I use van den Hull Clearwater. Similar in specs to NAC A5 (coincidental already had them pre-Naim), but smaller gauge.
Maybe it’s indeed 20h, the 15h was from the top of my head. But I would say any burn-in should be a subtle improvement, optimisation. If the sound is not to your liking, don’t rely on burn-in to fix it.
With the speakers sitting on an AV unit it’s hard to know how much this is compromising them. Are they positioned right at the front edge? If not, reflections from the surface immediately in front of them won’t be helping.
The optimisation that AudiQuest commonly use doesn’t work well with Naim, however some of their more sophisticated cables can be rewired in a different pattern to make them more compatible with Naim power amps; unless this is done AudiQuest cables aren’t really suitable.
If your speakers are sitting on the same equipment stand as the Uniti Star (as you seem to be suggesting - I hope I’m wrong!), then you’re asking for trouble as the vibration from the speakers will be fed straight back to the Star.
Oooh I have these stands with my BW CM5’s. Good stands filled with sand. Heavy stuff.
BWs are far more often too bass heavy than bright. Stands and cables and everything will be fine for @n20nine . My money is on the cables though.
Weird. I think I just accidentally deleted my own post. Anyway. I run my Star on Linn K20 into PMC Twenty5.21i’s, and while I lean to ‘cooler’ type of sound, I never experienced the sound as thin, also not on my previous Dynaudio Emits.
Good stands and generally good support from vibrations give a cleaner sound, more natural. But we don’t know if it will remove the brightness. However it gives a more organic sound, with better low end.
Indeed. B&Ws are prone to wooly bass and I share the experience that good stands makes the bass much better.
I still have them for AV purposes (very good) but for hifi I so much more prefer the SBLs!
Come on. The sound was fine with the previous amp. Let’s stop with the ridiculous advice of stands, waiting another hundred hours etc.
The OP has an issue after changing amp, three possible causes:
The last one is quite specific, so worth investigating. So is the first. Anything else would amount to the middle one. Advice for stands or waiting a few months is just unhelpful. That’s just optimising, not solving any fundamental problem.
The potential issue of having the speakers standing on the same piece of furniture as the electronics (if this is indeed the case) can also cause dramatic differentces between a basic Marantz amp and a Uniti Star.
I doubt that. Not any difference, but substantial, yes.
Some at least of the responses seem to ignore that the OP had a sound that wasn’t thin and fatiguing before changing to the Star (e.g. suggestions of speaker stands, burn-in of speakers). The question is why does the Star sound compared to the previous sound like this, leaving aside the question as to whether the OP will get used to it and learn to like it. The speaker cable is a possibility, as it can interact differently with different amps.
To the OP, silly question, but did you hear the Star before buying? If yes and it sounded good to you, then the question is rather different from if you didn’t, as in the latter case it could simply be that that is the difference between the Star and the Marantz.
I’d try another Star. You had a working system, there is no reason why a properly functioning Star should take sound quality that significantly backwards.
So how do you plan to solve the problem Nlot ? Why not try different approaches and see what happens ?
For instance, before buying stands, put some hard books or hard wood under the speakers, to see how the sound changes.
Try different speakers cables.
Let the Uniti Star burn in more
Toe in differently the speakers
And please, don’t say the stands are a ridiculous idea. Everyone knows how important it is.
The Marantz is more laid back amp, softer and less dynamic. So it reveals less the shortcomings.
As the Star is the only variable introduced into the system, the logical place start is to double check the Star, to make sure it’s been set up properly and not faulty etc.
And that includes putting it on a suitable support (N.B. not an item of furniture that’s shared with the speakers!).
You seem fail to notice that OP’s system sounded fine before introducing the Star
I pointed out earlier that there are many construction and design differences between a Uniti Star and a Marantz amp that can account for differences in response to different frequencies of vibration and differences in the tolerance for the amplitude of vibration.
By the way this knowledge is also based on my experience of building amps.
Thank you all for your replies. I am also posting my observation from an audition with a dealer at the bottom of my individual replies.
@n-lot . I take your point re not relying on burn-in. Have ordered the witch hat, but on a 6-8 weeks wait. no luck in getting a nac a5 within the next 1.5 weeks.
@Svetty . Ideally, I would love to add stands but not ideal in my current space. The speakers are right at the front.
@Xanthe . Somehow I am not a fan of AudioQuest, I feel they are a little too much for what they are. Sadly, yes you are right. Speakers are on the same stand as the Star. I do, however, have the speakers on the B&W supplied silicon isolation feet. Re vibrations, I turned the volume up and placed my palms between the speakers and Star, did not feel vibration - only when playing loud with very bassy tracks, I feel some minimal vibration on my palms. Thinking of getting the isoAcoustics iso-puck mini to put under the speakers. Thanks for also sharing your experience from building amps
@frenchrooster & @Ardbeg10y - definitely stands on my list, soon. Re vibrations - on my list to fix.
@pbode I demoed the PMC’s you have yesterday against the B&Ws…they definitely are a cooler sounding speaker compared to the B&Ws…lovely sound!
@Innocent_Bystander I did not hear the Star before buying, however I did hear the Atom paired with my current speakers. They were fine, highs a little more pronounced than what my old setup was. The setup was lovely.
@elevensheep I have double-checked all wirings and can confirm they are set up correctly
So, yesterday I auditioned a Star at a showroom with the same speakers as mine (705 S2) and also a pair of PMCs. My observations are:
I am almost getting there, thanks to all your suggestions and inputs. Will keep you all posted.
