Advice sought RE: Amplification & surround speakers for multi channel.

A NAPV175 3 channel amp for the rears and centre would seem ideal. A couple of nSats, an nCent and an nSub and you'd be sorted.


Nigel

Stuart,

if you're running NBLs on the front with the main system then I would recommend you look at either an Axess or Axent centre channel speaker. They use similar drivers to those in the NBLs. A NAPV175 can drive the Axess OK, but if you have an Axent then it probably deserves a NAPV145 mono instead. Not sure whether there are any Axess or Axents still available new, though. 2nd hand may be the only option.

That is, if you decide you want to run with a centre speaker...

N-Sats are great for the rears/surrounds.

The centre channel's of crucial importance and a '145 into an Axess will fit the bill very nicely, but the latter aren't available any more and they'll be as rare as rocking horse...droppings on the S/H market. Similarly the Axent isn't around new any more, and be aware it's a seriously large and physically deep speaker (the Axess is pretty large too) & you'll have to think carefully about positioning.

I've not heard an n-Cent but I get the feeling it isn't in quite the same league as those mentioned above. Be worth auditioning of course.

Richard's right, the n-Sats are superb surround speakers (Naim really need to call them something else IMO, they're almost too good to be "just" surround speakers!) and I'm sure will sound great being driven by a 250 - I use a pair of 150s for my surrounds in a 7.1 system & they sound pretty good as well - don't think you'll go wrong with Naim amplification here.

Top the lot off with an n-Sub or two (depending on your room size) & you'll have a superb surround sound system, no question.

Thank you all for your advice. I am now seriously considering the Axess with n-Sats with a NAPV 145/NAP 135 and a NAP 250/180/200 depending on being able to find them. The Axent would be too big for the space available.

I intend to have 3 racks (probably Isoblue) between the NBL's with a 50" Pioneer plasma wall mounted above the centre rack. Would it be possible to place the Axess on the top shelf of the centre rack with only power supplies and power amplifiers on the 5/6/7 shelves below?
Or will any likely vibration prohibit that idea? In which case would it be possible to wall mount the Axess above the central rack?

Stuart

My Axent lies on the top shelf of my wide av-rack. The TV is wall mounted. To decouple the rest of the rack from the vibrations I used 4 sets of the flat RDC 5 cones and RDC combi-base with sorbothan ring inside. Works nice, doesn't build high or look too flashy.

http://clearlight-audio.de/

(infos of the combi-base only if you choose Deutsch and then RDC-Kegel...)

http://clearlight-audio.de/con.../pics/rdc5-combi.jpg

Stuart,

I regularly use the Nait 5i and XS with the n-SATs. They appreciate the XS but still work well with the smaller unit, so your plan to drive them with anything from a 180 upwards gets a firm thumbs-up.

You should be able to find an Axess on the 2nd hand market. Be prepared to pay for it though - and to house it - it's deep, if not that wide. Driving it with either a NAPV145 or NAP135 is obviously excellent. Note, if you plan to go to active NAP250s - i.e. olive 250s - then I would go for the NAP135 to match the earlier sound presentation. If you're talking NAP250.2's, then I'd go for the NAPV145 to maintain presentation style. Same goes for the amp for the n-SATs - if you're looking at olive amps at the front, use an olive amp for them too.

One last caveat - if at ALL possible, get the newer SNAXO 362. It is MUCH better than the older 3-6. I never could get on with the 3-6, whereas the 362 seems to engage exactly as I'd always imagined an active system should engage.