Secondary (and tertiary, etc. ...) systems - photos and commentary

[b-lilja]

We don’t have animal pets, but I do have what I consider to be pet stereo systems. I am a friend and family enabler, and also pretty much any space at home and work that can have a system, does have a system.

Inaugurating this thread with a system in our bedroom alcove…pretty terrific sounding. I really wish I’d cleaned the fascias beforehand but the light was just terrific and I grabbed the camera to capture.

While the Creek amp is great, the star of the show is the old Nakamichi tuner, which sounds just excellent. My understanding is that it has the same designer as the Yamaha T-2 (which I also have), and frankly sounds better. One that flies under the radar - I do not see much online about it. It has these fantastic green tuning lights that light up on each side of the tuning bar when the signal is fully locked. A bit of a British sound, somewhat similar to the Naim NAT03 but a bit fuller…actually now that I think of it, similar to Creek tuners but without the bad drift…

And those are Canton Plus S’s, great little bricks…

Inviting everyone to post their various secondary “pet” system photos and comments…

[b-lilja]

Wow, I’d had dreams this thread would take off! Consider this a hail Mary bump.

[Innocent_Bystander]

I know some people do have multiple systems, but certainly not all. In my case all resources went into building one system as good as I could afford. And other rooms then have the advantage of being free from my music (except when I get too spirited!). Good luck with your thread.

[MoonDrifter]

This is my second system, the LG OLED C2 TV was new, but all the audio equipment was in my main system before I slowly upgraded it all over the last two years:
SN3 + HCDR
Roksan Caspian M2 CD Player
NAD C658 Streamer/DAC
Cambridge Audio Azur 752 BD Bluray Player
Dynaudio Audience 72SE Speakers

Its installed in my study room and I use it mostly when I get kicked out of the family lounge room where the main system is located.

[feeling_zen]

I strongly suspect all people’s second systems are already in the System Pics thread. Mine are.

I find that building one big system isn’t compromised by having other second systems as long as rules are set. My max cost limit for an entire second system was always the equivalent of a new SuperCap or less (under half the cost of a SCdr in most cases).

And when you WFH and have kids hogging the main room, those secondary systems get the most use.

[Adam1]

Here’s my other systems, don’t really have a ranking order.

Technics Su-G700m2 connected to Kef R3 Metas with P3, Wiim Pro Plus and Rega Apollo (transport) front ends and then Densen system into Kef LS50 Metas and dual Kc 62 subs.

Technics one mostly used when using gym, Densen when sitting down facing the garden, chillin.

Both when being a kid. (Rega Apollo connected to both), transport to Technics and player to Densen.

[whitedragem]

As good a thread as any for this post, which is simply to raise awareness of the benefits of adding Naim ampflication to the ‘b’ stereo system…

This is a bedroom setup (briefly was using a Sony SXRD projector on the wall, and justified having a surround sound music setup to go with…), using a 55" OLED around 4-4.5 metres from the pillows…

The setup inherits a huge selection of ‘b’ speakers, but also has one of the best speakers in the house, the centre channel (in the photo, but ‘dark’), whose tweeters are $130 each, and the crossovers ‘top tier’/expensive… etc…; nice jarrah and matching the surrounds…
The heights are mostly centre channel speakers repurposed (large ones with front porting, generally from the 6-800$ price tier per centre speaker)…

When I added the Naim integrated amplifier, in AV Bypass mode, to the Anthem MRX720; the resultant sound upgrade was SO substantial that it made me reconsider our ‘house-fi’.

Part of the upgrade was simply removing the burden of the front left/right ‘mains’ speakers from the surround amp, leaving a larger power reserve for the remaining speakers. Dynamics massively increased, and sound quality was dramatically improved, certainly during dynamic and loaded soundtracks.

So I upgraded the amplifiers in the Anthem MRX to using a twenty year dated Marantz surround receiver… (simply as ‘power amps’).

This noticeably improved the sound quality for the surround channels, and only the centre speaker remained on the Anthem…

Listening for the last week or so, revealed that only the centre channel speaker was strained/‘holding back the system’ (and we listen at low to middle volume levels nearly always, so not a ‘volume thing’)

So, missing the quality the Naim amp had given to the front mains (used in surround tracks to setup the sound before ‘steering’), today I quick ‘hodged podged’ the Naim in place to see if it would help further, over using the Marantz as ‘outboard power amps’.

Big “YES”!

The Naim integrated, in AV Bypass mode, adds so much to the setup, that it will now be reincorporated to the surround setup, and centre channel speaker can go on the outboard power amp, and the Anthem will basically act as a processor (rather than an integrated amp, it will be a ‘preamp’).

For the last month, listening to ‘soundscapes’ has been enjoyable.
As of today, I am happy listening to actual singers and ‘bands’ again.
The Naim helps the timing and location of audio cues SO MUCH that the smallest nuances of echo and decay have really opened up the soundfield…
not just for prerecorded sounds “out there” phase effects etc, but the ability to place beyond walls and truly feel like I am in a room where an orchestra can play 50 feet beyond the screen is exceptional (and akin to what I would hear in the nineties via a Yamaha DSPA1000 and a well setup room).
achieivng the quality of audio that surround sound gave when it had to compete against ‘quality two channel’ is no easy feat, and something lost to the sands of time, it would seem… (unless spending five figure price points on ‘modern surround sound’).

A Naim amp in AV Bypass can easily raise the tier of sound quality experienced, and probably do so at a small fraction of the price to do so by upgrading a ‘modern do everything big box’ (master of none/‘jack of all trades’ part).

adding a dedicated musical amp adds so much… and spec sheets don’t even suggest it is possible/‘a thing’; so ‘word of mouth’ from a person who has been doing theatre installs for decades, and toys with this stuff daily…

AV Bypass ‘for the win’.

[Adrian-Glasgow]

My second system - Atom HE working as a pre-amp, playing into two Naim 135 power amps via a custom Chord connector. Speakers are B&W 800 Signatures. Simplicity and a terrific sound.