Hi Thegreatroberto can I ask why you use a Musical Fidelity power amp rather than a Naim, just curious and have you run your 2026’s with any other amplification prior to what you list at present,thanks.
I had my original Naim speakers (602 or 702, something like that) from about 1973/4 to about 1996, and my SBLs from 1996 to about 2017 IIRC. My Ovator 600s are from then, so they have a few years to go yet, I hope. I had a pair of IBLs from about 1993 to something like 2018, I think, so they didn’t last the course.
Kans, Rega,Rogers until recently.
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Hi Beachcomber, I did think when I read your reply that my very first system. vintage 70’s, is still doing the rounds within the family, so guessing maybe there are a lot of people out there that keep speaker/systems for many years.
Personally I think about 10 years is my current average which I thought wasn’t to bad, not sure my wife would agree with me though!
I still remember my Spendor BC1 with affection, happy days…when you could buy an LP for around a £1…showing my age now.
I think we must be precise regarding the terms. Rega’s is explicitly a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. I wonder if they’d classify, say, a capacitor that fails after 30 years as a manufacturing defect - I doubt it, and I would agree. Whereas a failed capacitor would be covered by the statutory warranty (which is transferable in most judiciaries)
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Good question. The short answer is that my previous gear was MF. And I always wanted a Nu Vista 300 power amp. It is huge next to the regular MF stuff.
So, finally I bought one and had it serviced and significantly upgraded. Both power transformers are now 1200va ( I think ) each. Completely rewired, new caps, valves, blah, blah, blah.
And most importantly sounds fantastic. The low end particularly is impressive. Totally in control of the speaker.
I have tried naim power amps, 250dr, 300dr and a 500dr. Yes, the 500dr came close.
And I recently retried the exercise with 25.26 speakers. Same result. Not what I was expecting. But means my wallet stays intact.
I’m sure if I was starting again, I’d have a 250dr or 300dr. But coming from MF their bigger power amps are hard to beat. Especially if modded by those that know what they are doing. I had a A300cr before the Nu Vista, and pretty close to the NV.
The guy that did my work on the NV runs a modded MF kW750 ( pair) which he thinks are amonst the best he has ever heard in a domestic environment. Perhaps he would say that?
Perhaps irrelevant, but the pair of NV boxes weigh over 60kg. They were 52kg? before the mod.
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I thought as much when I saw the Nu Vista on your equipment list, not the sort of power amp you just stumble into guessed there was some history to it, sounds amazing. I have had several pieces of MF equipment , dating back to an A1 many years ago, which was a wonderful amplifier but the thing would constantly go into melt down due to its class ‘a’ build, I recently had a M6s pre amp running with my Bryston and it was okay but after trying my sons XS2 in the system I opted to try my first Naim pre/power, cant really describe why I enjoyed the sound so much but I did hence the purchase of the 202/200dr,it seems to latch onto the rhythm of a track so well.
To be honest there is still apart of me that would like try to run the 202 with the Bryston, I think the combination may work well but my son was not so sure, suggesting to stick to the Naim pairing to benefit from the synergy the two units should bring. There doesn’t seem to be much information regarding Naim/Bryston combination which made me wonder if the match didn’t really work well together. Plus with the 202 taking its power from the 200dr I wondered how you would get round this, I’m guessing it is not just a purpose made cable.
When you mentioned you tried it again with the 25.26 and got the same result, were you thinking of changing to the 25.26 from your 20.26.
Thanks for the reply very enjoyable to read your journey to where you are now, the system you have sounds brilliant.
Not considering a change to the 25.26. It was as close as the dealer had to my 20.26. I’m happy with my 20.26s
I hear a lot about synology and the like, and i get why it should work. But, I was not hearing it with a naim power amp. My NV 300 feels like a keeper. ( The A300cr before it was a good power amp too. Bloke I sold it too absolutely loves it). MF made some good stuff ( and some crap too). Their power amps were of a simple design with an oversized but basic design. Even using chokes ( inductors) to act as low pass filters. A bit old skool, but effective.
A serviced and perhaps modded MF A270 or A370 could be all most ever need. Assuming a good source and pre.
Anyway, don’t give up on the Bryston. They make good amps too.
Just an update, heard back from PMC regarding the badly damaged crossover of my Twenty 26’s,good news, damage is confined to just the tweeter section of the burnt crossover, both crossover’s have been tested and measurement’s are near identical so just the repair and final test to go through.
So pleased that the damage has been minimal and will be so happy to get the crossovers back in and the speakers working as they should.
