I have been retired since 2006. Believe it or not I sometimes miss the office. Good social life drinking and laughing. Changes when you retire not so much drinking or laughter.
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I was made redundant in September and thought about retiring early. Given the financial disruption with the current situation that may not be possible at the moment.
I’ve certainly missed work for social reasons as well as ‘intellectual’ ones. I welcomed the redundancy at the time, less so now and my reasons for ‘missing my old life’ surprise me.
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I was once told at work that you are not up here to enjoy yourself.
But I did.
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Hi - I’m interested to know what “ball bearing system” you have used and if you can post a pic. Thanks.
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I agree with you Naked wines stuff is really good. The fixed box we’ve just got has some really nice wines.
But can’t wait to get back to my own choices,
Have you been to one of their tasting sessions, really good value and chatting to the winemakers As you taste was very interesting.
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Well, things changed slightly before I ordered the parts. So this is a long winded reply / update to my current upgrades.
I’ve been playing around with free upgrades… in other words speaker positioning etc. My setup was geared up around near-field-listening due to the smaller room size and work gear in my office. The speakers were 5ft apart which left enough room for side by side placement. However, after trying out different placements, I settled on a narrower setup of 4ft. This made a big difference to soundstage and imaging… it seemed to bring out even more detail throughout and bass feels more defined / controlled. It felt less contained as there was more space around the speakers. The 5ft spacing probably introduced some reflections as I was getting too close to the back wall to keep the triangle equal.
The downside to this is that the Supernait 2 and ND5 XS2 are stacked at present. The Hi-Cap is lower down on it’s own shelf. I’m currently waiting on a Custom Designs Reference 10 stand in Oak / Clear glass. This will on top of the current heavy units being used at present and will have isolation sites etc.
In addition to this, I’ve priced up the toughened glass isolation shelves to use under each piece of equipment. The factory starts back up working next week so I’ll be getting them sometime after then. Clear with polished edges for £59… not bad and it helps out local merchants. I will be using a ball bearing system under this… most likely using a case bearing (like the ones used it bike headsets) and a ball bearing to sit in the centre whole. Once I have these I’ll take a photo and post it.
So far though, extremely pleased with the system. The ND5 XS2 has been great and now the Hi-Line and Hi-Cap DR have settled in, it’s really brought everything together nicely. The sound feels spacious, like I have a bigger room than I have. I loved the mid/high frequency detail the Hi-Line gave but the depth and control of the lows the Hi-Cap has given are really impressive. I’m not sure but I feel it has also helped with imaging.
Out of curiosity… and to make sure the Audiolab m-Dac+ was working after coming back from having a full factory servicing, I feed the the ND5 XS2 into it via a bnc cable. At first I thought it was revealing more detail, it may well be, but overall I felt it was too bright and a little fatiguing. Lost a little bit of the rhythm the ND5 XS2 had when on its own. The bass also had a little less control / tightness to it. This is probably more of a mis match with the B&W CM6 S2 speakers that are quite revealing already.
So, The m-Dac, Node 2 and Tellurium Q Black interconnects will all go up for sale this weekend. No need to keep them now. I will be adding a Cisco Switch but after that… well, I guess I will audition an NDX2 & B&W 805 d2/3’s at some point. But, not for a while I’m too busy sitting back and enjoying my current system!
They are really good value. The quality of wines are really impressive given the price. I’ve had wine 4-5 times the price that hasn’t been any better. Some really good ones n there selection… but as you say, can’t wait to get back to our own favourites!
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In addition to the great wines, it’s heartwarming to see the level of support for Carmen Stevens and her “feed the kids” project. 
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The virus is said to affect the grey matter and it did for me!
Started with pretty much nothing.
Here’s the mock up for the aesthetics approval board. Used to facilitate discussion of whether to end up with a 4 box or 5 box or 6 box system. 6 boxes is nicely symmetrical and 4 looks too slim according to my style consultant 
[reverse printed for checking cabling]
Here’s the first implementation wave 
The remaining boxes are in the post. Everything bought either as ex-demo, 2nd hand, or refurbished.
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Haha… I feel a whole lot better now 
That said, I’ve also added a pair of PMC Twenty5 22 speakers and Tellurium Q Silver II speaker cable to the other goodies.
That’s some setup though… I’m sure you’ll love it when it’s done 
So far I’ve bought due to lockdown
Hiby R5 DAP
Meze Rai Solo iems
RME-ADI-2-DAC
Meze balanced upgrade cable for my Meze 99 Classics
Additional Unifi Switch to replace Cisco 2960
Too much beer and wine
Just eyening up getting the garage modified to be a man cave summer house and got first quote in.This is the most expensive item and possibly might not happen right now.
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Also forgot I bought a new Windows Surface Laptop as well, but this is not for hifi use apart from being a Roon controller.
Wave 2 complete.
My take on the traditional “stack system” of the 80’s.
Wave 3 will solve the stacking with new furniture. But the black boxes are in the house.
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That will look great and make one hell of a difference once you get it on a Fraim.
It has been suggested a few times to put paper under the rubber feet when stacked like that, to avoid leaving marks on the top surfaces of the unit below…or, in my case with an old olive box, on the beige carpet in the living room 
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Fear not. There are soft felt discs under each rubber foot precisely for that purpose. And yes this is only temporary. But I had to start marking out my territory.
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The top right box looks to 10mm out of alignment, maybe over to the right a little?
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Started with getting b&w 603s and matching centre/surrounds for a full 7 speaker setup for home cinema and selling my old s2 b&ws
Then sold my NDX and NDAC for a NDS, got 2 powerlines, then swapped my Melco n1a for an innuos zenith mk3 and a sonore upon bridge for Roon & quobuz. Then got some cera-discs, an orange fuse and mcru new 752 mains cable for the zenith, finally got last piece of puzzle of etheregen switch on back order.
Phew need a lie down…
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