No pressure 
And the diagnosis, well it will live 
The main culprit was a pair of XLR cables which had gone off, hence my questions above. Replaced by a standard pair of Naim XLR’s a couple of days ago, this cured the inconsistent sound quality I had been suffering.
On Pete’s arrival the system was sounding better than he thought, the Naim XLR’s were settling down nicely, but the system was not sounding like a top flight NAim system. The bass and lower mid was muddy and confused and the system lacked top end detail and timing.
No problem, Peter had a rough idea of how to improve it, after a few checks he was happy the system was working fine but needed running, the first changes was the addition of a couple of Chord Tuned Arrays which sharpened the sound up and improved timing.
Peter also suspected the power supply, especially the Audionote power block which was there purely to get the system burned in. The obvious replacement is the new Chord power block but Peter doesn’t have a demo block so that’s for mother day. He did however have a Chord Music Power cable which was installed on the CD555. That made a huge difference so much more life and detail and the timing was so much better, vocals had suddenly gone from the back of the room to the front of the room and people were right there in front of us. The bass and lower mid improved dramatically, it was so much clearer and had so much more texture.
The Naim XLR’s remain and IMO are the bottleneck of the system, we did try a pair of Superlumina XLR’s which widened the soundstage but thickened the bass and made the system far too aggressive.
A few simple adjustments and the system was so much better, there re still area’s where we can improve, the power block being the most necessary and I would love to hear a pair of Chord XLR’s in the system. However, that’s for mother day.
At the moment, I am one very happy bear.
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It’s always worth a try Mark, the XLR’s were the first cables I changed but be careful, cables re funny things nd very personal, better isn’t always better with cables
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PB YKMV that having had the pleasure of hearing your system in your previous home it was if not the finest I’d ever heard it was pretty much there or thereabouts. But you’d played very considerable attention to set-up, speaker placement (you will recall when you had the 707s on home demo and how when you adjusted their positioning how it positively impacted the sound), and the dedicated mains feed. You had that crucial synergy of electronics/speaker/room synergy spot on. It is therefore inevitable that it’s going to take a little time to get everything established in your new abode. But picking up Peter’s point about power feed as I understand it you currently have only 2 wall sockets and make use of a power block. Based on my experience of using a single radial spur I would ask your electrician to install you 3 more doubles thus allowing each component its own socket, this would remove the need for a mains block, it’s simpler that way! Next my experience is that Naim powerlines outperform any other that I’ve tried on Naim electronics, and whilst I have a Chord Sarum TA on my Xerxes that might well change when we do some upgrading in the future.
I doubt this is a problem with interconnects after they weren’t an issue before so why now?
Finally, that ceiling isn’t helping what you need is one of those wigwam like drapes under the ceiling like they have over the orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall.
Good luck!
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Glad you are getting somewhere PB. I’d be interested in more on the Chord cables. Do you mean Signature Tuned Arrays and where in the system did they go ? Source interconnects? What cables did they replace?
The chord cables were power cables, the music went on the CD555 PSU and the Sarum went on the XPS-t. They replaced the Naim Powerlines.
The interconnects remain, the Chord Music on the CD 555 and the hi-line on the NAT01.
I also have. Couple of Ground Arrays which plug the phono socket and one of the din’s on the 552, remarkable bits of kit which removed the mess and confusion in the mid range.
I was a little sceptical with the power cables as my old house seemed to prefer the Powerlines and I will admit I had some home made cables which turbocharged the system. However, the Chord cables really improved the system especially in texture and musicality.
We did try some Superlumina cable between the 500 and 552 and my system really didn’t like them, they were crude and in your face, which initially attracted me due to my liking of crude heavy metal but overall didn’t suit a top notch system.
Cables are very emotive and personal and on the day, the Chord cables provided the more musical and enjoyable system, they had clarity and timing. There are still area’s which can be improved but that’s for another day.
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The cleaner 
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@Polarbear would you please clarify what brand/model of DIN-XLR cable you have settled on between 552PS and NAP500? Thanks.
The post was flagged. I assume because the link had an issue. It took you to a Google search page rather than embedding the appropriate scene from the film via youtube. I wasn’t able to edit properly because I wasn’t on a computer.
Wrong assumption Mark, it’s a standard Naim Din to XLR cable, we tried Superlumina but it didn’t improve the sound in my room and Peter doesn’t have any Chord cables to try …… yet
Sounds like its all coming together (excuse the pun).
