Buying "budget" kit or not? Help required.

[Jason P]

Not sure about pointless, rather taking advantage of opportunity. In the the same vein as my original post, I have neither the opportunity nor funds to experiment with a wide variety of arms, so when an opportunity has presented itself I have taken it. I would certainly like to explore the Rock's damping features in the future - but but that involves buying another arm.

David

Ahh OK I see. The Rock is a great platform and the arm damping on the trough really makes it shine, albeit at the expense of some useability. The Terminator may well work fine on it though... It definitely needs to be tried ! I'd look for a decent cheap mm - maybe an Ortofon or Nagaoka - and take it from there.

As to the others - well, buying secondhand has it's risk but can, in some ways, be a better bet - you can try things and if you buy wisely (trusted sellers, good condition, not so obscure as to be unsellable) if you don't like you can sell on again an far less loss than on something new. It can be fun too. I've not gone far wrong when choosing kit by reading reviews and forum opinions - you get a good idea of how kit performs and a sense of how they might go together.

[DSJR]

Depending on arm effective-mass, the Rock/Terminator will do justice to any decent cartridge out there. First thoughts were for a Denon DL110 or one of the cheaper low output Ortofons, which have a very long pedigree and known good value performance (I wonder how different inside the new ones are to an MC10 Super or MC20 Super?). Obviously, the 2M fixed coil Ortofons are good too and deservedly popular, despite the prices asked.

As for speakers, I personally dislike the B&W CM models, despite their endearingly trendy looks. The current KEF models are recommended to me as really good all-rounders now and of you ever see any, the now vintage Spendor S and Se series (6's and 8's) work well with Naim without the tinny 'HiFi' shrillness of Neats or Kudos speakers I've heard. These Spendors MUST be used with Chord Odyssey (safe with Naim) and Naim's own stupidly priced A5 cable, the OTT treble performance of the cables working well with these speakers.

Rather rare, but I was always very fond of some of the Sonus Faber stand-mounts, the Concerto in both versions being a favourite as long as they were set high on their optional adjustable-height stands (ear on listening axis with the bass unit, NOT the tweeter). B&W 805's were good too if used the same way, as were the flashier looking Jamo Concert 8's which were popular at one time. All of these should be well under a grand and won't sound too lean in the bass - the Naim will punch out the bass it can reproduce anyway.

Hope this helps a bit...

[alan47]

If you want value for money,and can use a bottle of wood glue,you won't go far wrong with some IPL Acoustic speakers.I was using a Naim amp when i made mine and they made it sing.Eight years later they still sound good,and i have no plans to ever change them.Cheers.

[zen]

Thanks for the further advice, folks. I am not sure about building my own speakers, but I reckon I will keep just looking around for potential upgrades I go. I guess it's part of the fun.

[steve s]

As it happens I have heard this exact combination: Naim Amp and Neat speakers, (Rega RP3 TT, Lyre Delos Cartridge, Whest phono). The sound was clear and accurate, Neat even

@David: let us know how you get on - maybe a few pics when you're done.

Southall-1998 has got a pair of Neat Petite's for sale for £200 which is a steal, I've been itching to buy them for ages but just don't need them !! At that price they're definitely worth a punt especially after the previous comments on this thread. Here's the link

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...eat-Petite-MK1

High end speakers at a budget price...... can't go wrong !!

Steve

[petrat]

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...eat-Petite-MK1

High end speakers at a budget price...... can't go wrong !!

Steve

Yes ... perfect ... problem solved!

[zen]

By way of a small update, half of my conundrum has been sorted for the time being. Got a tidy pair of Ruarks. After a couple of hours of play, and fiddling with positioning, I am reasonably happy with them. Once I get the cart sorted I will consider what is first to be addressed. Thanks again for your comments/suggestions.