Hi,

I'm currently using a Roksan Caspian Cd player/amp thorugh Mission 751s. Before I upgrade my trusty speakers I am still unahppy with my front end. The Roksans are very good but are too mellow and unforced. What I like is to be able to follow bass lines and rythm sections as for me they are the drive behind the music. The Roksans give a very 'Overall' sound which doesn't favour any aspect and I find on all my old CDs the bass lines are to far back in the mix. I have always been slightly put off the entry level Naim amps due to observations of thin, harsh and aggressive, but I know know what I need from a hi-fi and most important is having PRaT! I feel I need Naim electornics married to non-Naim Speakers and I will be in hifi heaven!
Please tell me:
Has anyone comared Caspians to Naim gear, either 5 seried or the older 3 series?
Would I be better advised to go second hand and up a level to get a better sound?
Has anyone used PMC FB1 speakers with Naim gear?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I have been reading this forum for months and it's really been enlightening....

Si;

I remember hearing the both the Caspian CD player & amp in the Rokan room at the Bristol show in the year they were launched. This was with Roksan's RokONE speakers. My own system at the time had an old NAD CD player through a NAIT 1. The Caspian system seemed to do pretty well, being (as you say) very "well rounded" (well, yes…) and doing all of the job passably well. I was fairly impressed until Touraj (for it was he) played a 12" single of Elvis Costello's "I Want You" on a Roksan TMS turntable with Artemiz arm and shiraz cartridge, through the same system. This was one of those defining moments for me, and amply demonstrated how capable the Caspian amp/RokONE combo was of showing off a really good source – so much so that I subsequently bought the speakers.

I suspect that you'd greatly enjoy a CD5 with your Caspian amp!

Best;

Mark

(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)

Thanks for that - yes one of the reasons I got the Roksans was for the amp and I got the CD player as well as I thought it would be a good sonic/visual match as opposed to my Marantz CD17 I had at the time and the second hand hi-fi shop just happened to have it as well....

I was hoping to get to Bristol this year as haven't been since '96 (Pre kids....) to hear lots of different gear (especially Naim) and compare it to mine. Im sure I'll find Naim to my liking. However I've just discovered other colleagues at work have the Friday off and I don't know if I could stand the masses of people on the two weekend days!!! Perhaps I'll do a London show later in the year...