Naim Dublin hifi show

For those living in Ireland, this is on the Naim website if you have missed this…bit far for me😬
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Thanks Gazza, yes, aware of that. There’ll be a Statement firing some Focals so looking forward to hearing that, I’ll probably arrive home feeling slightly inadequate!

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Have made tentative plans to attend with another Naimite from up North.

Thanks to the OP for pointing this out, was previously unaware it was happening.

Willy.

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Was already informed by Cloney Audio. Will go to hear Statement, with no possibility of buying!

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Just bumping this up as a reminder for our Irish members

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Be interested in any feedback…have a great time👍

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Been on the lash in Belfast tonight. On train back home. Suspect it unlikely I’ll make it to Dublin tomorrow. Might not even make it to breakfast. Apologies for the impending absence of feedback…

Willy.

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Well, the naim statement is some fine piece of audio engineering, i couldn’t stop looking and feeling it!! It can take a house apart with its power, playing sohn ‘the wheel’ through a pair of 120k focals was something else, layers and levels, hard to describe but you could nearly “see” the sound it was projected so clear, fast, powerful, spooky.
The remote control of the statment is very heavy and a little too bling looking with the chrome.
I would of liked to see a pair of b&w 802d used just to compare to those focal.

Also the lovely little atom and i think an entry si and frame lite.

Another piece i couldn’t stop looking at was the rega p10, absolutely beautiful and the vinyl sound was, yes this is it!!

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Looks like you had a great day…thanks for the pics👍

Dident make it today but going tomorrow, loving that carpet!












I’m always a bit apprehensive about these shows in case I hear something fantastic and then become unhappy with my own system at home.

Well certainly today I had nothing to fear. Listening to Naim amplification (Statement) nearly 10 times the price of mine should have made me shiver, but this Naim /Focal mix, as has been said by many, just don’t work and the room probably didn’t help either. I presume that the Statement with other speakers or the Focal Scala Utopia Evo with another amp should sound better than my 552/300/SL2 - but I’m glad they didn’t!

I found the second Naim system with the new Nait and ND5XS2 with Focal Chora had quite good sound for (relatively) modest outlay.Definitely the best value proposition I heard on the day -(but I didn’t really get a good listen to Rega which might affect this view)

The B&W 802 didn’t do it for me either, I usually detest when people use the word musicality as a description but today seemed to give some credence to this actually being a real thing. Nothing today sucked me in. So much sounded what I derogatorily would call digital.The 802’s seemed to dissect John Grant’s Pale green ghosts rather than convey the coherent tune I know it to be.

The KEF blades were the best I heard but the music for the main was undemanding, Nils Logfren Live, Ben Webster, Shelby Lynne. I thought Wish you were hear sounded a little cluttered. But definitely the best sound I heard. Didn’t make it to the Linn room but the blades were powered by a KDS and Linn monoblocks but how much better this £60k system is better than the £6k Naim one is debatable.

Some sounded so poor it must have been embarrassing for the exhibitors (Esoteric). If me, with my high frequency hearing loss, is still hearing most systems as bright I cannot imagine what young ears would make of it.

Nice to have a chance to see all this hifi in Dublin though and some very good discounts available if one was in the market. 20% on Naim and 15% on Melco were the two I noticed, so if you are in the market for either it’s well worth the journey.

It’s great to be able to compare and contrast so many different systems.

Didn’t really notice the carpet at the event but it certainly stands out in the photos!

.sjb

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Popped down towards out of today, as was back in Dublin at 6am this morning, off 2 long-haul flights and feeling a little ‘out of phase’ and hearing not right after the jet drone.

Shame the B&W Nautilus speakers aren’t running due to distortion in the mid-range driver, but Cloney has them for a few weeks, so I hope there is a further focus session with them.

802Ds were doing substitute work.
Back tomorrow for a listen to the Statement amps & Focals
Plus the other rooms.

Great to see a Hi-Fi event in Dublin again, it has been about 5 year, so we all those in the area should attend and give it support.

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Nice write up SJB…having heard the Focus Chorals, they are great for the price in the Focal range.

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I can pretty much echo verbatim what SJB said above, the Statement was fired by a ND555 and Core running on super lumina and was fairly underwhelming in to the big Focals, even if it was a tenth of the price I wouldn’t be tempted. The ‘budget’ Naim system in the other room as described above was fairly impressive and I was quite taken with the Focal Choras particularly at £1200 with 20% off! The Spendor A7, A4 and 2/3’s sounded really good I thought but then again I’m used to their sound. Dident think much of the Kef Blades but was very impressed with the little LS50’s fired by a Linn Majic which I hadent heard before. Unfortunately the B&W Nautlilus were DOA so never got to hear them. Like SJB said above I certainly dident leave wanting. 20% off an XPSDR did make me think though but I didn’t succumb! Oh and the Devialet Phantoms and Reactors were there too, really impressive to be honest and when set up as a stereo pair they really did the business, not exactly what I’d call hifi and expensive for what they are but impressive all the same, great for a big apartment or the like.

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Thanks for the write up - sounds an interesting show. I must say the Rega Osiris looks as lovely as ever. The Osiris / Isis still remains a ‘must listen to’ combination for me.

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Yesterday was rugby in Dublin, so today I arrived at the Clayton approaching 15.00, to find the Statements being wheeled out, because ‘don’t you know ‘ that nobody attends a HiFi show in the afternoon!
What a bummer, the one thing that I wanted to hear (and which I can’t afford).
The Cloney Audio team was still working away to the normal timetable, but the blow-ins were gone far too early. Why bother opening Sunday if you’re not going to be there?
And some rugby fans are HiFi enthusiasts too…

And yes Naim as sponsors of Bath rugby should know that.

Hi Hollow,I was at the show as well and found it great .i was there to finally make my mind up on a full new system ,So I ordered the Naim Atom And spender a4s, I have to decide on the turntable , I was thinking of the rega p3 and a separate phone stage which i need to connect to the atom, having read posts here suggesting the atom would not play the ps to its best capabilities ,I am thinking the p3 would be a waste of money ,so would you have an opinion on buying the regs 1 +plus which has the phono built in to the table ??
regards

Hmm ok, I’d agree RP3 is probably overkill but depends how much vinyl is part of your listening scenario, the 1+ may be all you need and you can order it with an add on pack inc a better cartridge for few extra quid and I believe the results are good, saves you a phono stage too. Not to put a downer on things but I started out with an Atom and A4’s - the A4’s are excellent but I was never happy with the Atom driving them, I think it’s better suited to smaller stand mounts or book shelf speakers, I upgraded to a Nova and that was a much better combo and the A4’s really came in to their own, everyone’s experiences and preferences will be different so don’t let me put you off but if you can stretch to a Nova I reckon you’ll be a lot happier in the long run.

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thank you , I could stretch to a nova i will have a think about it thanks

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