And of course they need not b mutually exclusive, although sometimes presented as if they are…
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Ah, a fellow recovered addict! I received a 40th anniversary pressing of Joy Division’s Closer this morning, on transparent vinyl. It was really exciting unwrapping it and putting it on the Rega. It really is - or should be - about the music. When all you think about is upgrades it’s impossible to enjoy the music.
Whether it’s a fifty quid amp or a Statement, the system is only there to play the music. When I was at Naim once I was told rather wistfully that quite a few Statements are sold to people because they are expensive rather than because they are massive music lovers. That’s rather sad.
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Brutally honest of you HH. Respect.
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I recall a conversation with the local dealer I use, whereby he said “some listen to HiFi and others listen to music.” I had never looked at it like that before.
There is no right or wrong, it is whatever floats your boat I totally get that, but for me and my wallet it is about the music and having a reasonable system to play it on.
In due course, I would like to add a Lingo 4 to my LP12, however this is mostly for the convenience of playing 45’s without having to mess about with the outer platter, belt and adapter etc., I won’t be talked into a Radikal as I simply cannot justify the extra expense etc,.
Personally, I would prefer to spend any additional monies on decent quality vinyl as and when funds permit.
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Cheers Nigel. Cheers for being so forthright about a very personal struggle. So glad that there is happiness, and great music, on the other side of it.
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Just this am a 50th Anniversary LP of Workingman’s Dead arrived. I think it’s only sold through Grateful Dead merchandising, but I’m not 100% sure of that. I’m overdue to listen to Air Plugs, so will use this as the test record later today. It’s one I can talk my wife into listening to with me to do the “test.”
How refreshingly honest HH and well done. I’m sure your lovely wife stood by you because of your admitting to a problem and trying to change it none of us are perfect and if you really do know and love your partner, husband, wife you know this to be true.
Of all the couples I know who have been together twenty plus years it is always a case of richer, poorer in sickness and in health.
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Well done HH for putting things in perspective. The most important thing is to enjoy the music!
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I have got off at just that point, xs3,nd5xs2 and a P8.
I honestly cannot believe more investment will yield proportionate improvement. My room is limited in its layout options and my tinnitus is a barrier sometimes. I am now finding myself listening to my music again, rather than the HiFi itself. Thank you Naim and Rega for this.
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I didn’t say that you had to move forward but this thread is called Life After Naim so it’s really about people who haven’t stuck with the same system and have not only moved on with Naim but have eventually moved on from Naim.
To answer the other part of your question what’s stopping you getting off the merry go round is very simple Naim amps up to and including a Nap 300 couldn’t drive my speakers properly in my house if they had I would have gladly got off.
Visiting this site always seems to provide me with a sub conscious encouragement to upgrade to the next level.
I’ve already gone from Nova to four box SN3/ NDX2 and ps in two years. I’m now thinking of pre and power amps.
It does seem a bit crazy to spend tens of thousands of pounds on a stereo.
I hope I can overcome the temptation to upgrade further at huge cost for smaller sound improvement.
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There are a number of members on the forum who have used the same system for years and have been quite happy with the music they listen to in their rooms. There are others who have downsized and appear to be quite satisfied.
I know a few years back I decide to build a small system to go into my retirement years. I have landed pretty much where you are with a XPS DR > NDX 2 > Hi-Line > HiCap DR > SuperNait 2 > NAC A5 > ProAc D30RS configuration. I will retire in October a month shy of my 69th birthday and quite happy with the system.
If I was much younger I may keep going up the ladder but I am quite happy with the performance of the four box system I have today.
Every day I am at home I listen to at least a few albums each day and often time many more than that and the system provides a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction.
Good luck with your future decisions regarding upgrades but it does not have to be a competition to keep up with other members.
For those who do enjoy constant change I do enjoy reading about their journey but have not had the desire to head in that direction.
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555DR, I say unto thee.
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Get thee behind me Satan would be my response to you!
You know you want to…
It’s an inner calling.
For me, there is “no” life after Naim, I did try various stuffs and then found myself back into Naim somehow.
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I would like to be able to continue on the Naim upgrade path but in the USA Naim have priced them- selves out of the market. It’s too bad but if I wanted to do a stout power amp like a 300DR and a nice preamp like a 282 it would be $21,500 new…It’s just too much $$ for me.
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Ahhhh the penny drops.
What you say makes complete sense and is perfectly understandable. But if we’re honest, that’s not a cost issue per-se as a compatibility issue. Presumably the 300 was from a quality/price perspective appropriate to the speakers but not in terms of a technical match, for which you would have had to spend a lot more with Naim to get compatibility that was out of kilter with the price point of the speakers.
To me, and correct me if I’m wrong, that’s just a case of having speakers X which don’t work that well with Naim at the same level, so brand Y was more compatible for them. Which is pretty much the fundamental core of mixing and matching separates: you decide which components are your static values (in your case the speakers) and treat everything else as variables.
And that is totally sensible. I built my Naim system around speakers as the static value (like you) which Naim happened to match. I built my second main system around an amp as the static value (not Naim) and looked for a source and speakers to match that.
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