The weekend has been a great success.

It involved a visit from the Naim Hifi System (NHS) consultant, Peter "Cymbiosis". A few weeks ago Peter in his surprising and enthusiastic way offered to vist my place, which I would like to point out is not like saying I'm just going to pop down to the shops.
Agreement was instant on my part and planning proceeded involving a ferry from Harwich to the Hoek of Holland and a silver Volvo wagon containing some rather large and interesting boxes with just enough room left for the driver which after some negotiation around Rotterdam reached my place Thursday evening.

"Ah, large boxes" I hear you say. Well yes, containing a pair of JM Focal 1027 Be's and a pair of SL2's. This was part of mutually agreed plan to check out my system setup with Peter's expert "eye",have a nice home demo listen on the end of the system (CDS3/555PS/552/500 + Orbe) socialise over some good food and wine and take in the Dutch sun in a lazy relaxed way. All of which Peter assured me were of equal importance to him and certainly to me.

Introductions over. On to the important stuff.

The eagle eye passed over the system pronounced it generally fine, moved a few cables, then "re-bounced" the Orbe.

Next came the task of optimizing my Totem Mani 2's to get the very maximum out of them in readiness for the speaker face off. Not trivial as it turned out! After some listening Peter started moving them around and doing carefull tape measurements. It became clear that they were very sensitive to position and we are talking mm's here. Peter got a postion with his CD test tracks where things snapped in and found that further small movements in any direction were enough to drop the total performance back quite a bit. Clear message with the Totems postion is everything. In the one and only "right" postion though, which involved listening seat movements aswell, they sounded pretty stunning. As`Peter put it it was holographic. So a bit more about that later but needless to say this magic position was fully marked including which speaker was which before removing them from the playing field.

Next up were the Focal 1027 Be's. As you can see these are slim but quite tall floorstanders with an interesting mix of materials



Here shown with an ape to give a sense of scale



Again, quite a bit of the postion shuffle went on whilst I did background things to avoid listening until "the location" was declared. Peter found he had to move the listening seat further back and the 1027's ended up as shown in the photo.

So what did we have. Well I think both Peter and myself ended a listening session feeling the same. These speakers seemed tonally very accurate, with well balanced representation across the frequency range. In my room however they just did not excite in the same way as the Totem's. It all seemed a little polite for Rock and Jazz though maybe more faithfull and perhaps best with gentle classical. There was nothing wrong. The bass extension was good with a tight though slightly lighter punch to it. The mids were sweet enough and the Be tweeters obviously had a silkiness to them but they were just "playing" the music so to speak. There was no invitation to get involved coming across.

Dinner out and some wine were called for

Next day came the SL2's which ended up as you see them here.



This was not so time consuming since Peter can place these guys pretty much in his sleep but a certain amount of speaker connection adjustment was necessary behind the left speaker to get it as close as poss to the wall hampered by a projecting window sill as this photo shows



Then just for completeness the ape was joined by the expert for a pose



Now what do we have here. An entirely different kettle of fish. Peter prepped me over a coffee break on the different way the SL2's play so my "first timer" ears were ready. Boy are they dynamic in the upper mid and high frequencies. Marvellous tonal beauty there and the sound swells and falls away noticeably more than with the other speakers. Great stuff underpinned with well extended bass. Certainly the SL2's played all the way down to the lowest notes that even my Totem's could dig out but the bass weight in comparison with the great dynamics of the higher frequencies was where I struggled.

Now understand me here SL2 lovers, they are excellent speakers but what I should perhaps describe as the well resolved but delicately tuned bass, was not coming across with same sense of excitment and involvement after the Totems.

And the winners are....



Here shown in their final position with the expert who made them the winners (wearing "loyalty" tee shirt)



We went out for another excellent dinner and quite a liberal dose of wines before applying the listening ears for further confirmation. I have to say the sight of Peter playing track after track and shaking his head was interesting. We threw everything we had at the Totems until err....4.00 am in the morning and they just blew it straight back at us in spades. It was so involving and enormously well resolved with speed and attack to die for. I honestly never realised how damn fast the 500 is until that session. The whole thing could stop on a dime when called for, as in "Pictures from an Exhibtion" and send shivers down the spine as Solomon Burke appeared in the room. There was a feeling of joyous musical involvement there which I have never heard before.

