Matching Naim amplification with american speakers

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Originally posted by ys:
I have noticed that the majority of this forum are using Naim equipment with Naim speakers or some english speakers. Ocassionally, I found some negative comments on matching Naim amp with american speakers, such as Wison Audio's Watt...etc, Just wonder, if american speakers are not a good choice for naim? recently someone is trying to convince me that Cello's old model "Legends" will be a good choice for Naim. any comments/experience?

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Not really. American and Canadian speakers are also good. However, they require high power amplification. Naim amplifiers starting from NAP250 and above (NAP250, 135s, 300, 500) are suitable to drive them. Wilson Audio, Avalon, Totem speakers are fine examples.

In an issue of "The Absolute Sound" last year, I believe that Robert Harley named his "System of the Year" to include a Nait 5 and a CD5 driving Wilson Sophias.

I have heard Naim sytstems (500 and Nait)driving Wilson Sophias and Watt 7.1s. Each time it was just wonderful.

Be careful! Naim systems have a distinct timing signature. I have heard them hooked up with several American speakers that sounded so bad I had to walk out of the listening room. The speakers were so mismatched to the Naim equipment that if I had to guess, I would never have identified the NAP 250 II and 282 as being manufactured by Naim.

Ira

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Originally posted by afshar:
Be careful! Naim systems have a distinct timing signature. I have heard them hooked up with several American speakers that sounded so bad I had to walk out of the listening room. The speakers were so mismatched to the Naim equipment that if I had to guess, I would never have identified the NAP 250 II and 282 as being manufactured by Naim.

Ira

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Which American speakers may I ask?

I can comment on Totem speakers, but they are Canadian, though they are advertised quite widely and have several outlets in the US.

Tuan sums it up well.I Am currently driving Totem Mani-2 speakers with a CDX2/282/SC/250mk2 setup and am very satisfied with the sound. I started using the Totem's with a 112/HiCap/150 and though it produced an OK sound I now know in retrospect that the 150 was under stress whilst the 250 is quite happy driving what is considered a "difficult" speaker (low sensitivity (84dB), low impedance (drops to about 3 ohms)).
The Totem's are certainly alive and show good pace in combination with Naim. They have excellent controlled base extension which the 250 brings out well, and a sweet and well integrated mid-range. They can sound a little "bright" on poorly recorded high frequencies but only on the occasional CD.

The sound I am describing would seem to be typical of Totem's range based on the different reviews I have seen.

regards
GEOFF

My first post... I'm a sorry little naimist, but for some time, since my nait2 12 years ago. Had a nait3 driving Rega ela mk2s for 8 years nicely, but 2 months ago made the mistake of listening to Totems. Bought the lovely Arros and the nait was obviously in trouble, like knee deep in dry sand... got the classic 72/140 pair and the improvement in low end control was astonishing. Now I'm looking for an olive hi-cap to gain some more. I hope I can settle with that, I'm sensing some "stove-distortion" in the kitchen...

Welcome JBoulder.
I have to tell you that the Hicap will really improve the sond especially in the Bass department, bringing better depth and control.
Just watch out it does'nt get you addicted to upgrades.

Geoff

Thanks for your input.
I am curious about the compatibility of Naim electronics. I use a pair of Dynaudio, some of my friends use Proac, B&W, but never heard a combo of Naim and american spk.
How about JBL? Revel? Cello?....
any experience?

I have used Naim amplification to drive several different brands of Canadian speakers in the past. The most sucessful was the the 250 driving some Dayton Wright LCM1 speakers. Have experienced no problems with Naim amps (Nait 1, NAP250 and 135's) driving Paradigm (most of the line) and the smaller Totem speakers (mini-mites and mites).

As far as American speakers, the Allison Model 1 and Model 2 speakers are easily driven by the NAP250 and NAP135's.

Hi there,

Anybody heard Naim gear with Martin Logan Clarity/Ascents??

Naim plus American speakers is an easy combination. Shahinians. Perfect synergy.
David

I used to have Wilson Watt Puppies in my system. They were never comfortable to listen to. I sold them and used the cash to go active SBL. I miss the bass but not the treble.

I'm happily using a 112 / 150 to drive a pair of JBL LSR-32 studio monitors. Speakers don't come more Yank than JBL!

seems US spks are a sensible choice for naim electronic......any more comments?

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Originally posted by JBoulder:
My first post... I'm a sorry little naimist, but for some time, since my nait2 12 years ago. Had a nait3 driving Rega ela mk2s for 8 years nicely, but 2 months ago made the mistake of listening to Totems.

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Ah - but does that mean that the Elas are now up for sale?? (or have they been sold??) I've got the Mk1's and NAIT3, and was just curious...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

For a while I used von Schweikert VR3:s with my Naim electronics. They certainly DID NOT work well together. But one could play them bloody loud.

