Me too, in the same wood. They were lovely speakers.
No issues with Innuos Pulse, cables placed in Fraim? The ethernet cable comes out right where the leg is?
I hate innov ‘s especially when playing snooker.
Good to see someone else using AR Sound cables. They are amazingly good.
Much as I like Charlie’s FRAIM config where he uses the top section of a FRAIM base level on top of the racks I was advised by a prominent friend to put the extra section at the base instead making a triple sandwich as it were. Wow! Better integration and dynamics this way
Lovely. I’m curious - given the high end nature of your system, why the entry level Innuos box and not something higher in their range?
Thank you. I use an EE8 as a first switch which is in my hallway next to my router and as per photo the Phoenix Net as number two with an EE1 plus between that and my ND555. I’ve not looked at other options because I really like the sound
Aaaaaargh! You are going to start a 21st century version of the Mana craze. I wonder who will be the first to get 20 Fraim bases under their rack ![]()
It does look a little Mana esk doesn’t it? The suggestion did come from Jason Gould as it’s something that has been tried successfully before and I have to say that he’s spot on.
Bi amping hasn’t had the best rap on the forum and it’s merits are no doubt speaker dependant but one amp for left/ right bass and one amp for mids/treble really is a good upgrade over one 500 with T808’s. My dealer recommended one amp for left speaker and one amp for right with jumpers which leaves one speaker terminal unused on each 500. There was something detached sounding about that IMO. Integration suffered but not with this config.
This looks really well organised. I am not even close to being an expert but it looks like there is a lot of thinking behind this.
Are you doing bi-amp on your Titan 808 instead of active? I have a Scala which can do bi-amp also and I am thinking should I go that route with an additional 500DR. Do you think that is silly (cos I heard Naim like don’t like bi-amp) or worth a try?
Can my 552 do bi-amp into the Focal Scala?
Yes to me bi amping simply because I only have two 500’s which I was using to drive my SL2’s active before moving the system into this room which favours the 808’s. Active is better of course having said that I feel that Naim amps, Kudos speakers and Chord Music cables has wonderful synergy/ blending and I gave a full look of those cables with 808’s.
The thing is Roy G didn’t advocate only using one pair of speaker terminals on the 500. Richard D referred to this as creating a “parasitic” effect. What I heard was a more open sound but some loss of integration. One amp for bass and one for treble just better. Cymbiosis have recommended bi amping as a step between passive and active with 808’s. If you can maintain the same spec second 500/ cables etc (mine are both 18 months old) and you have the appropriate terminals it’s a really good upgrade.
I wish that I could advise regarding your Focals but I just don’t know. Others who own them
may be able to though. Having said that it’s well documented that the pre has the bigger influence. As you own the excellent 552 that would mean going S1 which will provide a much better upgrade IMO but £££🙈. Even two year old 500’s are only realising around £12k second hand. That’s a lot of amp for that money!
Doubt I will go the S1 route, too expensive. Looking at the connector behind the 552 I struggle to figure out how to do bi-amping to be honest.
I ask my dealer they are abit clueless also. Some staffs say can.. some said cannot (but I think none have experience doing that before). But I know the recent 300-series can do bi-amping as there is a demo of the Stella during hi-end show doing that with JG I think.
This is the connector on the Scala.
Well it looks like it would work. I want to make clear that I already had two 500’s, two pairs of Music din/ XLR ICs and a 7m pair of Music speaker cables . So going bi amp for me only required the IC’s shot gunning into a Y config and the speaker cables halving in length to create two pairs. Cost was just Chord’s charges.
Shot gunning cable.. hmms… I guess more consideration to be done. Not that straightforward. Wish there is a diagram somewhere to understand how it all can be done with 552 + 2 500DR.
The two 4 pin DINs on your pair of DIN/XLR just need joining together creating the Y form. Of course you’ll need another pair and do the same with that. You have the two DIN outputs on the 552 so then one for one 500 and one for the other. It’s not complex just could be expensive for the gain.





