System Pics 2022

That looks like a lovely space and those net curtains are just fabulous.

End game system of a good friend of mine who used to own a 282/250/CDX 2 setup. The 20th Century two sources and the amp from the Nippon cost him less than a… HiLine. According to him, aside of the beautiful finish of the components the reproduced sound is outstanding.

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Beautiful…can see where Copland get there ideas from.

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Hello everyone
First of all please forgive me my english especially audio slang.
I’m new on this forum and to be honest i don’t have any Naim in my system.
I just want to write here something about ethernet cables, because i’ve read here about belden 1303 catsnake and i tried it.
My system is tube preamp and power amplifire plus streamer.
My ethernet cables from modem to router and to switch cisco sg110d it’s standard cat6 from my fiber net provider. Cisco gets linear psu (it works!!!). And the last leg it’s ww starlight cat 8 (red one) .
Everything seems to be ok, but… Something was missing, maybe was to less bass and to less “rich body”? . Then i found this forum and subject about belden 1303E. Those subject was closed and i’m wrighting here.
So i tried belden, witch i gave to the last leg, and ww starlight cat 8 goes between switch and router.
Holly cow! That was what i was looking for. Sound is clear, 3d, rich in bass but there is not rumbles. Its not so exact as sound with ww starlight 8, but… now is more musiciality in music. Sometimes its more important then clinic accuracy.
And thats my room and


system :wink:

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Nice to hear you found your “happy place”. Liking the room treatment btw.

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Welcome Mike, and no need to own Naim to be welcome here.

FWIW, I switched to CatSnake 6a (with floating shield) all the way from router to streamer (via two switches and server) from more expensive ethernet cables, with superb results.

BTW, you have a lovely room there.

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Thanks.
I have to say that last year i spend a lot of hours becouse of room acustic. My friend lent me a UMIC microphone to make a mesurments. And behind those wooded lamels i put 10cm of rockwool and even 5cm of emptines. Than i add two panels for close reflection near tv. And finally i made a huge absorber for wall behind my back.
All together sound amazing, even heavy thick curtains on big windows works.
To have good good music take care of acustic. Its more important then cables etc.

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Well it just goes to show you what a rip off Naim prices are :wink:

should be huge diffuser, sorry

I don’t think that it is just NAIM. I believe that the whole field is completely loosing its bearings. To the credit of NAIM, their entry level gear always was and still is excellent.

If the economy goes the way I think it will in the next year or so, the whole field is going to lose more than their bearings…

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I think the comment “the whole field…” is an exaggeration but i know what you mean and agree. As you have seen, in the right room and settings with details sorted where Naim kit can be sensitive, I can really enjoy the result of a simple “entry level” system bit around my chrome bumper amps driven by an Auralic Altair G1 streamer and yes to Naim’s credit there. The big system (in a different place and room) does at times not satisfy

TEAC still make exceptional and exacting audio gear. But they aren’t really well represented these days outside of Japan. Occasionally you catch a fairly average review without a lot of effort to match a suitable pair of speakers. Which is a shame because the brand is still making real hifi and hasn’t gone downmarket or anything. They are sort of like the Cyrus of Japanese hifi. Steady and true over the years but not massively successful outside of the domestic market - where they are quite appreciated.

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I have an AG-H550 5.1 amplifier. A really nicely made and finished item that I purchased end of line with the matching DVD player from Richer Sounds about 20 years ago. Yes it does not have all the latest surround tech and room correction but it has a very beefy power supply for what it is. I feel I need something like a Marantz SR5015 or better to warrant replacing it.

The A-H500/500i amplifier is the star of the range though. IIRC it is a dual mono design with a good quality power supply that sounds very good as standard but can be turned into something quite special with upgraded parts. The other key component and apparently the reason for whole reference range was the VRDS-9 CD player/transport which again can be upgraded very successfully. This was a £700 item back in the 90s when the system was sold. The VRDS transport was the basis of many high end TEAC CD players.

Esoteric is the ‘luxury division’ of TEAC - a bit like Lexus and Toyota😀.

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I think TEAC paid homage to Copland on this one😉.

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I had a TEAC cassette deck once. It was rubbish. Threw it out, along with all my old cassettes. No doubt, cassettes will become trendy again….

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A fine system you have there!!!

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My Brother in Law in Canada has almost exactly this set up of Teac 500 series electronics and Technics DD TT. He’s a fan of minidisc too and has the matching MD player.

I like the looks of the Teac 500 series kit, especially the volume knob. Performance is fine, but nothing like as engaging as my NAIT, let alone the big Naim system.

Sure but it costs a lot less too. TEAC is a very laid back sound. It really needs a very forward speaker to make a balanced system.

You have reached a receptive audience here with that quote