So you’re very much in favour of the six box system. I haven’t heard the full six boxes yet, and I’m almost afraid to!
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In case anyone local is interested, I understand that PJ HiFi still have some spaces available for their demo next Thursday.
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If I could afford a 300 system I would go for two NPXs immediately. In effect I did a similar thing when I went for the 222, getting the NPX immediately and keeping my 250DR. The external power supply just adds a massive amount of additional Naim SQ in my view. In fact, I do wonder if you want to keep to a 5-box system maybe sticking with an NC250 if you have easy-to-drive speakers might give better SQ overall than only having one NPX.
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I have read all the threads on this as they went along and my recollection is that someone reported hearing a 300 demo where the one NPX 300 was tried in turn on the 333 and the 332. The conclusion was that it made a big difference on the 333 and a much smaller difference on the 332.
Similarly it seems clear that the 350 monoblocks are much better than the 250 in whatever guise.
So an optimum 5 box system might be 333 plus 300, 332 self-powered and two 350s.
But I can’t recall who it was who described these things in the endless posts.
Exactly my thinking @clog ! The 332 has my current 300 and I love the sound - certainly not missing anything. However, I suspect hearing that second 300 would be even better. My solution, at least for now, is to avoid hearing the full 6 box system!
My thinking is along the lines that my 300 on the 332 gave a noticeable improvement which can only mean that it is able to show more of what the bare 333 is giving. Improving the 333 with a 300 would surely mean that the bare 332 is not allowing the whole improvement to be heard. I have mine on the 332 and that is where it will stay - certainly for the foreseeable future anyway.
As always, this is just my view on the situation and only relevant to my speakers, listening room etc.
To many 33333333’s for me to handle on a Saturday night 
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You’re losing some of the good stuff from the 333 by taking the PSU off. You can’t get it back again further down the chain.
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I vaguely remember that too. I wrote something very similar, except the other way round.
What you describe as the optimum is what I am currently running, in contrast to when I had the dealer’s demo boxes a few weeks ago running a 332/300 combination.
Once I’m happy these boxes seem to have run in I’ll swap the 300 on to the 332 and see what I think. While I certainly miss the additional bass resolution on my test tracks, as yet I don’t know what I’m going to lose by taking the 300 off the 333.
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I think you are likely right, but I think it might be worth doing the experiment, especially if you are using a TT as a source as well.
Agreed that the 300 is a very worthwhile addition to the 222. In my demo I was pairing them with the NC250.
Combining the NC250 with a 300 front end didn’t work out for me though. While I know others are happy with this setup I couldn’t live with it. It basically felt to me as if the power amp was not coping with what it was being asked to do.
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This is the acid test.
I know what good stuff I’ve lost taking the 300 off the 332. If anybody’s interested I can give details of the tracks and what to listen out for. YMMV in your system of course.
In contrast, I don’t have a long list of things I definitely gained when I added the 300 to the 333. But that doesn’t mean I won’t have pangs of loss when I take it off.
I don’t get this? Surely Naim has always promoted a source first; then pre-amp hierarchy?
I can assure you the 250 has no problem driving my Ovators and is doing everything asked. And I suspect that’s the same for most speakers. I’ve owned 5 different 250s and none of them struggled with any of the speakers in my home system. I suspect there’s more to the story here, speaker choice, system balance, room sonics, personal preference, etc.
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I haven’t got any more to add. I listened to the combination in two rooms with different speakers with the same result, that it wasn’t for me.
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Not taking it off, never put it on. Adding it to the amp allowed me to hear more of what the 333 is capable of bare. My 300 stays on the 332! You are obviously correct that the 300 will improve the 333 but that will be in addition to 332/300, not instead of.
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In my LP12 based set-up with the Spendor D7.2’s, the 332/300/NC250 is fantastic. The 332/NC250, however, only lasted only a few songs. It was a severe drop off so I get what you mean. Won’t listen to the NAP350’s until I win the lottery lol
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The source-first strategy is nothing but a mantra propagated by those who want simple thinking. Does a system with Naim ND555 source feeding a Supernait 3 into a pair of £100 speakers from Curry’s really need its source upgrading?
I believe the source-first strategy originated in the early days of HiFi when record decks typically cost much more than similarly capable amps and speakers. Budget would often constrain people to initially buy a deck less capable than the amp and speakers it would be used with. When more budget was available, the natural thing to do would be to upgrade the source.
I cannot see why Naim would promote a source then pre-amp then speakers hierarchy as this would require them to encourage people to initially buy a source less capable than the accompanying amp and speakers and so begin with an unbalanced system - that would be madness.
This doesn’t make any sense. Why would it require anyone to buy a source less capable than the accompanying amp and speakers?
The hierarchy of “source first” is that the performance level of the source should be equal or better than the pre-amp, which should be equal or better than the power amp, which should be equal or better than the speakers. That way any weaknesses in the chain are effectively masked rather than exposed. Simple, yes, but very sensible too, and one that bears out in practice in my experience.
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