Back in August, I asked members of this forum a question: From 102/NAPSC/Hi/140, what should the next logical step be? 82 or 200? At the time, Phil Barry and Markus both suggested that a 250 was the way to go (as Phil put, answering a question I had not asked.) A few weeks later, I went to Euphonie in Montreal (Manu's store) and compared the 200 with the 250-2. It was a no contest, the 250 eating the 200 alive.

Since a 250-2 is out of the question for now, I surfed my way to Audiogon.com, where I found a user by the name of “Turboteam” (Dale Gillespie is his real name) with three 250’s for sale (excellent transaction, by the way.)

The 250 arrived on Monday and since it is 6 or 7 years old, I plugged it in, turned it on and started listening to it right away. I know this is not the way to do, but I didn’t care because from the first note it made miracles: the Harbeth Compact 7’s were simply transfigured. Even more interesting was the fact that the difference is 30% sound (or hi-fi), 70% music.

Sound part: Yes, the bass is tighter and deeper - you can hook Harbeths up to a 140, but you need a 250 to tame those Radial cones. Yes, the midrange is even more credible, which is hard to believe. And yes, highs are not more defined and they lost that edgy sound. Even imaging is better – I know, this is Round Earth territory, but whatever – the sound is a little more laid back from a 3-d point of view.

But of course, it’s not what really counts. What stroke me is the music part: now I understand why the Naim Audio NAP 250 has been a legend for 30 years. PR&T is amazing – for the first time I really understood why Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue is deemed to have been “made in Heaven”. I always liked the album very much, but I was just not prepared for the overwhelming urge to follow the beat and the emotional rush. Voices – either jazz or classical - were already great with the 140, detailed and tuneful, but all in a sudden it all made sense. It became easy to understand the interaction between music as played by instruments and music as sang by the singer. Renee Fleming and the Orchestra of St. Like are no longer playing side by side, they’re making music together.

Wow! It’s been 3 days now and I still can’t believe what I’m hearing. So many records to listen to, so little time…