I do not disagree with you in the least … When I first bought the Hawks with the 200 they sounded excellent. Buying the 250DR had me thinking to replace the Hawks with something else but their response to the 250DR was nothing short of stunning. More of everything and all of it good … no “straining” of sound, the slight sibilance on certain tracks disappeared … the mids fleshed out wonderfully. Almost a new speaker …
Then 2 years later the 300DR was a revelation … the Hawks rose to the challenge again …
So yes, the improvements could not have been attained without going up the amp hierarchy , but my point was that the speakers seemed to stay ahead of the amp and you always felt that you would experience even better things with the next amp up the chain. That, for me, is the sign of a superb speaker …
The web site says “ a crossover enabling/disabling switch to use low frequency management and control from processor”.
high level connection:
If your receiver or preamp does not have a SUB-OUT or PRE-OUT, the high level connection may be used. From your amplifiers SPEAKERS OUT, connect both pair of speaker cables to the STORMS high level input. (It is important to respect +/- polarity and the right/left channel of your speaker wire).
Using a second set of speaker wires, connect the STORMS high level out to the appropriate loudspeaker, once again respecting polarity and channel.
Think that’s how you connected a sub in the early days before amps had a dedicated sub connections. The sub I owned was hooked up the same way, although I do remember it was the other way round. The speakers first and the second cable to the sub.
The Naim way of doing it was indeed to connect the amp to the speakers as normal, and then to connect from the speakers to the sub. This meant that the sub connction didn’t interfere with the cabling requirements of Naim amps.
What I’m intrigued by is the idea of connecting the amp to the sub, with a crossover in the sub that sends ONLY the low frequencies to the sub, and more inportantly, ONLY the higher frequencies to the main speakers. Otherwise the low frequencies handled optimally by the sub are still being played on the main speakers.
Yes, I think I should try the second option, I’ll need to change the ends of one pair of NAC A5s to end-on banana’s - a job for my dealer or someone I can find to do it.
The Fraim is now in place (with positive outcome).
If anyone is interested, this is how five levels of Quadraspire compare to five levels of Fraim. You can essentially get five levels of Quadraspire in four levels of Fraim. I admit the sheer presence of Fraim in this configuration is taking a bit of getting used to (having come from two, four-level stacks).
But, this is how it has to be for now and the audible improvements help the Fraim disappear … a bit .
IIRC my Tannoy R-sub 15 has this option - when connected high level (which I don’t use) the speaker outputs can be set to 75hz and above. The speaker inputs and outputs are biwire capable and it also has stereo line level in/out - which I use. Works well enough for my application and all in a sub designed 20+ years ago. Like REL, the BK subs I own have both independent high/low level inputs with filtering but do not have a high level output or commensurate filtering for the speakers. There are other subs that do do this, but to my knowledge they have built-in stereo amplification as well for the main speakers - examples from Loewe and Piega (T-micro sub) spring to mind.
I don’t know if the Nova has a selectable high pass filter but, in your picture, is that a Uniti/Uniti2 I see? If so, they, along with the Unitiqute (but not the Lite or Superuniti for some reason) do have the option to set a HPF for the stereo speakers within the menu. Unfortunately, I don’t think the frequency is adjustable and is probably set too high to get the best from your main speakers but could be worth a try if you have a idle moment! Alternatively you could leave it all as is and just enjoy the music!
Yes, a Uniti2 is in there - I’m using it as DAC for the Heed Headphone amp with the pre-ampmout so I have remote volume control - quite handy and works really well. All because the Nova doesn’t allow the speakers to be turned off if you run a headphone amp of the Pre-out, and I had the Uniti2 spare.
Quick update to my system as my FlatCap arrived for my recent Nait XS2 and also a new Rega Aria to replace my Rega Fono.
Both sounding completely superb and the system, other than a new glass shelf being made, some more isolation platforms needed and lots of cable OCD to then be done, it is pretty much there for me
The wooden plinths are the much used Ikea Aptitlig Bamboo boards that I then use a full sheet of 6mm Sorbothane Sound Deadening (that is used inside car doors and panels to kill vibration).
Does the job well and much cheaper than buying the equivalent piece made by a craftsman which isolation feet etc.
Do you mean between the FlatCap and the XS2? If so, I mention in the short detail I provided that I am awaiting a new shelf (tomorrow) and isolation which will separate those two units onto their own shelf. The plinths under the items make no difference to heat.