Peter will have to comment himself because I may sound OTT here, but at the end Peter said It was the closest he had heard a passive system come to sounding like a full active system and that he was startled by how good it all sounded.

So there you have it. We agreed as we parted that I should save my pennies for a CD555 since spending 5-6K on speakers would do nothing to improve on what the Totem's are doing.

A great time which we both thouroughly enjoyed I think.... and big, big thanks to Peter for making the trip and making my Totem's sound like they never have before.

Hope you stayed with this

PETER'S TEST TRACKS included but were not limited to:
Simply Red: "Sad old red"
Frankie goes to Hollywood: "The world is my Oyster / Welcome to the pleasure dome"
Solomon Burke: "Don't give up on me"
Mussorgsky: "Pictures from an exhibition"
Rimsky-Korsakov: "A night on Bare mountain"
Eric Clapton: "Clapton Unplugged"


regards
Geoff

A very good, deep and fascinating report, Geoff !
Bravo !!!

David

A very enjoyable post Geoff and great to see that the speakers you had under your nose were the ones for you after all.

The lesson here is the best dealers are not the ones who try to sell you something you don't necessarily need but help you to achieve the sound you really want.

Peter's a very helpful guy.

Good luck with saving for the 555.

Regards

Mark

Ah, a predictable ending

I didn't think there was anyway Peter could temp you away from the Totems. The SL2's are one of the best speakers I have heard but your conclusion was identical to mine.

Thank you for an excellent report Geoff and some equally excellent photo's.

I note Peter didn't take his 555 head unit with him, well I know he didn't as I was playing with it in his shop whilst he was away


Regards



PB

It sounds like time well spent Geoff. I think it is an excellent testament to Peter that he came home with the speakers he arrived with, having optimised your system for you.

Your speakers seem very much closer together than they appear in the photo on another thread, so it looks like there was quite a lot of lifting and shifting. Rejoice that you weren't moving briks or DBLs!

Thank you for the post, and the photos - now I have a face to put to the voice on the phone when I speak to Peter.

KR

Brad

Excellent stuff Geoff, I had a sneaking suspicion that:-

a) Your system sounds pretty special, and
b) You would stick with the Totems!

Would love to come and hear it one day, if possible!

Cheers,

Jon

Very nice and interesting report, Geoff!

Always love to read these kinda things...

If I may say so, I was kinda surprised to read that your Totems now sound better, since they do seem quite close to eachother, on the picture.

Knowing that 1 Ikea Lack table is 55cm wide (got one myself) the space in between your speaker can't be much wider than say 1.20 meter.

Still, I bet your marvelous system will sound as good as it looks!
(btw, those SL2's sure look smashing! To me they're the best looking Naim speakers ever)

Happy listenings.

regards,
Alco

Geoff,

I also thought it would be a difficult contest to find something to beat your totem's.

Even when I visited the first time (CDS3+XPS2+552+300) I thought that was as good as it gets. The last visit with Stefan, Felix and Edouard showed how the 555PS and 500 brought another sense of musical ease to your system.

I'm sure that from what I heard that a 555 head unit will be a nice end result to upgrading your already wonderful system.

Cheers
Mark

How much are the totems?

Geoff

A very interesting report. Isn't it amazing what an experienced dealer can do.

I'm not surprised that the SL2s were underwhelming when the top box of the left hand speaker had only a window behind it, and the tweeter's isolation was disabled by the lead touching the windowsill! It would be nice for them to have a fair trial.

If you are ever this way, pop in and hear what they should sound like!

Nigel

quote:

How much are the totems?

They're about £2.6k - easily affordable for a man of your means, no doubt!

Just goes to show there is no accounting for the room/speaker interface - good report Geoff - Or peter isn't too bad at speaker placement lOL!

quote:

I'm sure that from what I heard that a 555 head unit will be a nice end result to upgrading your already wonderful system.

Geoff,

Thanks so much to you and Peter to have us share part of the great time you had last weekend!
Geoff you did a great job with the camera, and so did Peter! pictures are really good ones!

From your conclusion it seems like Peter and you are prefering the Mani2's sound...at least in your room.
At end are the Totem Mani2 the best speakers? are they the best sounding speakers in your room?(of the 3 pairs) Would the conclusion be the same with different listeners?
It seems to me that from previous reports from yours and from Peter that the 1027Be sounded quite better in Peter's demo room.

