I am just back from spending the morning at the Focal / Naim sponsered demo (second of a two day promo). There were four rooms: Focal Room; Naim Room, Rega Room (by Lyric Hi-Fi) and a Chord Cable Room.
1. Chord Cable Demo
The system here was a "relatively" modest Naim system (CDXS / (New) Dac / XS2 Amp / Power Supplies (X2) / Focal Aria) at a cost of around £10k.
I don't like Naim or Focal or Chord Cables, so the combination didn't disappoint. I thought it sounded bright, forward and gritty with a boxy sounding bass.....not my cup of tea.
The very personable chap from Chord went through their cable range. At the bottom of the range, I heard (possibly) small differences with their better screening and new plugs, but I certainly wouldn't like to pass a blind test on it.
The first worthwhile jump in performance I heard was with their new Anthem Reference, but still didn't really like it...though that could well be the system.
The only cable I actually liked was the Sarum Tuned Aray, which sounded much more natural, but was big money (£1600 per 1m)
2. Focal Room
This was £35k of Black Boxes (with a Streamer / Pre & Power / Power Supplys etc etc) all being fed into some £20k Focal Scala Utopias (new updated version).
Again, it was better than the previous room, but again, not my cup of tea for £55k.
3. Naim Room
Another rack of Black Boxes feeding some Ovator S400s, that is yours for about £20k.
I think I dislike Ovators even more than Focals.....I'm sorry to sound so negative, but once again, this system did nothing for me - so it's best to leave it at that.
4. Rega Room
IMO. This was a little Oasis of music in a desert of hifi mediocrity.
There were three levels of TTs - RP3 / RP6 / RP8 (I think) with Aria Phono Stage.
Amps: Brio R and Elicit R
CDP: Apollo R and Isis
Speakers: RS3 and RS7
It was good to come in here and give ears a break. Even the cheapest option of RP3 + Brio R + RS3 was preferable to anything that I' heard. There is no doubt, that for my taste, Rega is more about the music and less about the hifi. I could easily live with this system, though would prefer Kef R Series as speakers.
The better two TTs were played through the Elicit R and RS7s. This was a good step up.....what a good amp the Elicit R is, and for the money, is setting the benchmark very high.
If I'd bought the RP6, I'd be sick as a parrot on hearing the RP8 (through Aria), as it was quite a step up (performance and price).
I could be wrong, but cartridge wise, I think the Elys 2 was on the RP3; the Exact was on the RP6 and the Apheta was on the RP8.
All in all, I enjoyed my time in this room listening to an eclectic mix of Vinyl, with the odd CD thrown in for good measure (from the Apollo R).
5. Foyer
All manner of Naim Unitis - 2s / Lites / Qutes, connected to Focal Standmounts and Headphones.
If there are any other members out there who were at the show, it would be good to get their feedback, if for no other reason, than to give balance to my experience......and correct any mistakes on equipment that I've made. I'm not up to speed with Naim's Black Boxes, or Regas TTs.
I took some pics, which I hope to download when I get my technical adviser by my side.
Many thanks to all who took the trouble to bring this to my neck of the woods.
Cno