Great news Bevo. Yes, please give Harry and Norman my best wishes.
Main issue with the CDM9 Pro is that they were rare and so finding any spares has long been next to impossible. The CDM9/44 on the other hand was widely used and extremely robust. Many “dead” CDM9/44s can be fixed just by re-setting the platter on the spindle, which can slip. Unfortunately you can’t just substitute a CDM9/44 for a CDM9 Pro as they use different motors and different control circuitry. IIRC the CDM9 Pro has a different platter, but @NeilS can probably give the best advice here.
The Pro mech has a metal platter, hall effect platter motor & glass lens. The 9/44 has a grey plastic platter, a DC platter motor & plastic lens.
While the two aren’t directly interchangeable, the laser swing arm can be swapped between the two to keep an old player going.
Frustrating cos it sounds brilliant - the NAC 32.5 never sounded so good. And it’s also musically engaging - broadly as good as the Olive HC, perhaps better. It really is like taking what you love about old CB gear and making it better. And yet the pace of the music has gone up to 11 out of 10. It’s like listening to everything speeded up a bit. Been here a lot lately when mixing vintage gear outside it’s proper partners. The modern Naim systems I’ve heard didn’t sound like that so I know it’a not a characteristic of the HC DR itself.
It was worth a try and I’ll see how I get on this week but I think the writing is on the wall.
I’ll tell you straight - there is plenty of bass in these babies. perhaps the length of the cable matters (I have 2 pieces of 8m each), it is possible to place the speakers close to the wall (5 cm from the wall and 1.5 m between the speakers). in general I am satisfied. No wonder they write so much about this acoustics. I have now tested it myself on my music system
Listened to the various Hi-Caps and also seeing how they work with 32.5 and 72. The HC DR has calmed down a bit or I’ve become used to it. The long and short is that I prefer 32.5/CB HC most. The HC DR improved the sound of either pre amp a lot but occasionally highlighted a weakness in the 32.5 sound that’s best left hidden. The clear sound was very alluring at times though and I’m surprised by the sonic improvement. I’ll try on the Kan system but conscious of dominating this thread so unless there’s a revelation I’ll leave it there.
Ultimately, I think it will be system dependant and down to listener preferences. It will undoubtedly clean up the sound of a shoebox preamp quite considerably so if that’s something you’re after then defo worth a try. It revealed a slight upper mid peakiness on some female vocals (shrillness) when using the 32.5 but I suspect the B110 mid in my Briks is making that much worse, so it might be fine in another system. I do like the stillness that the DR brings when listening to quieter songs, especially late at night, but not sure the balance is quite right though.
The more things I listen to, the more uncertain I am by anything. I can never predict with any accuracy what will and won’t work - I just have to try it and see. Funny old game.
One thing I am more and more sure of is that the natural partnerships are a much safer bet in terms of balanced pace and sound. In my experience, you can’t go wrong with 12/BD160, 42/110, CB 62/HC/140, Olive 72/HC/250, etc. Yes, there’s lots of flexibility with Naim pre/power amps to partner whatever you want, but to my mind they must have been finely honed during development because that sense of ‘rightness’ cannot be an accident.
Don’t worry about dominating the thread. This is very interesting.
Fwiw I tried a Hicap 2 in place of a CB hicap in my 32.5/hc/250 system.
I noticed a similar phenomenon. At first it was very interesting - cleaner, I would say.
More detail. After a while the novelty of that characteristic sort of wore off.
I went back to the CB hicap. My impression was that it was more “right”.
Easily could have lived with the Hicap 2 though.
Yes, better sound is very alluring but it can take me a while to realise whether or not it’s a musical improvement. I spend 4+ hours a day playing music on the Brik system whilst working so it needs to be as coherent as possible, otherwise it’s just an annoying distraction. That’s where CB amps are unbeatable in my experience - at least for the way my mind interprets music.
preciating how good they are! the sound is audible from anywhere in the room, it is well audible even in other rooms. I’m shocked! the speakers are very musical, and this is despite the fact that the source I have is just my iphone and a cheap cable. not even a cap. share your experience, Nsats owners! have a nice day, everyone!
Love to see those n-sats with chrome bumper - more pictures are welcome
The n-sats are truely magical once they are positioned right. I used to toe them in a bit but feel fatiguing for long listening. Now they are in straight placement.
