All of my albums from the late 70’s - early 80’s were trashed. Literally – I binned them in about 1998. I’m back to about 100 now, and that’s about it for me; I have the ‘classics’ of rock from that era that I want and would listen to, as well as a small but representative jazz collection and even smaller classical numbers.
I’ve been buying mine online, from sellers who appear trustworthy for accurately representing condition. Especially on Discogs and the Bay, one can find a lot of the classics for not crazy money (relatively speaking). I just rely on feedback to hopefully pick trustworthy sellers, and use PayPal for the ability to dispute if I must. I haven’t even once so far!
Enjoy!!
Oh, and a GOOD record cleaning machine can do wonders. Lots of recommendations here in the past.
That is exactly how I plan on doing it Bart, pick up my favorite albums from years gone by. If I max out at 100-200 albums, that is fine by me. As far as record cleaners go, today I am picking up one of those Spin Clean’s from my local dealer, to get me going. There are 5 record shops in the city I live, so plan on visiting those when the Covid lockdown expires. To me, that was all part of the ritual I enjoyed as a teen in the 70’s and 80’s.
@MikeD Hi Mike, yes we can agree that there’s something seriously wrong. The only elements to inspect are indeed the equipment. Room is not ideal of course, never has been, but when this particular setup sounds like Canadian maple syrup even at whisper-quiet, barely audible levels the logical conclusion is that there is something wrong. Increasing volume very slightly gives the impression of experiencing a live earthquake. Tried 4 different pairs of speakers (from my other systems that I know well) and it’s reliably unlistenable. Pushing it even further, I set it all up temporarily in a different room as an experiment and get the same results. The SN2 I have goes braindead flat beyond about 1000 hz. It’s a marvel of modern technology…So, back to the drawing board for me. Brgds.
Hi Yeti, thanks for the reply. There are no obvious errors or oversights in this setup. Have been doing this for some 40 odd years and have enough experience to check every detail no matter how small. Everything humanly possible has been attempted, several times, to remedy the situation excluding sending the SN2 for service/check up. Haven’t done that due to lost confidence with Naim or simply a clear rejection of their house sound. The SN2 (my copy) does not produce music, it drowns the room(s) with a droning barrage of wooly sub-1000hz vibrations. Thank goodness I have several other systems, including the one in my workshop where I’ve been for the last two months of confinement. When you suddenly stop your woodworking to jiggle about a bit…you know your system is making music, not noise like the Naim. Brgds.
Have the same amp and yes, it has a pretty forward character, but never thought the sound could be quialified as a vibration as far as mids are concerned, quite the opposite, people praise those mid frequencies, myself including. Sounds like a faulty unit to me.
Not sure if this has been suggested or if you have already tried it but if you remove the SN2 and put another integrated amp into the system does the sound change significantly?
Or, there might be a forumite near you whose system you could drop in to listen to (OK, OK, once lockdown is eased, obviously). If you find their system equally dreadful then yes, it might be house sound. Otherwise, I think I’d be inclined to look for something specific to your system, since what you’re describing is unrecognisable to many of us.