One or two 500s??

Bleearrghh - forget them! Use an nSub instead - Naim have!

quote:

Bleearrghh - forget them! Use an nSub instead - Naim have!

But somehow it just isn't the same . . . sadly.

Tony's system has amazing scale in terms of height, width and depth as well as dynamics. Part of it is the room (which has no right to work as well as it does) but, even in our hands here, we find the 500 opens up all aspects of the SL2's over what is achieved with any of the 300s we've had.

It isn't just bass, it's life, resolution. Crumbs I'd even say "tonal colour" if I could be sure that it would not lead to me being trampled to death.

Oops. . .

Alastair

What isn't the same?

I don't care much for scale, just something that reproduces low frequency detail in all its glory allied to a nice, tight bass. I'll never have a room, or a system, as big as Tony's so scale isn't an issue for me.

Besides which, £14k for a power amp? Hardly "real world" prices to me I'm afraid, whereas an nSub, even brand new and at full price, is much more within my reach. What's more, one which is properly integrated with the rest of my (obviously inferior) system would likely provide me with all the listening satisfaction I could want.

Not much to be sad about, really, from what I can tell.

I heard SL2s for the first time during Friday's factory visit. They remained a constant in the dem along with the 552. The front end was variously a 555 or a naimed LP12 and the amps ranged from a 250 via a 300 to a 500.

The mid and upper registers were very nice, and in this regard for me the 300 excelled above the other two amps, but I was disappointed with the restrictions the SL2s placed on the lower registers, regardless of the amps being used.

Ultimately, had I been ignorant of the sublime performance of active dibbles, I may have thought the SL2s were doing wonderful things. However this was not the case. There is no substitute for 15" drivers - adding a pair of 500s or an N-sub just isn't the same - sadly.

Tony, please don't take this as a dig at your superb system. I just feel that there has been some overstated hyperbole in a couple of posts

quote:

Originally posted by Rob B:
I heard SL2s for the first time during Friday's factory visit. They remained a constant in the dem along with the 552. The front end was variously a 555 or a naimed LP12 and the amps ranged from a 250 via a 300 to a 500.

The mid and upper registers were very nice, and in this regard for me the 300 excelled above the other two amps, but I was disappointed with the restrictions the SL2s placed on the lower registers, regardless of the amps being used.

Ultimately, had I been ignorant of the sublime performance of active dibbles, I may have thought the SL2s were doing wonderful things. However this was not the case. There is no substitute for 15" drivers - adding a pair of 500s or an N-sub just isn't the same - sadly.

Tony, please don't take this as a dig at your superb system. I just feel that there has been some overstated hyperbole in a couple of posts

Not in the least offended Rob, indeed having been flattened against the rear wall of Jon Honeyball's listening room I can also vouch for the superb sound of a pair of active DBLs!
But that's not to say there were certain aspects of my system (pre-going active with a second 500) that I preferred.

Listening to Jon's system and chatting to him, plus the previous experience of my old active system, convinced me I needed to go active myself.

Having now done so, I'm delighted with the result. It's a different sound to the active DBLs of course, but in terms of bass weight and quality it's pretty impressive and more than satisfies me. You'd be very welcome to come for a listen!

Should I want ultimate OTT bass wallop, I could always set up my two 15" Velodyne subs to work with the stereo...

But as Alastair's pointed out, it ain't quite the same thing, although I still think a properly integrated sub is a very good idea in certain systems.

I now await Mr Honeyball's transition to a 3x500/552 arrangement. Now that will be something!

quote:

Not much to be sad about, really, from what I can tell.

I'm not going to argue with that. There is no way that Tony's system could be described as "real world". One of the joys of the Naim stuff is that you can get very real and lasting musical enjoyment MUCH further down the price ladder. Which is just as well really!

This does not stop Tony's toys (in Tony's own room) being bloody amazing, of course.

As for the 300 vs 500 judgement, when we heard the SL2's in Naim's 'suite' a few weeks ago it was hard to really like them at all. Something was sucking them dry in there.

Since the room was very much "in progress" it would be mean to be critical. Placement is everything and this could easily affect amplifier judgements too.


Alastair

Hi Tony,

That is very kind of you and by the same token, should you ever be in my neck of the woods you are more than welcome to pop by for a listen. I can't offer you a trio of 500s, but I think the lowly 250-2s do quite a nice job

quote:

As for the 300 vs 500 judgement, when we heard the SL2's in Naim's 'suite' a few weeks ago it was hard to really like them at all. Something was sucking them dry in there.

Hi Alastair,

Its reassuring to read that my experience is not a solitary one. I wish we had the time to have tried out the SL2s with N-subs - there were a couple lurking around in the dem room.

Cheers

Rob