Well, its good to know that there are some professionals out there to help poor souls through the bramble of our, er, misguided recommendations. Of course, if one is a "professional" it would be encouraging if one learned how to spell the word professional...All in good fun, of course.
OK, you have lower end Nordost running Naim. Uninvolving? Yes, I can see that. Nordost, even the top of the line, is harmonically incomplete, and particularly from the upper mids and higher, and more so as you move down the cable line (where, at the bottom, you start having sibilance problems). Mixed with that is Naim that excells, as a general rule, at dynamics and pace, but whose spatial rendition is two dimensional, and particularly in the rear depth field, causing the units to sound upfront in toto. Josephs are detail-orientated and will translate deficiencies in this area, loading the insufficient harmonics of the Nordost, translated and amplified by the Naim's upfront dynamics, right into your lap. This type of sound makes it difficult to stop "thinking" about the music in an analytic fashion because it stimulates the part of your listening mind that seeks to objectify sound.
If you want to stay SS, then the Sim suggestion is good, You may also wish to consider the Plinius 1850 (@$1700 used, but get one with phono because used it won't be that much more).Take the remaining $ and buy a better IC between CD and Integrated amp, say, an older Purist Collossus Rev B ($350 used/1M). Get some Coincident Tech spkr cables used down the road, a power cord (Custom PC Co Model 11 - $150 used)and forget about the "professionals".
Jeez, how was that? Did I do OK?
OK, you have lower end Nordost running Naim. Uninvolving? Yes, I can see that. Nordost, even the top of the line, is harmonically incomplete, and particularly from the upper mids and higher, and more so as you move down the cable line (where, at the bottom, you start having sibilance problems). Mixed with that is Naim that excells, as a general rule, at dynamics and pace, but whose spatial rendition is two dimensional, and particularly in the rear depth field, causing the units to sound upfront in toto. Josephs are detail-orientated and will translate deficiencies in this area, loading the insufficient harmonics of the Nordost, translated and amplified by the Naim's upfront dynamics, right into your lap. This type of sound makes it difficult to stop "thinking" about the music in an analytic fashion because it stimulates the part of your listening mind that seeks to objectify sound.
If you want to stay SS, then the Sim suggestion is good, You may also wish to consider the Plinius 1850 (@$1700 used, but get one with phono because used it won't be that much more).Take the remaining $ and buy a better IC between CD and Integrated amp, say, an older Purist Collossus Rev B ($350 used/1M). Get some Coincident Tech spkr cables used down the road, a power cord (Custom PC Co Model 11 - $150 used)and forget about the "professionals".
Jeez, how was that? Did I do OK?