The Naim New Classic range - Part 1

Hi @anon17458420 ,

I would be careful with EAR and Living Voice. I ran with this for a couple of years and whilst enjoying it I don’t think they are a match made in heaven. Each of them are great …but, I suspect that Kevin would steer you towards a ‘fruitier’ valve amp for the LV; he always makes HiFi sound like food!

Interestingly Kevin sold me my 534 and populated it with NOS valves that moved it more in the direction that he prefers. When I took it back home for a service I preferred Tim’s own much cheaper valves.

Tim’s recommendations for speakers with his amps to me was either the Graham LS5/9 or Diapason Astera.

M

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As someone said. One should see Naim power supplies as core and the surrounded boxes as add ons :slight_smile:

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Is that what the hum is for? Start with a PSU, listen to the hum until you buy the ancillary amps.

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Is ANY 250 a waste on ANY speakers…?

Err, well … I have used one since 1985 - and it ha drive 3 different sets of speakers, the latest being Kudos X3’s.

Agree but there is a point that it would become a waste e.g. my Wharfedale Diamond 12.0 clearly you could do but really….
Your speakers do not fall into this category at all :grinning:.

I replaced my 250DR with the new 250. It’s been running in since Friday night. Early thoughts are it’s much closer to the 300DR than the 250DR.

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I’ve never liked black racks and speakers until I saw your setup. Loving the contrast and decor! Congrats on your new system.

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@daren_p agreed, perhaps up to a 100 hours but there’s been some ridiculous claims about 11 months to break in a ND555. Well how do you record that? Listen to the same piece of music at say weekly intervals ensuring the same listening conditions and same volume level and make copious notes. The greatest variable in listening to music is those 2 things on the side of the head and the bit in between.

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I popped into a dealer in the south east of England today to look at the new kit. It looks great.

I explained I was an existing Naim customer, told them what I owned, but explained I had never bought from their particular dealership.

I was told “that the new 222 had finally sorted out the generally muddy sound of legacy Naim kit, and I should seriously consider the upgrade”.

Having been told that I had apparently enjoyed muddy sound all these years from kit I have been perfectly happy with, I was a bit taken aback.

But as I say, the looks of the 222 and 200 are great. if I finally decide to audition I might go elsewhere.

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never heard it put like that before ! i have used lots of words to describe my 252/300DR but muddy has never been one of them or prev 202,282 come to that

and yes the new classic range looks very nice indeed, and as more owners hear the new system I am sure this thread will develop futher, but for me my 252/300DR is not going anywhere

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Sir, all you have to do to get rid of that awful muddy sound of yours is to pay 5700 GBP x 3. I enjoy my own mud tonight as I listen to SN3/NDX2 :slight_smile:

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Thank You, ElMarko!

I’ve never heard anybody describe the Naim sound as muddy.

I’d find another dealer.

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Hilarious the “salesperson” just needed to insult your partner and I’m sure their colleagues would ring a bell.

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Not a very clever thing to say to an existing Naim customer, I hope he/she realised the error of their salesman ways an undertook some serious self-flaggelation that night.

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As I say… not my dealer. And also in no hurry to go back. As the saying goes, we have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason.

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Dear @MrUnderhill
Thanks for that….
(a) I don’t have money to burn which means that I will not be buying any of said items at anytime soon. In fact I don’t want to lose money on my current system which is fine (and serviced/recapped towards end 2021) but will probably not team up very well with living voice speakers even though some people say they would.
(b) A fruity sound does not sound very appealing to me because maybe I have grown too accustomed to my bleached harmonics presentation, which although a bit tiring sometimes is quite enjoyable a lot of the time if that makes sense

I will see how this system performs in our place where we will retire at some stage and probably look at different speakers if the SL2 doesn’t work to my liking, but I have the impression it will be much better than where they are now. I think I will only contemplate a change in the house where we retire

I am wondering if I should start a 222/300 arrival advent calendar, counting down to the expected delivery date for mine. Also wondering whether all the Linn bits to upgrade my LP12 will arrive before or after the 222/300.

Current mood; eagerly impatient :smile:

In the meantime, I have been ordering some welcome vinyl for the Linn and downloads/CDs for the 222 :grin:

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Very good to hear!

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It’s funny how a dealer can leave you with a poor impression.

I was listening to the new kit at a road show and speaking to a chap who had a nova and was looking to upgrade. We had already discussed what I had at home. He then asked what I thought of the new gear.

I told him it sounded very different. Very musical, clear, sharp and controlled. An enjoyable sound with no listening fatigue. However, I thought my gear had more detail and sounded more “live” or “real” (very similar comment to what other have said on here)

The owner of the roadshow overheard and practically bit my head off. “You cant say that or compare, it’s not burnt in yet”, “all these people trying to compare, it’s just rubbish”. I was only being polite and answering a question that was asked of me.

I’m after a 555PS soon and this dealer is only 20mins away. However, there are many dealers 60mins away and I will be taking my money elsewhere.

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