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Chord PowerAmp with Naim?

S

skyebridge

Registered User
I have recently acquired a pair of Ovator 600's.

It has been suggested that my present setup of SuperUniti + 2x Nap160's driving 3-way Ruarks will not serve the power needs of the Ovators.

As the Ovators in passive mode will only run off one PowerAmp, I am considering something like a Chord SPM 650, 1200 or similar.

Has anyone got experience with such a mix? I'd be interested to hear about that.

Thanks,

Skyebridge
 
Its a good question...

Let's just suppose you traded your superuniti for a 272 (why would you waste that power amp doing nothing?) and then go a chord.

Hmmmmm..

It's. One of those 'always wondered, never tried' things that should, in theory sound good but you never know how these things really match up electrically until you try it. Certain the chord has enough jam to drive the ovators properly and well, but the real question is how would I sound on a naim pre. I'd be interested to hear the results, I do know that off a linn pre it works quite well.
 
don't do it.

Naim amp with Naim speakers, why would you want to change that?

If you like the Naim sound, keep it all naim
 
I'd never aquire S600 unless beeing in 300/500 land

OTOH if I ovned such amplication I'd much prefer old style Naim speakers
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

The 272 PreAmp idea is very interesting.

Any views on how the PreAmp in the 272 compares with the SuperUniti or other Naim Pre's? I have got Jadman-32, 62 and 70 - but the SU Pre is better than any of these. I've also had 52's & 82's in the past, but won't be going back over old ground.

BTW I've never liked Naim loudspeakers, except the NBL and the Ovator 600.

What views are out there about Chord PowerAmps? I'm in the market for a really good 2nd hand one that's not going to cost too much.

Skyebridge
 
I respect Gaius' opinion most of the time, he likes a well put together and streamlined system and has (for whatever it's worth), good taste.

But to write off the possibility that something might be a good match (might) because it's not of the same brand I think is perhaps a bit foolish. (Bear in mind, from a retailer's perspective it's often easier to just keep sh*t simple....and often for good reason).

The longer NAIM builds products the more their stuff tends to work more openly with other people's products. An example is the Statement (obvi) but also simply by adding RCA jacks to pre's and/and. A set of IBL's really sounded like garbage onanything other than a 32/hi/160 IMO or better....you couldn't hook it up with a nakamichi receiver, for example. I mean, you could, but it would've sounded crap. Same with even a linn pretek/powertek or even kairn/klout for that matter. Not knocking a Kairn/Klout but they just wouldn't really work with even SBL's.

If you found that you like NBL's Aand Ovators I think I understand. Having had some experience with both. (although let's be frank, we all somewhere deep down inside, if we admit it, all want just one extra room somewhere to put in a fully loaded stack of DBL's. Go on. Admit it.)

The Ovators are tremendously capable and also tough to drive. Of course you need a good source and pre-amp.....but powering them with a chord SPM might be a very good idea actually. Chord's have tremendous grip and control and a fairly well balanced sound, not too bass heavy.....and I agree with the 300/500 comment above but that's not to rule out that a Hi-Powered chord might achieve similar results.

As for the 272 I haven't heard it but let's be frank, it's newer than a uniti and a standalone pre-amp with latest ideas and innovations brought-in....I'd be shocked if it wasn't a really solid pre-amp/streamer/dac and didn't do very well in comparison to a S.Uniti as a pre-amp....being similar but a level up.

I'd love to hear how the ovators reacted off a chord but alas no time or availability to make it happen. But if you do get the chance to experiment...do it. Cabling will make a huge difference to your results, both from pre-to-power and speaker level, so be sure to allow to play around with that stuff in your trials.
 
the whole Naim sound is built on using single output devices - no parallel transistors.

That is why using anything other than Naim (and maybe Linn power amps) would compromise that famous PRAT musicality.

I tried a Naim preamp in Dynaudio active speakers, and as much as I wanted to like it, it isn't the Naim sound... it was musical all right, but not fast enough. the speed just wasn't there.
 
@ yuckyamson, thanks, I just think Naim is best with Naim if you like what it does and agree here with analoguemusic above.

I think if the Chord is the order of the day I'd use a different pre, maybe something like a Music First TVC passive, one of the best pre amps I have heard and I enjoyed mine with Quad 306 and a TT Unisys valve.

At the end of the day I returned to Naim because I like what it does and would not dilute it. :)
 
Hi Skye,

I have had some good results mixing and matching Niam pre/powers with other makes over the years .....and some very poor results. I am currently using my Bel Canto Pre3vb with one of my NAP250s while my EAR is back home being serviced. Whenever I am thinking of such a mix I always buy the 'other' amp through a dealer, new or 2nd hand, so I can have a listen in my system for a few days.

I have to say that generally I am not a fan of Chord amps, but if you give this a go I will be interested to read your review.