Dunno if there will be ever an end result to upgrading your already wonderful system...
But we may drop by with Mark,Stefan and Felix when the 555 will be in place

Thanks again,
Best regards
Edouard

Thanks for the kind words folks.
Mark - Your comments are so right, especially about Peter

Brad / Alco - As noticed the speaker seperation is quite small. I was as surprised as you, but as Peter pointed out it's about believing what your ears tell you. He "heard" a gap with them further apart. I would not have gone in that direction myself which was where I had it wrong. The other thing is that Totem's are not supposed to need angling in but again that is what works in my room. BTW the Partington stands are bloody heavy to move around.

Jon - you know you are welcome if you can make it.

PB - I think Peter recognised bringing the 555 would have been TOO MUCH to deal with in one go and I am sure he was right.

Mark - I kid you not it sounds even better now

Garyi - Jon is about right on the price of the Totem's

Nigel - Thanks for the invite if it becomes possible I will indeed take you up on your kind offer.

Andy - Indeed there is no accounting for room speaker interface. think that is important to bear in mind.

Edouard - See my comments below. Yes I think it is important to realise this is only about what myself and Peter heard in MY ROOM. Certainly IF a CD555 day dawns you guys are all welcome to come by again. In fact you don't have to wait for that day.

I am not trying to argue the exact conditions but the picture actually shows that the cables are NOT touching the window ledge rather than the opposite.

As to it being an unfair trial that maybe so but that's the way it had to be in my room which is the environment that matters for me. I am only reporting what happened, not saying that SL2's are no good in another room with another setting and a different system.

My room is solid! It has all brick walls, an ceramic tile on concrete floor and a reinforced concrete slab ceiling. As a result it takes strong bass very well, without over reaction. In another setting the Mani's would be a problem because of too much bass and the SL2 might be just right, as it sounds like they are for Nigel. The same could be applied to the Focals. In a bright room with lots of refelections they could be just the thing because they seem tonally very accurate and would not then be so dry sounding.

Another comment to be aware of is the Mani 2's are hard to drive speakers. I only started to realise what they could do when I replaced my 250.2 with a 300 and it is only now that I have a 500 that I can get them so dynamic and alive sounding. I would not recommend the Totems for any Naim system because they are so power hungry, but drive them with a 500 and boy can they deliver.


regards
Geoff

Great report, Geoff, and thank you for putting a face to Peter, who doubtlessly is an exception in this (small) hifi world, methinks.

Interestingly, there's still no contender for your Manis - at least not in the budget range we're finding the Totems in...

Well, compared to my own speaker quest, I'm full of joy for you (and a bit of jealousy, grrmbl)

Geoff, you're one of the stars of this forum !

cheers
Stefan
(reporting live from Switzerland's capitol, 50 meters from the famous bears...)

Geoff, many thanks.

I'll be in touch very soon

Cheers,

Jon

Dear Geoff,

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks from Fredrik!

Nice Geoff,
very nice report.
Now...I wonder if Pete will be in my neighbourhood anytime soon.... hmmm

Jag

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for your thought provoking report and photos.

I must admit though that i share Nigels reservations regarding the positioning of the Sl2s. As i understood it, Sl2s usually perform at their best when 1.8-2.4mtrs apart, and about 60-80mm out, in front of a solid wall.

This is in no way a criticism of setup, but a genuine desire to gain knowledge, as i hadnt even considered having my own pair this close together. Hopefully Peter will be commenting on this thread, as it has raised a couple of questions with regard to my own speaker placement issues. Also it seems from your photos, that all three sets of speakers share the same optimum positioning, which again surprised me. Glad it all ended positively for you, presumably one step closer to your 555.


Regards Mike.

Thanks for a well written report, Geoff. It sure would've been fun being with you and Peter those days...

quote:

Also it seems from your photos, that all three sets of speakers share the same optimum positioning, which again surprised me.

For me they seem to have quite different placements, at least a dm between the Totem and Focal placement (counting tiles from the window and proximity to the tiles front lateral corner )

Anyway, did you move yor listening position regarding the session with the SL2s?

Thanks again, now I won't look for the Mani-2s in a long time!!

Regards
Rickard