Is the Naim AV2 the ultimate in its price range?

hey peach...i actually auditioned the arcam stuff ...becouse my naim dealer is also a arcam dealer.....i also had the chance to bring both home and mess around with it for 3 days....since you have a 52 pre and so do i......the av-2 was so much clearer in the speach area..and more natural sounding on speach and bass extension...the room sounded like...everything was in its own space ...not bunched up sound effects....the arcam wasn't bad better then some other stuff i heard..but ...the av-2 just disappeared...and let the sound and the movie play..... my future pain in the ass (wife)....& me just kept watching one disc after another without the fatigue of other components i tried in my system.....wow!!! thats something...becouse i never got into the this home theater thing...but thought since i have 6 channels of power and the speakers ....why not add the much better home theater experience...so ....anyway....peach to answer your question...the av-2 is a remarkable pre-amp i actually tried it as a pre amp only...it sounded really good....but the best thing about it is it makes you want to watch movies and actually enjoy it ...i heard things and dialogue that i never knew were on the dvd's....its like a turntable .....information doesn't get lost...instead it gives you a sense of being involved in the movie...wow...and it gets better..with break in now i actually buy dvd's...and rent more movies...and the synergy in my all naim system is powerful!!! oh ...i have a meridian dvd-cd player for movies only...for music i have a cdx with a super cap....and 2 sets of 135 mono-blocs....audition the unit you will see what i mean..its a great piece of gear.....enjoy the audition peach.

bora, bought the arcam diva series last year before the av2 was available.goes well with my naim system but i am very interested in the av2. have you heard the arcam and could you make a comparison? would you share with me the type of dvd player you own ? do you think it would be redundant or a good value in a system with a 52 preamp?thanks, i'm looking forward to your comments and the chance to audition the av2 for myself. peach

Thanks Bora for your helpful comments.

Although ideally I would like a Naim pre-amp with a Naim power amp, my needs are for a good processor that does stereo reasonably well. Has anyone paired their naim pre-amps with non-naim power amps? Do you still get the PRAT and energy in a mixed combination.

as a naim guru..and proud owner of the av-2...i tried it with non naim amps....and i will just say to you..and take it for what its worth...the av-2 belongs in a naim system...the synargy is just perfect...is it the best? i have heard alote of stuff..and the closest one that i thought sounded as good or better yet equal to was the meridian...which is also much more expensive...and not a great 2 channel pre-amp....so i think that if you get the av-2 and get double use out of it then its worth every penny and then some..i'm just using it to run the home theater stuff....and the sound...well ....go hear it for your self......and remember naim makes it possible to upgrade later...not like every body else's stuff...safe buy!!!