I cant fault the service I have received from PMC, it has been first rate but I did wonder what would happen if the company you purchased you speakers from were not so accessible, can only think what a potential nightmare that could be for the owner.
I will update further when everything is back up and running, again massive vote of thanks for the staff at PMC ,good to see British industry performing so well.
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Good News…!! Any info on why the failure occurred…???
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Good news indeed…I did ask the question but as of yet haven’t had any response…thinking back during a prolonged listening session I did get a little overzealous with the throttle…I was enjoying “Ten Year War” by Black Sabbath and the left hand channel suddenly went off.
On closer inspection the Bryston’s green indicator light on the left channel hand turned “orange” which is overheat mode, something during all the years I have had it has never done. Later when the problem with the tweeter started I did start to wonder if that could of been the start of the issue.
Perhaps when the work is complete PMC may give me an idea of the cause of the damage but I would bet it is probably me over driving the amp…I will go a tad steadier with the Naim.
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Did you hear distortion from the amp (more than just the normal Sabbath Distortion 
)? Distortion is usually the tweeter killer
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Hi Suedkiez…to be honest I cannot remember but that could be the cause…you will have to enlighten me as to “Sabbat Distrotion 
”
I think we all have our weaknesses and some music is just meant to be experience and enjoyed at realistic levels…thats my excuse 
I totally get the need to play Sabbath loud. Just saying that there is naturally distortion in Black Sabbath guitars, so if the hifi amp adds distortion because it is overdriven, it’s probably not as easy to detect compared to, say, violins
And amps that are overdriven and start to distort are much more of a speaker killer than pure volume alone. An amp that is distorting might kill the speaker at 90 or 100 dB while the same speaker might survive 110 dB when driven cleanly
Got you!..makes total sense when you put like that…unfortunately some of the music I really enjoy is probably made up of a certain amount of distortion as you mentioned but I do enjoy a vast assortment which makes it difficult to bias a system to suit the music or build a system with a particular style of music in mind say jazz or classical…finding a good compromise is not always easy especially if you are trying to keep things to a reasonable budget…but I’m sure it can be done…will some help and advice along the way.
I’m in eternal love with Sonic Youth, so not a stranger to loud & distorted guitars
You’re in a good place already and have a very nice system, better than 99.99% of people But yeah, perfection all around is always costly. Gladly my NAP300 goes very far and my speakers are rated for a max. sound pressure of 123 dB / 1 meter, which is far into getting-kicked-out-of -the-apartment territory, but I believe that’s the end of the road for me and I don’t need any more until I give up the ghost Took me decades to get there too …
Enjoy, and next time keep an eye on the warning lamp if you are pushing it and an ear on the distortion, you may have been just unlucky. Will be interesting what PMC say
You certainly have some impressive figures at your disposal…I’m fortunate in living in a detached property so anti social levels can be used from time to time without the risk of upsetting the locals…well most of the time…I did have a neighbour bang on the door one evening complaining that all she could hear in her lounge was the bass from the Queen album I had playing but it was a very foggy night which I think must of had something to do with it.
I will be interested to hear what PMC have to say but I think it maybe down to me but just to make sure I have arranged to send my Bryston in for a performance check/test just for piece of mind…as I may add a HicapDR to the 202 which I believe would make it possible to use the Bryston with the Naim…something I would like to try…especially as I already have it available. Will see how things shape up when we are all back up and running 
Indeed it’s impressive how fog changes the travel of sound. There’s a train track 600 meters from me, and most of the time I barely hear the trains, but if foggy or some other conditions they sound real close.
Once I don’t have to drive to work every day anymore, I’ll think about a detached house outside of the city and far away from pesky people too, it sounds like you are having fun
One advantage of ‘big’ power amps is that its difficult to make them distort - they stay ‘clean’. And so are less likely to destroy speakers.
Smaller amps though… What amp you were using when this happened…?
Morning IanRobertM, the new Naim amp(202/200dr) highlighted the problem but thinking about was has happened and the damaged incurred I think it was probably the Bryston that started the issue…the Bryston is a 9bsst2 spec rated at around 100-110w rms per channel but the manufacturers test sheet from new shows all channels delivered 168w rms before clipping, so quiet a serious amount of power.
The Naim is a different sound to the Bryston you can feel/hear that the Bryston has a faster and stronger grip on the music but the Naim seems to push the music on at a more rhythmic pace, if that makes any sense, so both quiet different in presentation, both enjoyable in their own way. A combination of the two would be just right, probably using a 250/300dr would probably help in fairness.
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