My dealer at the time (mid 1980’s) was Sound Advice in Moseley Birmingham, which as I’m sure you will know, was Derek’s business along with his other outlet in Loughborough. The Sound Factory as I recall was an offshoot of this. I do remember being told at one point by Andy who ran the Birmingham store for Derek that the demand for Tripods was so high that they couldn’t make them quickly enough and were having to draft in more staff!
Later I visted the Loughborough store with my girlfriend (now wife) as she wanted a CD player that they didn’t have in stock at Birmingham. A cold snowy day and we got lost on the way back to Leamington where she lived!
I believe that sadly Sound Advice went out of business not too long after that. I think Derek started up a new business that also sadly didn’t last long. One of the foremost Naim dealers in the Midlands at the time.
It’s a bit of a compromise too far, as stacking an NDX2 on a 552 is a very bad idea. It’s a lovely system, but would be so much better if given more space and some decent shelving.
In fact we found a win win - I am moving the system over to a less visible part of the room (still within reach of the dedicated mains socket!) and we still get the cabinet, which will in fact now become the drinks cabinet
The slight hiccup is that I need 12m of speaker wire to make that move… I guess that will be some nac 5 then
Sound Advice were my dealer for a while (1993-4), after my previous dealer (RPM in Clapham) went belly up. Fond memories of hauling my boxed up Linn onto the train for Loughborough.
I remember, many years ago, Ivor telling me “The best dealers are those who stay in business”.
Sad to say that many of the customer’s favourites ran more like a hobby than a business - often stiffing manufacturers (or trying to) when they went bust. I have personal knowledge of at least three who were lauded but unsustainable.
Hi I was forced to have a single stack for my 500 system in quite a small room…
I keep all the psu’s low - with the 500dr psu being the 1st…then after power supplies its in order…500dr, 552 head, ND555…
Sounds mighty fine to me - no doubt a brain and braun solution would be better - but hey I am delighted. I use the Atacama Evoke SE rack which looks good and seems to do the job. I am not that keen on the Frame design from a visual perspective + its very wide - to me it looks well engineered but a bit dated. I have got a spare base so in theory I could do brain and braun if I move things around.
So this is where we ended up - stereo in same place but now on fewer levels of black fraim and wiring tidied up so it all sits nicely close to the wall.
My wife is happy, possibly because I really did try to hide the system, but my enthusiasm for how great it sounds right now I think dissuaded her also from pushing the “hide it all away” project and the “OMG it sounds cr@p” endless moaning that could’ve ensued
Thanks again to all who commented so frankly and helped me to see the light.
BTW the ND555 just slotted in for multi rooming ability for a get together last night. As good as the NDS is, the ND555 is really so much more assured. The NDS sounds fantastic with the olive kit though - the ND555 is just a little too energetic and transparent for the older kit, to my ears anyway.
Merry Xmas to all !