What a wonderful system and space to house it in, I’m sure it will bring you countless hours of audio joy.
With DR upgrades no longer an option I’m thinking of trading my 300 in for a DR…
I did Mark, but that was the cable which had oxidised and gone off. That was removed last week and the standard Naim re-inserted. It’s a backward step in terms of clarity, detail and clarity but the system is more stable.
We have taken a step backward to start moving forward again.
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Thanks Stu, we have started another journey which I am sure will end up in a much better place in the future.
The Naim rep said today that DR’s are suspended for now until supplies stabilised not cancelled
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Can I just say Mark, it wasn’t a Naim cable which had gone off but you raise a good point. Any component or cable can fail at some point, the trick is noticing it’s gone off. When my fuse blew on the 500 it was obvious it had failed as I had no sound. With the cable it wasn’t so obvious, having the system DR’d and moving seemed to be the catalyst for noticing something was wrong and then it was logical elimination until we found it.
Slightly different this time Lindsay, back then the only thing we changes was the speakers. This time the only constant thing is the speakers, everything else has changed. We have gone from a room where everything was there for sound quality, to a room where we have had the start again.
There are reasons why we don’t want to run four 10 mm cables from the front of the house to the lounge so we accept there is a compromise with the electrics but that can be minimised with what’s now available.
The poorly cable is unfortunate and disappointing, it wasn’t a sudden decline in quality, the system has slowly got worse for a period of time nd with personal circumstances and health reasons the system got neglected, well, just left alone for a number of years. The house move prompted the opportunity to have the system updated and improved but also led to having to start again from square one with the house.
You know our system well and know it took a long time, probably ten years to get to where we were when you last heard our system. It’s not going to take so long this time as the basic building blocks are in place. The speakers and system are not going to be changed so it’s going to a matter of getting what we have to work in where we live now.
Anyone who visits our new house will understand why we have moved here. A converted barn in the middle of nowhere, our idea of paradise, we’ll paradise in the midlands
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Glad that you have made good progress unlocking your system’s mystery. Was there any conclusion reached on any impact the incoming mains quality/ consistency may have contributed? Would that have had much bearing on the improvement you observed swapping out powerlines for music and sarum t? Particularly as powerlines seem to have worked well for you previously. Or is this more to do with the dr upgrades being more sensitive to incoming power feed? Plenty of head scratching from this thread - all as expected!!
Peter
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That’s a new one on me Peter, I. Didn’t think the DR’s could be more sensitive to power supplies, has anyone else found this?
We’re making progress, obviously the new room has so many more reflective surfaces, pictures will help. We’re yet to put them up after the move but they should be up by the end of June. Curtains will certainly help, the side windows are huge and will take some covering but they will come in time.
The most obvious bottleneck is the cheap Audionote block which is only there to get the system run in, alternatives will come when Peter can get supplies, as wiki the XLR’s. We live in strange times, you can’t just pick up the phone nd get things nowadays.
Well, I was sat in the office trying to do some accounts and someone pops in offering goodies. Well it would be rude not to take up the offer
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Can’t 100% vouch for the S6, but if it’s anywhere near approaching the M6, I suspect that there will be a sizeable improvement all round.
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Well after two days of playing with the new Chord power blocks it was obvious what the bottleneck was in my system. The Audionote power block was causing the poor performance. To be fair, I kind of guessed this on day one but it’s job was to get the system burned in before playing around with the set up.
Now it’s getting there burn in wise and as Peter managed to get an S6 and M6 block from Chord for a trial, I was grateful he let me have a home dem for a couple of days.
First was the S6, it was a revelation . The whole performance lifted, gone was the dull gloomy sound, there was much more clarity and details. The sound stage improved dramatically and the timing improved. It was finally more in line with a 500 series system.
Then came the M6 and even more of everything, it was noticeably better than the S6. I could coin a phrase, “my jaw hit the floor” but it’s been used before
Seriously though, the sound window through the M6 was huge and the music was more enjoyable. Detail and dynamics in abundance and there was a more 3d sound to the system.
I even used the opportunity to use the ground arrays with both cables and on both occasions the ground arrays tidied up the sound, there was more focus and it was easier to follow instruments in a more musical manor.
Now the power block has been changed it’s easier to see the benefits of the DR improvements, I love the tunes and notes, the increase in detail, dynamics and the overall increase in the musicality of it all.
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