M
 
Well , got recent experience of this. Couple of years back I bought a second hand 1200e from a dealer. Had it set up in a Naim cds3/ 52/ epos es 22/rel storm set up to check out. It was some amp. Really good. Blisteringly fast , distortion free , wide bandwidth. Now and then certain deep bass notes would come along, like , jolt me out my seat. Huge power and control.
Sadly it had an issue - I think. Intermittently cutting out into protection mode. Happened three times or so. The dealer was great though. No quibble money back right away. I later found a bad connection in my I/c from 52 ( 4 pin to 2 phonos). Intermittent loss of ground connection. Was this the problem ?
If there had been no issues I would have kept the amp.
There remained a Chord itch after this though. Recently spotted a 1200C for a surprisingly good price. Could not resist. Just for a try out. Its currently at Chord getting tested and serviced. I did have a 1200C 12+ years ago but did not have the Nac 52. Used an Exposure 21. Sold the 1200c and then got into Dynavector power amps. Also Naim and Densen. Still got those too.
So I'll be giving another Chord amp a try out very soon. Spec figures are impressive for the 1200C. From a review, Hifi News 1999 and Chord spec sheet 2001/2 figures quoted are some 330 W 8 ohms , 520 W 4 ohms and 720 W 2 ohms. Transient into 4 ohms quoted as 1.2 to 1.5 KWatts.
I mean , blimey !
 
Buy my nap300 in the classified section and remove all doubt that you've got!

It powered previously my shahinian obelisks with ease so s600 will be a doddle.
 
I recently demoed at home a 272 into my Chord SPM 650 driving my 803 Diamonds and was very impressed with the sound of the combo. The Chord is supremely competent and although it's competition at price is a 250 I believe it drives my 803 better than a 250 ( heard at dealer not at Home) I've always believed Naim preamps are great but chords not so good... But Chord power amps great where Naims lag behind ( more so on difficult loads, Chord power amps just seem to keep going)

I've pmd you Skye as im looking to move on my 650.

David
 
Hi MBU,

Saw a couple of '1200e's come up for reasonable money over the last couple of months and I have been tempted .....just thought that all that power into my Living Voice speakers might lead to a sad result!

M
 
As is so happens and not to backtrack....

@Gaius--yes I totally hear what you're saying. Synergy is always key and simplicity is usually better. I just don't know what a present-day naim pre (say 272) would sound like into a chord power--again because I haven't tried it. May very well be that in such a circumstand a chord pre would work better...regardless of what they were driving.

But as to above (250 driving 803's) naim driving B&W....I never understood why people ever, ever, ever did this. Naim amps into B&W is like dumping Tomato Sauce onto Chicken. It just doesn't work. I'm not judging either product, but if you want to make B&W's sing you need a different kind of amplifier.

I'd still be curious with this chord amp into ovators. The ovators don't seem to behave the same way (to my limited experience) as a lot of previous naim speakers. They sure as hell aren't like SBL's. I'd be curious to hear the results. I wouldn't be too excited, mind you, on many other kinds of amps at all:

I'd cringe at the thought of Bryston, Classe, some valves, many others....
 
Mr Underhill said:
Hi MBU,

Saw a couple of '1200e's come up for reasonable money over the last couple of months and I have been tempted .....just thought that all that power into my Living Voice speakers might lead to a sad result!

M
Click to expand...

Yup. Its a lot of power. Get a bit over adventurous with the volume pot and your speakers may well be at risk. The 1200e driving the 22's , banging out The Prodigy at full pelt was rather memorable though.
 
skyebridge said:
I am considering something like a Chord SPM 650, 1200 or similar
Click to expand...

mbu said:
Couple of years back I bought a second hand 1200e from a dealer.
Click to expand...

Has anyone compared Chord SPM 1200 (any version but probably E or mk11) with Chord SPA 612's (mbu and skye - thinking of you?)
I hope it is not un-pc to reply to such an old post. Skye, I saw you mentioned 612 on another site.
 
I've still got the 1200c. Rotate with other power amps. Now got a very slight ground loop hum, fuzz out speakers when 1200c used with Nac 52 in main system.
Still sounds great and not an issue when music playing. This only happened after changing Cds3 for Audiolab 9000, Chord tt2. Weird.
No knowledge of 612 amps. Think they have some non standard connections on rear panel though?
 
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Second hand Dynavectors and Densens are few and far between (even thought the DV's were made in my general part of the world). Chords, however, do seem to be around occasionally (mostly in the UK). I'm tying to work out hierarchy and age of there different amps (to go with a Naim NZC282, at least initially). Some of them, like the 612, has very little info online and it is difficult to see how it might compare with others. I would assume the non-standard connections of the 612 would not be insurmountable for a cable maker who knows about it.
 
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