Any and all opinions wanted on this one
I've just spent the exhorbitant
sum of £99 on the Naim AV1 processor, a long-discontinued unit released during the hey day of Dolby Pro Logic (1996-98, rrp at the time £1700)
It was Naim's first foray into surround sound, and uniquely at the time was targeted at music lovers as well as home cinema (other surround sound at the time was strictly for the popcorn and Coke/Pepsi brigade)
It's concept was to leave the front two channels unaffected (no centre channel, no matrix processing of front soundfield at all), take the stereo signal from the aux out of the preamp to the AV1 which then applied a fixed delay of 10, 12 or 15ms, Hafler processing, switch R and L signals around, which then via a seperate power amp would be fed to a pair of rear full range speakers, effectively 4.0 stereo
The idea, again against the grain, was not for an all bells and whistles effects laden sound, but a subtle evocation of soundfield, eliciting a more gentle immersiveness, esp suited to music listening
Unfortunately, Naim misfired on this one, the home cinema crowd never bought it, they couldn't get many Naim customers to buy it, and other audiophiles shunned it completely
It led to the AV2 which was firmly aimed at home cinema, and was a relative success
My idea would be to use it as intended, to enhance ambience in the room, while leaving the front soundstage totally unmolested
My room is certainly big enough to entertain full range spkrs behind me, I have 15' to play with
So, thoughts on this concept, whether it's a goer and worth investigating further
I've just spent the exhorbitant
sum of £99 on the Naim AV1 processor, a long-discontinued unit released during the hey day of Dolby Pro Logic (1996-98, rrp at the time £1700)It was Naim's first foray into surround sound, and uniquely at the time was targeted at music lovers as well as home cinema (other surround sound at the time was strictly for the popcorn and Coke/Pepsi brigade)
It's concept was to leave the front two channels unaffected (no centre channel, no matrix processing of front soundfield at all), take the stereo signal from the aux out of the preamp to the AV1 which then applied a fixed delay of 10, 12 or 15ms, Hafler processing, switch R and L signals around, which then via a seperate power amp would be fed to a pair of rear full range speakers, effectively 4.0 stereo
The idea, again against the grain, was not for an all bells and whistles effects laden sound, but a subtle evocation of soundfield, eliciting a more gentle immersiveness, esp suited to music listening
Unfortunately, Naim misfired on this one, the home cinema crowd never bought it, they couldn't get many Naim customers to buy it, and other audiophiles shunned it completely
It led to the AV2 which was firmly aimed at home cinema, and was a relative success
My idea would be to use it as intended, to enhance ambience in the room, while leaving the front soundstage totally unmolested
My room is certainly big enough to entertain full range spkrs behind me, I have 15' to play with
So, thoughts on this concept, whether it's a goer and worth investigating further
