Video reviews of hifi always strike me as odd, as the sound is then dependant on the quality of the mic, the recording …and the replaying speakers! And all too many utube videos are annoyingly drawn out, compared to written text which can be read in as much detail or speed as one wants…. However, that’s not the reason for removal, but simply because they were links to a commercial supplier of hifi equipment, which breaks Naim forum rules. (There is a ‘stickie’ thread detailing the rules.)
Yeah the model X is pretty clean.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Very interesting. Ref the weight I was actually thinking more about moving them for cleaning/decorating when required but your point about design and DSP dealing with the issues of placement is an interesting one thanks.
Regards
Alex
You can move them but it’s a three-stout-lad/three-burly-lass job.
Moving to clean is unnecessary as they should probably be well out from all walls due to the multi-direction drivers so easy to clean around them. Ditto decorating unless changing carpet/floorcovering.
And if you have a partner whe insists on regular changes of room layout, you can agree readily but plead a bad back so ery apologetically can’t help: “oh dear, we’ll just have to leave how it is”.
Seeing them in the raw without their upper cover they look like some giant fat spider rearing up on its hind quarters, fixing its prey with its many eyes, preparing to strike. I do however realise that is not how they are intended to be presented in a domestic setting.
I have to say, seeing them in your sitting room, fully covered, they meld well into the domestic setting, assuming you have a big enough space to accommodate them. I hope you get great enjoyment from them.
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I think they are certainly big speakers for sure but IMHO they hide their heft with their ‘hips’ and flowing anatomy thanks to the concave polygons.
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I heard Pink Floyd on Naim 500 system wired to some big B&W Nautilus in London when the NDS first came out. Sounded phenomenal.
Yes you are mad, have you not seen what happens to this in the transformers film ?
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Yes, I think they blend in rather well in your living area.
They look much less intrusive than, say, the monolithic Neat MF9s which I have, and which only survive because I have a separate music room.
They look great. 
Hi @roundhead its been a while since my encounter with the BEOLAB 50’s can I ask what other hardware you need to allow you to stream say Tidal to your 90’s?
I like the remote control, I’ve not seen one of those before, my B&O rep insisted on demoing the system using his phone, argh!
I stream from Deezer through a Beosound Moment (which you can YouTube). It pipes DLNA from my NAS and Deezer. Deezer is thankfully my favourite streaming service. It has analogue powerlink output, line in analogue and wireless powerlink (WISA) output. I use WISA which is digital over air 24/96 link to the speakers. No cables. It sounds lovely. Done lots of testing analogue versus SPDIF vs Toslink and WISA and TBH I can’t hear any difference. They all sound pristine. The Moment has its own tablet which you can see and I like it because it’s NOT a regular tablet that would distract me no end.
I have a Beogram 7000 CD player which is built like a tank and working well since 1992. The manufacturer and audiophile Lampizator whom you might have heard of, surprisingly took this machine part and couldn’t speak more highly along with the other makes such as Spectral, Esoteric, Teac, C.E.C. TL0 etc. This is warm and bold CD player. I really wanted a Naim CD555 but recent talk of few spares has scared me off in recent months on two occasions. This also seems to correlate with me moving on from physical media which I have been the last to relinquish. I love CDs but sigh there’s little space in the house for CD racks. I’ve also toyed with the idea of a Naim streaming front end but I’m saving for a business project so this will have to be put on ice for now. I’m really waiting for Deezer to appear in Roon I suppose. When this happens I will pull the trigger and make my way to a Naim dealer but the only obstacle is not relying on an iPad etc which I know I’d start surfing on. When I listen to music, I don’t want any connection with the outside world aside from music. Hopefully, Naim will come up with a better touch screen.
I have a Beogram 7000 record player again from the late 80s/early 90s, a tangential machine with an MMC1 cartridge. I can guarantee it wouldn’t be taken seriously in audiophile circles but it sounds to my non-vinyl-ears, 90% of a £25,000 SME setup I heard down the road in Buckinghamshire of bigtime horn and valve audiophile, so that’s good enough for me. I don’t listen to vinyl much as I find any surface noise distracting on quiet passages of music being largely a classical listener. It’s fed to the Beolab 90 using RCA inputs into the Beolab 90, the onboard ADC then feeds the onboard DSP.
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Thank you @roundhead, this is very comprehensive, I may take a while to digest. I think what you are saying is that for the purposes of streaming from an online service there is no other hardware
I recall the parallel tracking turntables, a lovely piece of design.
mmmmmm cables
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Nothing to do with being largely a classical listener
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How are you connecting the Beogram 7000 to the new speakers?
I loved my Beogram 2000 MMC4, but traded it for a Rega when replacement stylii for B&O were near impossible to find. Should have kept it!
I heard the 90s when introduced at the Seattle store — impressive! Though the dealer was gutted they arrived without the calibration mic.
No Seattle store remains, sad to say.
Nick
Beogram 7000 record player connected to Beolab 90 speakers with RCA. Speakers RCA input converted to digital by onboard ADC which feeds onboard DSP.
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I’ve been toying with the idea of a Naim front end outputting digital and need to read the forum carefully to see what fellow Naimees make of the sonic qualities of digital outputs on uniti vs. ND5 XS2 vs. NDX2 vs. Naim Core. In theory, the input into the Beolab 90 is rebuffered and reclocked but people do report differences in digital outputs so I think you have try this stuff out for yourself.
I don’t see much point in using a Uniti as a source as they do not have a digital output. Besides, even the cheapest is the same price as an ND5XS2 - that would be my choice if you want a Naim streamer, and to my ears it sounds the same as an NDX2 when comparing SPDIF output.
The Core is a different thing altogether so you can’t really compare it to a streamer. If you want to play only from local storage and can accept the very limited metadata handling it could be a good option.