I bought a pair of mission 700s along with a Sansui au217 and a Micro seiki dd24s as my first system at the back end of 1980. I removed all but the rear piece of internal foam after reading the suggestion in one of the comics some years later and liked the result. Emboldened by this I changed the crossovers to first order, with Maplin polyprop capacitors, winding my own inductors on old fishing line spools with the aid of an LCR bridge borrowed from work and a blob of hot melt glue to secure the wire. I expect I was losing some accuracy but the gain in engagement was worth it. They saw off a challenge from some Royd Doublets in this guise.
I only replaced the missions in 2008 when the mid/bass surrounds perished for the second time. They’re still in the loft but destined for disposal in a week or so when I clear the house.
Yes, had 20 odd years in various bands but haven’t gigged for over two years now…… Still mulling over all my gear, but I know the day I sell it all is the day I get the itch to be on stage (not studio!!) again……
Ok then, @mojo_65, just for you - here’s my Nait, sitting on a Quadraspire rack (and lots of dust). I’ve owned this since new in 1986. It’s only been back to Salisbury once for a service - it might be overdue it’s next visit by a decade or two!
That’s gorgeous indeed… thank you! That’s what the System pics is all about…nice pictures to dream about.
I could no afford it back in the days but I’ve always been intrigued…
I paid £225 in January 1986. It sounds like a bargain these days, but it was probably quite a stretch at the time. It would probably cost more than that (in money terms) to get it serviced today.
Hi S.L, possibly not the best thread to go into detail but I’d sum it up as Naim = fast, detailed (almost holographic), famous prat and precise whereas McIntosh = musical, realistic tonality (esp mids), warm and engaging.
I’m sure much of the McIntosh sound is due to the use of tubes in the pre-amp, although I did notice during my demos that even their solid state pre-amps had a signature warmth to them.
Both sound amazing in their own way. It really comes down to personal preference. As another poster mentioned on another thread if he just listened to rock he’d have gone Naim. I listen to just about anything but mainly jazz, guitar pop, some rock, a bit of classical, lots of synths and some electronic… so a much wider range.
Thank you for explanation.
I own a ma12000, i like the sound of it. it’s warm and very easy to listen, I can listen to it all day without getting fatigued, I think this is really important.
The only Naim amp I have demo is atom, nova. I also like the sound of it. but I haven’t heard as long as my Mcinotsh, and I have ever heard 200 - 500 series yet, because no demo.
I find engaging from both brands from my very limited experiences.
I mostly listen to classical ( strings, guitar, piano, cell, violin, harp… ) for about 70% of the time, and other 30% are vocal, jazz, electric , deep house, and others.
also I have heard Jadis once on a demo for classical musics , it was really nice.
I have already ordered ND555 to replace my lovely NDX2.
I’m thinking if I get separates boxes in future , which brand will be a better choice for me. ( I will still keep my MA12000 even I will get another amplification for separates )
Hard to believe looking at this innocent looking thing but several hours ago it was hammering out Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’. My daughter’s boyfriend was round for dinner and at midnight told me this was his go-to test track.
Well as I had to mess about with the turntable today, decided to tidy the wires up, hide the ones to the speakers, headphone amp and Internet in trunking, much nicer than the black cables on the floor.
Also removed my ikea chopping boards from under my dcs, boxes and melco.
Lastly moved my headphone amp to near my listening chair and put my Internet bits on my self made rack.
Very happy with the out come.
I have the hd800s headphones with balanced cables running directly from my rossini using the balanced outputs and then a balanced cable to the headphones.
I found that the extra bass weight and warmth that the violectric had suited the hd800s, as these tend to be slightly lacking in this area, but the lovely top end and super wide sound was not spoilt.
I tried a few different amps and this one was quite special and fantastic value secondhand and well worth giving a try