of listening back to back.

edit
Enjoying my system over the weekend, couldn’t initially figure out why it was sounding so good.
Then I remembered that you Ian, had invited pics of burndys. With Snaxo burndy and 552 burndy out, the new position, which were sort of cable dressed ok when restored, but not candidates for any “Naim awards”, clearly have achieved an extra buzz!
Earlier in the summer, stacks two to four of Fraim had been rebuilt from base up. NAC and ND on stack 1 with medium height, with LP12 on top, NAT01 on base level with Superline, had remained untouched - too involved to move LP12 unnecessarily!
Thanks anyway for requesting photos, sound uplift a good result. (Don’t think it was the evening liquid?)

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As active owner over a longish period, I think “beats” is a tricky term.
Passive with one bigger amp v multiple amps active is different - some will enjoy active, others less so.
Answer is extremely personal.
If disadvantage of active with extra boxes, Fraim, extra cable dressing, extra space, not just shelves et al can be accommodated, then active can be very rewarding. It simply perhaps isn’t for everyone.

Leaving aside the question of need (does anybody actually need any hifi device?), active driving of multi-way speakers is inherently better than passive. Yes of course quality of the crossovers, before or after power amp, makes a difference, but coupling a power amp’s output direct to a speaker voice coil is better than inserting a crossover between the two, if only because the direct drive ensuring better grip and control. But of course the quality of the amp comes into it, and you need more amps for active.

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The implementation (of the Burndy FAQ) is all down to our esteemed Moderator, @Richard.Dane .

SNAXO + SC = about £6000 (in Dec’21).

So… that’s getting close to the Kudos box… :crazy_face:

I think we may have sussed Kudos’s pricing logik…

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Then of course we have one amp being replaced by two or three amps of the same type. Passive to active. I did it with 250’s and SBL’s many years ago and loved the switch. Fast forward to this year I have gone from one 500 to 3 x 500 and enjoy a similar level of upgrade to 552 to S1 (with T808’s). The fact that I use Kudos speakers and heard that Roy George had been involved in design at the conceptual stages meant that I wanted to hear what the Sigao does or rather what it doesn’t do as it’s raison d’etre is to reduce unwanted noise. Critiquing the sound of something without hearing is purely conjecture so I wait but with some hopeful anticipation.

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Any news on the hold up………thought my dealer would have had a demo day by now.