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Stereopal Home Visit:          Mr. T. Nguyen                                                                                         Date:  Feb 11, 2006

 

        

              

 

Mr. Nguyen is one of the most friendly individuals I have met.   Speaking with a slight accent, he was enthusiastic and welcoming.

 

Mr. Nguyen is a Nuclear Engineer.   I have thoroughly inspected his backyard and basement, and have not found any dedicated audio nuclear reactors,  relieving us the duty to contact Dr. Al-Baradei of the IAEA.

 

The system you see here is one of two systems in his home.  He is working on a second home theatre system.

 

Mr. Nguyen is a lover of jazz and classical music. 

 

When he left his house, he generously offered us to "come back at any time, and bring your friends with you".

 

 

 

System Components:

 

CD Source: Naim CDX-2 with Separate Power Supply
Preamp: Naim NAC252 Preamp with Separate Power Supply
Power Amp: Naim NAP 300 with Separate Power Supply
Speakers: Wilson Benesch Discovery
Cables: Naim proprietary cables
Speaker Cables: Naim proprietary cables
Speaker Connectors: The Chord Company
   
   

 

 

 

 

Mr. Nguyen's Comments:

 

General Comments:

 

"I have been an Audiophile for 7 years.     I have just finished a project in Europe, this allowed me to moved back to Toronto.    I never expected this many audiophiles in town, until I saw what was on your website.   WOW !

 

It was not difficult for me to decide on the Naim system.   It visited a few shops in town, and some were good and some bad. it didn't take long for me to fall in love with the NAIM sound so I decided to buy my gears from Steve, (Hi Fi Fo Fum).   He was a great help during the selection process, and the service was top notch.   He is a great guy and he is now more of a friend than just another store owner.    

 

Choosing speakers were a different story, it was very difficult to decide on the right speakers.   I considered the B&W Nautilus 805, Focal JMlab Berylliums, Wilson Sophias and Wilson Watt Puppies.     The B&Ws were no match for the others and were quickly eliminated.    The Wilson's were great, but they weren't very coherent, and the Focal were slightly too laid back for my taste.   But the Wilson Benesch, it had the synergy and the speed which I was looking for.   I also thought the isobaric woofer was impressive as well, hence you see them in my audio room now.

 

The Naim amplifiers are not very powerful by Hi End standards, with only 150Ws (into 4 ohms), although they are high current power with a simple signal path and a separate power supply unit.   The Wilson Benesch are not too power hungry so it worked out quite well with my Naim amplifiers."

 

 

Future Plans ?

 

"I have not experimented with tweaks or cables.   But after listening to A.D Lui's system, I was thoroughly impressed.   I have never heard that particular speaker sound so well before.    Perhaps I can experiment with some of the tweaks which he had applied.

 

You  are welcomed to bring more Sterepals into my home, I'm sure we'll have a great time."

 

 

 

                                

  Naim Preamp

                                   

 

             

  The swing out disc tray is NAIM's hallmark.  The entire outer shell is extruded from 1 piece of solid aluminum.   NAIM certainly spared no expenses.   The unit is build like a tank.

 

            

 

The British have a thing with power supplies.   Every individual piece of gear comes with its own hefty power supply units.   You better be prepared to have plenty of rack spaces.

 

 

 

 

  

Here's an inside "naked" look at the Naim Amplifier.

 

The black part in the middle is the heat sink for the output stage.  It is a tunnel equipped with a silent fan thermally activated when the amp gets hot.

 

A massive 750 VA toroidal transformer inside the power supply unit

 

 

 

                              

  Wilson Benesch, beautiful and in a style of its own.   Although the discovery may look like a bookshelf sitting on a stand, it is actually a full size speaker with the "stand" attached to the speaker itself.   Its a 1 piece design.

 

 

 

  

  Wilson Benesch's own "isobaric" woofer, you certainly don't see something like this everyday.

   

 

 

                 

                        A portion of Mr. Nguyen's collection.

                 

 

 

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