JohanR

Sorry Dom, sold them to my sister/brother in law for small change. They really, REALLY needed speakers to replace the 20 year old boxes that made noice they had, and ones that work even close to walls... and just to clarify, by mk2 I mean the old inclined black front but with the deep grooves just at the top. Cherry side panels... They were nice but now I know what I was missing.

JohanB

Hi,

Anybody using naim with the old JBL studio monitors like 4312, 4333, 4320 etc. All respectable Japanese audiophile seems to have a pair of these at home regardless of whether they are currently using them...

david

Naim and Shahinian sounded excellent last night. Music was a mixture of Satie, Vaughn-Williams, Muse and Metallica.

Noel.

I've used naim amps to drive my apogee centaurus minor hybrids for more than 10 years. initially a 140, then a 250 now a pair of 135's. Obviously I like what these speakers do and the naim amps have always worked well, though within limitations. The 140 ran out of steam at high volumes. no problem with either the 250 or the 135's.

regarding the matching of naim amps with martin logan speakers, I don't have any data about the combination you are asking about. But the naim dealer in st. louis used to pair the small martin logans with naim amps and they sounded great. as a matter of fact I listened to a pair of ML's this last weekend, not via naim amps but via linn, since that was hooked up. I liked them and think they have a lot of potential.

Auditioning speakers is one area where it can prove very worthwhile to disregard conventional wisdom about what does/does not work with Naim equipment. I think that most of the "classic" combinations of naim with linn, epos and other british speakers can be traced to what brands were sold together in british stores in the 70's, 80's and 90's. IMHO it is silly to think that you have to be careful in matching naim amps with speakers. Naim amps are no more finicky than any other amplifiers, though low impedance designs like early martin logan cls's would probably prove too demanding. But that is true of most amplifiers when it comes to those speakers.

Good luck in auditioning naim amps with the martin logans. Should prove to be an interesting combination.

Markus
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Originally posted by David Ng:
All respectable Japanese audiophile seems to have a pair of these at home regardless of whether they are currently using them...

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cuz, they are nuts!
I've hard the legendary 4344 MK III I think it was. They did acutally all right until start playing something uptempo.

A delicious midrange and good dynamics. Alas, they fell down badly on bass agility. I doubt that Naim would have saved the day.

One specific speaker that comes to mind immediately as working very well with Naim is Vandersteen. One of the best budget systems was to match a CD3, Nait 3, and Vandersteen 1C. And the 2Ce sound absolutely fabulous at the tail end of a Naim system, even up to the CDS/52/250 level.

The store I used to work for also says Revels work pretty well. And I've heard anecdotally that Meadowlarks work well. Avalons, on the other hand, do not...

A Canadian speaker that worked very well is PSB. Stratus Golds worked very well either biamped with 250s or driven by 135s or a 500. And one of the best demonstrations ever was to play PSB 300s ($300/pair) at the tail end of a CDS/52/250 system on Target R4 stands and then DARE people to guess how much the speakers were (with the grills off). No one was ever close--the lowest estimate was $1K.

I think the bottom line is that Naim will work well with any high quality speaker, but that system matching is, as ever, critical.

Best,

Bob

I agree with markus,it is not that difficult to match naim amp with high quality spk, as long as you like the sound of the combination, a naim amp can drive almost any spk
In fact I am quite surprised by the ability of my 150. I have changed to a pair of Cello Legend with a 12"bass unit, to be frank, I don't expect the 150 can drive this monster, I was planning to change the amp in the future, but the 150 handles the Legend very well, so I can save the money on some fancy spk cable and softwares. And the most surprising fact is that the dyna S25 needs more juice then the legend!

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A delicious midrange and good dynamics. Alas, they fell down badly on bass agility

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It can't be that bad, can it? JBL monitors are used by most studios for monitoring purposes, many studio still uses them today. Unfortunately, I do not have a chance to audition them.

david

David,

The thing to remember about the majority of recording studios is that the recording engineers listen in the "near field", very close to speaker, the speakers usually placed in the wall or up high above the recording consoles and other electronics. They are by no means optimised for stereo sound and image (granted, there are studios that have been designed specifically for this). As such, the monitors used usually are very strong in the mid-range and rolled off in the highs and often with poor/no real bass response. This is the model that the JBL Studio monitors appear to have been designed for in the 70's and 80's.

Studio monitor speakers appear to have undergone a revolution as such due to the requirements of the BBC in the 70's & 80's in particular. This led to the development of such venerable speakers such as the Rogers LS3/5a, Spendor BC-1, etc. where the requirement was for much beter control in the extremes as well as for the "natural" sound in the mid-range. Some of these designs still had little or no bass, but the bass they had was well controlled.

I'm sure there are other more knowledgable people on the forum who could elaborate and wax quite poetically about the various speakers and methods used in the recording studios.

Cheers,