That’s a shame, but does rather reinforce the importance of hearing secondhand speakers before handing over cash.
What you describe sounds like damaged mid/bass drivers - still working, but sounding crunchy in the mids. The tweeters may have gone bad too. If you splay out a hand and careful push on the diaphragm of the mid/bass driver you may even feel some crunchiness. Only fix is to replace the drivers. Tweeters not so difficult to source, but the mid/bass driver, which were made by Naim, are now no longer available.
When I say upper midrange, I am referring to mostly vocals and guitars. Deep low drums alone (the kind they hit with their hands) sounded very controlled and perfectly normal as the intro to the song but when vocals, guitars, and other instruments that were higher frequency joined into the mix, the music immediately changed into hard to listen to. Based on this, I kinda think the tweeters were the problem. And the right side tweeter seemed lower output to me. To my ears there was far more high freq energy coming from the left speaker. Anyway, not worth trying to speculate. And I am respecting my 804s a lot more now. I still have ProAc DT8s and B&W 805D3’s I’d like to tryout some time. I’ve never seen Neat or PMC speakers in the US but I know they’re wildly popular with Naim in the UK.
The NAC A5 cables need to be supremely terminated, also check that the crossover speaker sockets haven’t come loose. If they have then they will need re-soldering. Main drive units torqued to 3.6Nm. Plinth bolts also torqued to 3.6Nm. Position quite close to a solid rear wall. Re-evaluate.
I’m not checking anything. What makes you think I have some kind of obligation waste another 2 hours driving out (plus gas money) to fix someone else’s speakers that I don’t own ?
Fair enough. They may well have just been broken as you say. They are an a acquired speaker anyway, for those that have a bit of time and patience. Not everyone’s cup of tea i know.
Well; not i unfortunately, Chris. My son has landed a lovely pair in maple. I have been lucky enough to be asked to give them a once over, in my own system. Very nice, very nice indeed. I could easily live with a pair of Allaes.
Ah, that explains it! Am pleased for your lad. And glad you enjoyed the short loan. Your n-sats and Allaes were broadly contemporary. I think of Allaes as n-Sats without the bum fluff! :-))))
