like Gazza, I thought the active 808s sounded very good indeed. Itās very difficult to draw much of a comparison with active DBLs, being in a different room, with different source and certain types of music played. But thereās no doubt that these Kudos speakers suit the Naim style of music reproduction.
Sorry Gazza, canāt make it tomorrow, hope you enjoy the day.
I attended the second demo session so missed you guys.
Very interesting session - even the smallest of the three systems 606 with the 250 Amps showed clearly Active was far better.
The main big system was essentially my system but with different speakers and the later model Melco, so that was interesting. ND555-2x555DR PS into S1 Pre into Snaxo (for kudos version) into 3x NAP500DR driving the 808.
It was very easy to listen for a long time to many different kinds of music - effortless easy tuneful immediate presentation.
The middle system with 707 Active with 552-300s sounded rather excellent too.
A fun afternoon - many thanks to Signals and Kudos for it!
DB sorry to have missed you, glad you enjoyed the sessions. Its easy to take for granted the effort from Kudos and Signals to put this together. Will be back in the morning.
Interesting, DB in this Demo yesterday an S1 pre was used? I thought and according to webpage from signal itās a 552dr for the 808s3x500dr presentation. Was there a comparison between s1 and 552 as well ?
We decided to simplfy and used 552 DR with Nap 300s and Kudos 707, S1 with 3 x NAP 500, which more or less matched cost of passive all statement and this ran the 808s. By the time DB arrived, both systems were fed by ND555 and had SNAXO on Supercap DRs. The 606s were on NDX2 and XPS DR with 252 / SC DR and the SNAXO on HiCap DR. Its a fair amount of black boxes . . .
Today, it starts all over! If anyone fancies the trip, Iām sure we can squeeze you in.
Thanks for clarifications. Unfortunately being in mainland Europe i hardly will make it to uk this afternoonā:wink: but thanks for encouragingā¦ would really love to attend. Itās great to see big active systems back in the game. My bias always was that active 500dr will be a fierce competition for passive statements most likely leaving them behind. The S1 i am sure betters the 552 by a clear margin. As the statements are a stand alone design not so much for the enthusiasts who spend years if not decades to build their dream systems it would be nice to have an upgrade path with a S1 pre that matches with standard fraim based systems ie a fraim compatible two box S1 pre. Probably not happening soonā:see_no_evil:. Anyway enjoy the show ā¦ quite envious here ā¦
Well what a difference a day makes. As i was leaving yesterday lunchtime a further ND555 turned up replacing the NDX2/555ps on the Kudos 707. I purposely did not comment yesterday as they were a bit disappointing, with bass control a bit of a problem. Today with the ND555 they sounded very good indeed with the bass under control, and the tone and timbre sounding great. A few swaps between passive and active, both sounded fine, but the control of the speakers and sound stage so much better with the two Nap 300,s.
Started off today with the Kudos 808 in passive mode, heard them yesterday as previously mentioned active and passive, great speakers with the S1 and 500,s.
The 606 room yesterday we had a NDX2 / 252 and passive or active 250,sā¦the speakers were inches from the wall, much like an SBL. Still sounded really good. Personally i could live with the passive 250, yes the active did add some extra dynamics, not sure i would bother myself. Thanks to Alistair and Andy, plus the Kudos team. As ever great to bump into forum members @Tonym yesterday and @NigelB todayā¦last seen holding off all boarding parties in the 707 room.
Was there a vast difference between 1x 500DR passive and fully active? Big jump up in price when you factor the extra 2 500ās, Supercap, Cross Over, SL XLRās and SL speaker cables! Ā£60k+ I imagine!!
I think @Darkebear put it succinctly the active 500 system, they were effortless and a joy to listen to. If i had the money they would be in my audition list ā¦but i don,t have the moneyš„
Just returned from the event. The gold standard of replay for me in near 40 years of listening to systems. ND555,2x555PS, S1 pre, Snaxo, 3x500DR into Kudos 808. Not much more to say except you donāt often get to hear a system like this in all its glory, but the Signals main demonstration room let it shine.
Gazza, interesting comments on the 606 Iāve been discussing both the 505 and 606 with my local dealer with the intent to organising a demo.
Unfortunately I was rushed into hospital for major surgery a few weeks ago so this has been put on the back burner.
I have recovered very well and will be visiting my dealer this week to restart the process of arranging both dealer and home demoās I am really looking forward to listening to these speakers having only heard them briefly at the BristoL Show where I was really impressed with them.
Its a converted Methodist church with a large vaulted ceiling. There are 3 demo rooms and the main large demo room. I guess its 35 foot long by about 16 foot, with the ceilingā¦probably 15 foot at its highest. Its a large volume to fill, with music. Perhaps Signals can give more accurate measurements?
Hope you are getting better. I must admit to not getting the Kudos speakers up until now. Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to @NigelB thoughts, as he has followed these speakers closer than me.
Yes pcd, great to hear you are recovering well. Mustnāt forget, hifi is only a pleasurable pastime and selecting kit very much a first world problem, but ones health is all important!
So much to say but I am brain-dead at the moment, but I will update this fine place tomorrow. What I will say, and I echo Garyās comment, is the 808 system is the finest I have heard and the 707 and 606 systems the best in their price category, well to these well-seasoned ears anyway!
Many congratulations and many thanks to the Signalsā and Kudosā teams.
Forgot to mention @Gazza, great to see you today and a pleasure to meet your wife.
It is a real shame you couldnāt make it. I think you would love the Titan range as you already have the S20s, but I seem to remember you have already heard some of them. But I must say, the set-ups today were spot on!
I am contemplating streamer upgrade and speaker upgrade (only Kudos on my shopping list after today) which would have to be accompanied by a power amp upgrade, so way too much money in one go. I am therefore trying to prioritise and also deciding how to get a thumbs up from my better half who is far more sensible than me. Alastair was very helpful in guiding me forward today with some honest advice. Next steps are crucial for me as they are end-game!
Watch this space.
Goodness, I hope the wife doesnāt watch this space!
Many thanks to all for coming along, to Derek, Dave and Toby from Kudos for all their efforts, everyone, especially ones called Gary, for the kindly reviews and to Nigel B for his comments too. It was great to see you all. It has been an interesting couple of days.
Room dimensions? Itās a bit weird. Fundamentally, the demonstration area of our 1992-built former Catholic church measures 13m x 9m. The apex of the vaulted timber clad roof is 7m in the centre. Under this space, there are walls running either side along the shorter 9m axis, generating additional rooms at ground level and two 9m x 3.9m mezzanine floors above. This leaves a modest central āhallā 9m x 5.2m under the 7m tall roof but one which has a roof significantly larger than the floor area.
Reading this back, I think I might be a little tired. Hope it makes sense.