Arcam av8>>>naim av2

J

jeroen999

Guest
I have heard both .the naim with the 150/175,,the arcam with 3x a p75
With a movie I had the feeling that with the av8 the sound was more pulled towards the speaker.
I will not say that the speaker was "not letting go".
but it was less than when i was listenig to the naim.

Was this maybe a fault made by me?for instans not the wright menu settings?
Also i found that when i listened in THX mode that there was less info from left and right ,for instans with a fly over from left to right
(back and front) it was in dd mode more impressive than with the THX Is this possibble???

Overall I Fall for the sound of arcam and surely the features.
although I'm not interessted in de video switching.

On the otherside I was impressed by the feeling of living
in a big bubble of sound without any speakers that could be pointed out. of the naim .
Is there someone Who also had this experience?Or a totally different one.
Hope someone has ,so i can make my choice!
greetings jeroen
 
Hmmm, there seem to be a few people considering an ultra high-end AV processor + power amp. (see the Tag vs. Arcam thread).

I haven't heard any of them but on the information that's available I think I'd probably go for the Arcam AV8 + P7 if money was no object, then probably the Tag AV32R and then the Naim AV2. I think the Naim would score higher if it didn't have such weird connectors (and therefore tied me to Naim power amps).

For me the Naim scores highly though because it doesn't have video switching, something I don't need. However, it still costs a lot! (esp. if you have to get 150 and 175 power amps aswell).

Another product I've been considering is the new Cyrus AV8 (+ 3 Cyrus Smart Power amps) - also doesn't do video switching and is significantly cheaper than the others (may not be as good though).

In the recent HiFi News review of the Arcam, Naim and Tag the reviewer said that only the Arcam made him feel like he was "in a pool of sound" without noticing the individual speakers - just the effect you experienced with the Naim...

Michael.
 
Thanks for your reply.
I understood that that Pool of sound was when he was listening to the arcan using not the coax but the analoge inputs.
So I do not know if he had this experience also with the dac from the av8.
I looked also to the cyrus ,for me this is not enough,I have the money for the ARCAM +3X P75.
or the naim with the 175--150
so I really want one of these.
I understood there was a man he worked at arcam ,maybe he knows what the thing was I did wrong? hope he is going to read this.
Anyway much thanks for your quick respons,and clear few on this case.
greetings jeroen
 
In the HiFi News review all tests were done feeding a digital signal in from a DVD player so this was using the DAC of the AV8.

Out of interest how much is the Naim AV2 + 175 + 150 in Holland?

There is someone from Arcam on these boards, his name is John Dawson. If he reads this thread then I'm sure he'll reply. See some of his replies in the other threads about the AV8.

Michael.
 
the av2 will be 3650euro
the 150 will be 1350
the 175 will be 1950

a lot of money but im my opinion worth every euro!

greetings jeroen
 
Yes - very expensive, but still cheaper than the Arcam AV8 + P7 solution. I guess if you go Arcam AV8 + 3x P75 that would be the cheapest though...something for me to consider aswell :)

Michael.
 
You can mix and match Arcam P75s and 85s - and the 85 is a significantly better amplifier. The marginal cost of replacing one P75 with a P85 is only about 350 Euros IIRC and will improve the sound from the main L and R channels significantly.

John Dawson (Arcam)
 
The p 75 was very good indeed.
maybe later on I will bring back 2 p75's
and buy a p85/3
or another option is the fmj 32(23)/3 will be about 1800 euro!

Hope mister dawson will pick up this tread for a little help!

regards jeroen
 
Hello mister Dawson .
Could you look at the first post in this tread and maybe help me out a little bid?

Exspecialy about the "fly over " part.and if you have time also the other qustions??

thanx Jeroen
 
Originally posted by John Dawson
You can mix and match Arcam P75s and 85s - and the 85 is a significantly better amplifier. The marginal cost of replacing one P75 with a P85 is only about 350 Euros IIRC and will improve the sound from the main L and R channels significantly.

John Dawson (Arcam)
John, how much does a P85 with 3 channels retail for in the UK (roughly)? I see Sevenoaks list the 2ch P85 as £530.

And, from what you said you see no problem with mixing a P85/3 for the front and centre channels and a P75 for the rears? An AV8 based solution is starting to look more reasonable :)

Michael.
 
Michael - the list price in the UK of the P85 is £529.90 and the P85/3 is £749.90, both including VAT.

There is no reason why you should not use a P85/3 on the fronts and a P75 on the rears - the gains and phase responses of the amplifiers are similar.

Jeroen - I cannot say exactly why you would have heard the effects you did when comparing the two systems. A lot will depend on the set ups, the crossover frequencies chosen etc. The two brands of power amps will be significantly different in character too. If you had THX engaged that would have sounded different from non-THX replay on another system, that's for sure. On the AV8 you can bypass THX processing for DD5.1 and DTS 5.1 and 6.1 channel replay, but not currently for DD EX 6.1. That's because at the time of designing the AV8 DD EX and THX were locked together by the licence agreement. That has now changed and we expect to be able to provide a SW update early in the new year so that you can play DD EX 6.1 without THX post processing if you wish.

If you are still not sure you need to go back to your dealer or perhaps have a chat with the Dutch distributor Audiac. Those guys are very experienced and knowledgeable and should be able to help you out.

John Dawson (Arcam)
 
Thank you for the quick respons .
Maybe you can tell me only this.
Would you play a movie with or without the THX engaged.(5.1)
Or did you never heard the complaint that"the speakers where more separated without the THX engaged?

hope to hear !if you have time offcourse.

regards jeroen
 
I guess the answer is that if I had THX type dipole speakers at the sides I 'd probably use the THX post processing. They have some neat ways of handling the rears in a 7.1. system too if you have the extra speakers running.

If I didn't have the dipoles then I would probably use plain vanilla decoding. Either way you have the choice of turning THX on or off.

John Dawson (Arcam)
 
But I understood it was not possible to disengage THX when playing 6.1 or 7.1?
is this thrue?and if so ,is this maybe in the future a possibility(software update)?
hope you know!

ps thanx for the mail towards Audiac,did not get answer back
but is probbaly very busy overthere.
 
It is currently not possible to disengage THX when playing DD EX flagged discs through the AV8 - though if the discs also have a DTS track you can run DTS 6.1 without THX post processing. Non EX flagged discs can be run in 5.1 with all 4 rear speakers operating (each one 3dB down from the normal settings) without THX and Andrew, our AV8 team leader , tells me this is a very good sounding mode, especially where you are not sure if EX steering is encoded on the disc. The way to set this up is in the manual.

And yes, in response to customers' requests, we will produce a SW update to disengage THX post processing when using DD EX decoding. I would expect this SW release in about 2 months time. Any AV8 can be SW updated in th efield through its RS232 port.

I hope that is clear :)

John Dawson (Arcam)
 

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