I hate Speakers, there just to much dam choice

Plenty of Options!

- Sonus Faber Cremona Auditors
- B&W Signature 805's
- JM Lab Mini Utopia Be
- Totem Mani-2's (heavy amp needed though)
- Neat Ultimatum MFS (Don't know the price though, they do seem to be appreciated on the forum)

My personal favourite: The Signatures, but hey, I own them . I thought they were better than the Sonus Fabers, but they might not suit your taste. The Mani-2's en 805's were fairly on par. The midrange of the 805's is better, more upfront, but the snense of space and scale of the Mani-2's is clearly superiour. A matter of taste as well, but it does include a price difference.
I did want to hear the JM Labs and WB's, but that was after I bought the Signatures. I don't know how they compare to the other loudspeakers. They are fairly hard to find in the Netherlands as well, especially at a dealer that sells Naim as well.

Or the B&W Nautilus 805s...OK, not quite as fancy cabinetry as sigs but a full grand less to spend on music

-- woody

yeah makes sense

I was hoping someone had tried the ARC's to let me know how they sound

Neill

Neill.
Howdy Neill.If you can , check out the remarkable W/Benesch Arcs. Loud and Clear in Glasgow may soon be doing WB's.They also do Naim.
Stunning. Very high power handling. Capable of spls @110 dB !! Amazing clarity . Good timing.Cant be many ( if any )better monitor speakers around. Moderately expensive though.

Regards , Mark

Neill.

Loud and Clear are also in Edinburgh.I have a pair of these baby's by the way.

Regards , Mark.

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Originally posted by woody:
Or the B&W Nautilus 805s...OK, not quite as fancy cabinetry as sigs but a full grand less to spend on music

-- woody

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Agreed, but once you hear them in comparisson, there's no going back. And you can clean the babies daily, they attract dust like no other loudspeaker I've seen . Great interaction .

Cheers!
Kevin

The Arcs's are £2,400 including stands. I hear a lot of good things about them and might be interested in a pair myself funds permitting.

JonR

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Loud and Clear are also in Edinburgh

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And best avoided. Box shifters. Better go to Robert Ritchie. In four years as a customer they (L&C) never once offered to install any new purchase. Admittedly this did not bother me at the time but I now realise that part of the purchase price and dealer margin should pay for adequate and satisfactory installation and it just wasn't there.

John

They seem to be a bit more expensive than Sigs, Arcs and Auditors then, and about the same pricerange as Mani-2's and Utopia's. I'd love to hear them though, but I don't think they're sold in the Neterlands .

Cheers!
Kevin

Boekster/Guys

They don't even do them in Scotland. Sorry to here your view on loud and clear. I have arranged through them to have a pair brought up to try. They are not a dealer of the WB yet. I don't know anyone in Scotland who seel the Neat speaker either, but £3500 is to much money the funds can't stretch that fair. Although i would love to try them due to all the rave reviews i here on them.
JonR how do you find bass depth from them??



Neill

oops,

sorry meant Beefster not Jonr,
Boekster they do sell Neat in Holland and ever other god dam country in Europe just not Scotland us poor Jocks are always last to get things. try www.neat.co.uk

Cheers

I've dealt with Loud and Clear in Glasgow for the last few years and I have no complaints at all. The Glasgow lot definitely don't come across as box shifters. Neil is the big Naim freak in the Glasgow branch.

By the Gods! I'll have to have a listen any time soon then! (well, in a couple of years maybe, my Sigs are definetly not going anywhere)

Thanks for the pointout! I'll have to tell my dealer perhaps. Maybe he can do something with them, although he's currently quite busy with different new brands.

Cheers!
Kevin

From my limited experience the Glasgow branch is indeed much better. The guys themselves are ok in the Edinburgh branch but the service such as it is just pales into insignificance relative to a truly great dealer such as Robert Ritchie. I know that Robert goes the extra mile to ensure that his customers are happy, but do you know he once phoned me for an hour before to talk me through a few options before I had ever spent a penny or even met the man? And having given him some custom (Armageddon and cartridge) he still calls to see how I'm getting on with it.

Compared to L&C(E) who never once in three or four years of custom ever phoned to find out how I was getting on, nor offered to set anything up.

Shame, but all Naim dealers are NOT the same...

John

Topcat

I use the Glasgow branch a lot and have no problem with them. I have had friends who have had problems with Edinburgh. I have also had problems with them. They do however seem to be the only decent dealer out there. Scotland does lack a truly great dealer though
Stereo Stereo are very good but don't carry a large product range.

Neill

Neill.
Bass is surprisingly powerful for the size.Has to be positioned correctly to avoid some thumpiness.I have a rel subwoofer tuned to infill the bass.Works a treat.They can be played loud without much stress.I had sonus faber signums before.Brilliant sound but the small driver couldnt cope when things got heavy.Another one to check out would be the Sf electa amator 2 ( now discontinued).Never heard a pair.I considered the cremona auditors but as driver size and power handling similar ( I think) to signums I never checked them out.
Please post how you get on with the demo.Interesting to see how you find the new naim amps with these.

Regards , Mark

Ps Guys , surely being a bit harsh on Edinburgh dealers here.Ive found them all helpful and pleasant on all occassions Ive dealt with them.I must admit Ive never bought anything that requires installation and set up.I get most of my stuff second hand , ex demo.Rarely get brand new.

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Scotland does lack a truly great dealer though Stereo Stereo are very good but don't carry a large product range.

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Stereo Stereo are quite decent, but we have a wonderful dealer by name of Robert Ritchie, based in Montrose. Service second to none. If only everyone in Scotland voted with their feet, the lacklustre dealers would quickly have to pull their socks up or go out of business...

John

Neill, I've demmed the WB Arcs and Ultimatum MFS at home and also lived with B&W 805s for a year.

I've not heard the sigs other than at shows but they'd better be a whole lot better than the 805s - these had a very nice midrange, a very average treble (I also blew 3 tweeters in a year) and a porty non-descript bass.

The WB Arcs were very good - very clean, lovely bass for their size but a bit cold and steely in my big room - eleswhere I'm sure they'd be fine.

The MFS was too small for my room (just like the others) and lacked midrange presence. I've heard them sound very good elsewhere and was so taken with the general Neat sound - fast, clean, dynamic at all frequencies and slightly forward - that I ended up with bigger Ultimatums. I need never buy speakers again, thankfully.

Alex