Thank you - yes, it’s a replica eames molded plywood chair in walnut
Out of interest, did you audition them against any other, perhaps brand, speakers? And why did you choose these over any other diy models out there?
Is the lower shelf the Quadraspire Soundstage?
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Not quite up to some of the wonderful systems and rooms…but here’s mine and I’m very happy with the pleasure it gives me.
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Are those 2 subwoofers ?
And just for my curiosity… what’s the distance between speakers ?
If you derive pleasure from the joy of listening to music…that’s all that matters.
Yes 2 sub’s left over from a long gone av system, occasionally used if I’m home alone and I want more bass.
Distance between the speakers is a little over 2m
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Thank you popeye 
My thinking was to keep it away from the rest and lower disturbances. I will try as you suggest.
Placing 250DR on top of the right stack, above the psu`s made a huge positive difference.
S
Thanks David 
Thanks jcn3, they are actually Gold 50’s the little brother of the 100’s. The Nait 5i does make them sing very nicely, and manages to get them to produce more bass than anything I’ve used previously.
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Never mind the hardware - the artwork is what caught my eye.
I like the cut of your jib Sir !
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I quite like the two soldiers of Qin Shi Huang. 
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Thank you , so do I now I know a little about them 
My wife’s influence.
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ATC and Naim are magic together.
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Yes, it is the Quadraspire
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Hi Mark, did you see the other topic? I’m building speakers for many years. I always do an audition and will see how it sounds when they are ready.
Some of the other speakers where great, some other where OK.
These vivace now are great. In combi with my SN3 it is very good. When you built the budget is also interesting. I can spend it on naim equipment 
But the difference between DIY and speakers which are made by brand is different. I’ve had totem and dynaudio. My DIY are miles ahead of these speakers. So yes it’s worth to build (if its possible for you)
Is DIY in the UK a populair thing?
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This is absolutely true about Harry and Norman, good humble honest service where every effort is made to put a big musical smile on your face. How nice it is when the people you buy hifi from become good lifetime friends. Harry has helped me climb the naim ladder higher than I ever imagined and the enjoyment I get from my system is with much thanks to both of them.
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Hi @rob-z , yes I did scan through. Very interesting. DIY speakers used to be quite popular in the UK, as evidenced by Wilmslow Audio who have been going for over 40 years. Not sure it’s as common these days as it may have been years ago though. Seems to be an aspect of modern culture to consume and discard, the concept of reuse and repurposing items is dying out somewhat, although DIY in the home is very popular. I’ve never taken the plunge but it’s always fascinated me. Whilst top quality cabinet finishing is best left to the experts the modular nature of assembly is certainly within reach of many with the appropriate skills, space and tools. Not sure I fit that description but you don’t know until you try.
With respect to speakers in the heirarchy of the system that’s a very interesting one. I can’t think of a single item in the main replay chain that cost me less than my current Linn Isobarik speakers which I bought for a net cost of £750. I certainly don’t consider them a weak link. But if i were to consider replacing them with a more modern equivalent, let’s say less than 10 years old, I would be facing a very substantial bill. Looking at new speakers i would almost certainly be looking at more than £5k, maybe even £10k to make substantial improvements. In my limited experience I’ve yet to hear anything under £10k that came close anyway.
So DIY is something that interests me both from a value perspective but probably more so from the hobby angle.
BR
Mark
Hi mpw
Sorry it’s been a while but I’ve not had a chance to do much listening over the past couple of weeks.
Firstly it’s hard to compare just from memory and also because I’ve not tried both passive and active pre’s on the Quad it’s not a fair comparison but I’ll do my best to answer.
I’d say the biggest benefit for me of using a passive has been the projection of a wider soundstage placing the musicians around the room the only pre’s I’ve owned in the not to distant past have all been Naim a 32.5, 122x, 202, 102, 72, 282 and an 82 and as fantastic as they all where they have all placed the musicians dead centre, plumb between the speakers.
The main point of a passive preamp for me is to let the source signal pass through cleanly without any colouration on it’s way to the power amp, many passive preamps including mine do not require any power so when you think about the importance placed on a clean power supply for your hifi then having none at all running through the main control hub of your hifi must be really beneficial and so conditioners, linear and upgraded power supplies, fancy mains cables and dedicated mains supplies are not needed.
I’ve not tried the matching Quad pre as my intention was always to use a passive pre but having said that if I ever get the chance to snap up a Quad 99 pre at a knock down price I will because I do want to try out Quad’s unique Tilt control equaliser which unlike most tone controls which adjust bass or treble individually, the Tilt control adjusts both ends of the frequency spectrum together either attenuating the bass and lifting the treble, or lifting the bass and attenuating the treble, in steps of 1dB. In effect, it rotates, or tilts, the audible frequency range on a 700Hz axis, adjusting the overall balance of the sound to make it ‘warmer’ or ‘cooler’ without affecting the apparent volume or ‘colouring’ the sound. The new Artera preamp adds further analogue bass filters to the Tilt function for additional sound tailoring. The Tilt and bass filters can be combined to create individual EQ profiles to assign to each source input.
As for cost Anthony at BTE will tailor your pre to whatever budget you have from £100 upwards mine came in at just over £200 it consisted of his basic model with an upgraded TDK potentiometer which accounted for half of my budget. Then you pick the wood finish you want pay the man and he will work his magic.
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Know the feeling… feel somewhat embarrassed compared to a lot of the systems on here. But, I do love what I have and it sounds great. That’s what counts at the end of the day.
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No one should ever feel embarrased about their system, especially if it brings them joy. No Naim system is too modest. I feel blessed to have a great system, and it had more meager beginnings, but there is always joy on the journey, no matter where it ends.
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