Balanced line mains

[zebbo]

Will have to try one of these when funds allow. I will come and collect and bring my P90sa up for you to swap over the connections if that's ok. Not sure when it'll be.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Give me plenty of warning as I have to build it.

[zebbo]

Will do.

[Gromit]

A little teaser photo...

DSCF0070

Am gathering some script to share my experiences of the magic of the black box (to quote a well-know chocolates ad)

[Daniel Quinn]

Naim's and NVA in the same room - FIGHT

[Gromit]

Naim's and NVA in the same room - FIGHT

Indeed.

You could of course say the same thing about Naim and a Japanese direct drive turntable.

[_D_S_J_R_]

That era Naim needs dumping so badly! It's total sh*t and really does distort in a most unpleasant way. Can't believe you're giving any of the CB stiff houseroom in all honesty. A restored 72/HiCap/180 I'd understand, but I've just poured all my scorn for CB era Naim on poor old Shane on his thread so won't here.

So much music and careful production and mastering techniques you CB Naimies are missing, as these amps just cannot reproduce them with any truthfulness

[Gromit]

Well, Dave, I'm really rather enjoying it - sure it doesn't drop diamonds out of its backside but its musical presentation is one I can live with quite happily. I prefer old Exposure - at a push - but this little combo definitely isn't 'sh*t'.

Jeez - it even plays piano music quite convincingly, something my old 72/Hi/180 never got near to. Or maybe my interpretation of what a piano actually sounds like is way off mark?

I should add though, that putting some LS6 into the system made quite significant difference - the 110's lost a lot of its aggression and musical clumsiness, sounding a great deal more grown up now...

Less:



And a lot more:



I'll get round to having a go at explaining what the BMU thingy does when I got some time. It's quite uncanny what it brings and it'll be extremely difficult to give back.

[_D_S_J_R_]

The 72/Hicap/180 when new, should sound far better than a 42.5/Hicap/110 in any state of tune, so if they didn't, I'd respectfully put the blame somewhere else. Trouble is, as MartinT has done (IMO), we all change what's right in the system, yet still find fault because we always seem to keep the thing that's wrong (that 'uber-detailed' Chord power amp has made him replace everything else in the system. There has to be a reason why, rather than the amp 'showing up' everything else it's been used with, but he isn't here to put me straight so rather unkind of me I suppose).

Apologies for derailing the main point of the thread. I'm like a reformed ex-smoker where CB era Naim is concerned. Most CB Naim sounds different to everything else, so either everyone else has it wrong, or Naim have it wrong! The current stuff, as well as the 120 and original bolt-up 250, sound delightful in decent fettle as long as they aren't clipped and the Olive range has it's good moments (they ALL go off due to deliberate [cost] design choices, sadly).

Since this is an NVA-biased forum (whatever the Doc says), I'd still maintain that an AP20 or 40's with passive pre, would sound far closer to reality tonally and, if they don't in your system, I'd politely and suggest with genuinely deep respect, that you look elsewhere to the amps..

I'd better crawl back under my stone and play some music

[Gromit]

Hey, no worries Dave.

I would love to get some folk round here to have a listen to the system at the moment - with the BMU in place. Would have also liked to hear what it brought to the party with my old 770ES too, would've made for an interesting combination. Where the 110's concerned, the insertion of LS6 and now the BMU has brought about a calmness which was missing before. It's not running around belting everything with a baseball bat now, yet still raises goosebumps most satisfyingly.

Perhaps it's a little like a Porsche 911 - it shouldn't really work, but somehow it just does and today I've listened to stuff from Kate Rusby via Depeche Mode through to Vaughan Williams and it's just delivered the goods for me.