Lifestyle downsize of Hi-Fi system

My system besides speakers and subs is basically 4 components. Integrated amp, Streamer, Dac -2 small boxes, power distribution unit. No turntable anymore.

But people who come onto this forum will only do what they want to do.

Do you really worry about whether they heed others’ advice or not?

“It’s a funny old game” is a well worn phrase but not normally applied to hi fi. In the early 80’s tone control were verboten and a 6 pack had nothing to do with the gym. This was the period when the notion of measurements being the ‘be all and end all’ had been consigned to the dustbin as valve designs from the likes of Audio Innovations started to appear and receive plaudits.
I had a 3 box Exposure amp fronted by an LP12 which gave thousands of hours of pleasure but ditched it all in favour of an Atom HE with active speakers from Elac and a pair of stateside cans that weigh a ton but sound sublime (without EQ’ing!) Couldn’t be happier with the results both from aesthetic, convenience and musical enjoyment perspectives……all for 7.5k.

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My downsizing came from a cataract and dodgy knees - plus the inevitable wearing out of my audio equipment

I still get outstanding sound from fewer components, but Naim have offered me a quality sound for over 30 years and I no longer worry if product A is better than product B , i just enjoy it and accept that a single box will not be the equivalent in audio terms of a three box system at a higher price

If you have an Atom it may not be as good as a Statement but it will still offer far better sound than most people will think is possible

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I still struggle to understand why you would go for the NAIT50 which has no remote volume control with your dodgy knees?

I find the auto cut off an irritant , but I have to get off my backside many times a day . I just have a desire to simplify, this has come with cameras, cars and not just audio

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I’ll place my Nait 50 next to my seating position at the “wobbly” knee stage of my life. And at 4.5Kg, the move should be easy.

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How do you simplify a car?

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It’s simple. Ian will walk on his hand and touch the Nait 50 volume with his nose.
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« Moment, moment, i raise the volume down «

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By buying the bottom of the range which is not overloaded with useless tech that takes your eyes :eyes: off the road

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Sadly I am not a cross between Toulouse- Lautrec and Cyrano de Bergerac

For what it’s worth I wish they had built a remote, but the only time I change inputs is when I load CDs

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My Nova living room set up. No TT obvs but we’re very happy with the low visual but high musical impact.

Speakers are Neat Iota Alphas and there is an Audioquest Niagara tucked out of sight.

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I thought about it after asking and realised there’s simplifying the car, and simplifying driving, which are not the same, often mutual opposites - automatic transmission, power assisted steering and brakes, traction control, reversing camera, and of course a car with adequate power and with a design that ensures it is surefooted regardless of conditions and driver skill all simplify driving but make the car more complex, and vice versa, the ultimate being autonomous driving. The one recent development that goes a very long way to simplifying the car is electric engine, removing most of the stuff from under the bonnet!

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God knows I have a truly crazy number of systems and bits of hifi.

But I am 100% certain that if circumstances change and I could only keep 2 shoebox components that I could do so and be happy.

Not sounding as good isn’t really the issue. It’s sounding “good enough” for your lifestyle and still “good enough” whereby serious musical enjoyment is still possible.

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There is of course nothing wrong with downgrading, but I think it’s a little strange that you settle for worse sound than what you had before :thinking:

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I wonder when i will reach 80 years old, if i reach them , if sound quality will still matter to me.
I don’t know.

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It can be an argument yes, age. But as long as you’re healthy and still have an interest in music, it shouldn’t matter, or?:thinking:

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I know all about this Mike! (As do quite a few of us here). Yes you probably will find yourself using them to listen to music and yes certainly you do have a special program for music which is different to the one or more you use for speech. You might have to make sure the audiologist understands how important this is to you because otherwise they may not get set up for music.

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The other argument can be how strong is the WAF factor. I often see multiple Naim boxes stacked together on an IKEA like table, just because the wife doesn’t want to see any audiophile rack in the living room.

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That’s terribly sexist. It’s not only wives who may not want their room to look like a hifi shop.

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