Thanks for the last few posts, they are all really constructive and helpful.
The responses to my first post have been fascinating, thanks all, a couple were rude but I guess that’s social media.
Considering my question was whether my PMC’s were a good match with my new Naim gear, there have been relatively few loudspeaker responses. The context here was that this is my second pair of PMC’s and it all sounds great in my view and that I didn’t want to get caught up in the black art of hi hi perfection🤪.
So, here are the actions I am taking from your helpful responses…
Firstly I am going to live with everything and enjoy the wonderful combination.
I have made notes of all the suggested speakers and will do my homework, I have a great dealer so will demo at home, as I always do before any purchase decisions. They will have to be truly great to beat my PMC’s but this will be the most impactful potential change to my system in my opinion, so will be something I will check out. I’ve never heard any other speaker combo so it’s something that needs checking.
The table stays, but I have ordered the following additional isolation (I am sure someone will say I could have ordered a dedicated table for the cost of this but I don’t want one).
IsoAcoustics zaZen II Isolation Platform, for each piece of kit
IsoAcoustics Orea Series Isolation Feet, for under the Hi-cap DR to move it further away from the PSX DR. The Hi-cap might need moving to it’s own dedicated spot suspended and isolated under the table between the legs but let’s see how the above works first.
IsoAcoustics Gaia Series Threaded Isolation Feet ordered for the speakers.
Wireworld Matrix 2 power block, to test against my current mains conditioner. I hear clearly the dedicated mains recommendations and will do my homework here and talk with my dealer, it’s a new field for me that I need to check out.
But we always hear differences! If he had advised ‘…stop when your parter/friend/wife/husband can’t tell the difference any more’ then I would still be at entry level.
For me, the path to audio nirvana isn’t about following rigid systems as it’s virtually impossible to 100% optimise a system. Sure, setup needs some consideration but one can quickly find the process takes precedence over genuine satisfaction. The black art as you say!
Once someone resorts to percentages of improvement I feel they’ve lost the argument, because obviously the whole notion of trying to attach a percentage to musical satisfaction is deeply flawed.
That’s true to some extent but as the OP mentioned, he wasn’t really able to hear much (if any) difference between a dedicated support and a table.
I have to say I’ve found similar in the past and confess that I’m the same with speaker cables. I used to use Cable Talk as a cheap alternative to NACA5 (it was claimed to have similar properties). I’ve since moved to Witch Hat N2 and shamefully can’t really tell much difference.
Nait3/CD5 to Uniti MK1: big difference.
Uniti MK1 to Nova: huge difference.
ProAc Studio to ML Electromotions: huge difference.
I’m not suggesting cables and stands don’t work but just that I’ve not heard significant differences. Although I’d caveat that by saying I’ve never listened to a Fraim.
Interestingly my wife is my barometer for most purchases. She never uses my hifi, except for TV but has a good ear.
Perhaps my dealers advice should be modified to, “stop if you can’t hear enough of a difference”.
As for the importance of placement, if you read up a bit you’ll see that one of the biggest factors in why Naim is different is down to the massively over specified power supplies used in most of their kit. 500VA power supply transformers to feed maybe 20VA load, for example. This presents major design issues in terms of internal layout to minimise noise finding its way on the power rails - something Naim has progressively improved over the years, with seemingly minor tweaks to internal cable layouts etc. The only problem here is that the customer can unwittingly undo this by stacking power supplies, seriously compromising performance. This is where a dealer becomes worth his cut, and can guide the customer away from rookie errors.
The advice should have clarified that it should be when you can hear no difference when comparing blind…
My wife sometimes hears differences that I don’t - she hearing from the adjacent room, compared to me listening in the listening room! My problem is that when comparing I too easily get drawn into listening to the music not focussing on hearing differences - my wife on the other hand isn’t interested but can’t help hearing the sound.
After a few days away I’m back at the store today catching up with some paperwork and thoroughly enjoying the great synergy of our NDX2 > SuperNait 3/Hi CAP DR > QLN Prestige 3’s demo system
I’ve spent years trying different speakers and have recently got a set of PMC Fact 8’s and they are the best I’ve heard with my Naim System.
I wouldn’t worry about getting a specific support either as the only component you need a decent one for is the record deck.
Just enjoy the music, your speakers are well suited, just play around with their position and try toe-in them in so that in the listening position the sound crosses roughly a foot behind your head.
that’s is definitely up to rest of the room and aqouistic but positioned like that you need the speakers that will perform in that space, some might not
Or purchase an Olsen hospital grade power block. These are very well constructed as they should be used in hospitals where critical electrical supplies cannot be interuppted and the casework is double earth grounded as well. I couldnt be happier with mine although i will be re wiring the internals and iec to further optimize my system.
I also suggest a new dedicated hi-fi or AV rack to individually isolate each box from each other. You will be pleasently suprised by the improvements in SQ achieved with just a basic outlay in funds if done correctly.
Just for information, there is no such thing as “hospital grade” in the UK. The use of plug connected multiple socket outlets (MSU) with medical equipment would require an assessment in accordance with BS EN 60601-1. See the DoH HTM 06-01 (2017) for the issues that need consideration. Also, most would not have any facility to connect the second earth it provides no benefit. In a medical location they will have support for equipotential equalisation conductors, but these are normally via a push on/pull off POAG connector. These connections are generally not widely used and not mandatory for medical electrical equipment (see 60601-1).
Hospital grade in the USA and Canada relates to the force needed to remove a plug from the socket-outlet used in conjunction with medical equipment. This is to reduce the possibility of accidentally pulling the cord out.
