Searching for the best speakers in the world!!

Tex beat me by 30 seconds.

Please do check out the Neat range.

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Originally posted by NAIMGAIM:
I bet I sound like a broken record.....

Check out the NEAT Critique or Mystique!!! They will SMOKE the gear you're thinking about!

http://www.neat.co.uk

cheerio,

Brian

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Tried to follow this link but always end up at the Britnett site

Syd

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I wish some of these "Flat Earthers" would move to Austin!

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Hi NaimGaim,

Guess what.... I'd love to go to Austin! In fact it's something I wanna do for years.
First reason: I've got a email-(girl)friend living in Austin. We've been corresponding via mail for more then 5 years now, and we've never met!
Anothere reason: I'm a big fan of Americana music, and since Austin,TX is called "Capitol music city of the world..."
And.....I'm a big fan Stevie Ray Vaughan.

So, if you think there are no flat-earthers in Austin,TX.... visit Assen, Holland. There's not even 1 decent HiFi-shop in this town, and only 2 record store's.

Greetings,
Alco

would be of course, the ones I currently own and am fond of trumpeting about in these parts-- the Reference 3a MM De Capo i. They are not quite broken in yet, but are capable of a quad-like midrange and seamless coherence (one of my personal most important criteria).

They are super efficient, have drum-tight bass (though need to be at least 2 feet from a wall in back)-- and are just plain fast. they dont have that constipated small monitor feel-- they really let it flow.

PRaT is all about flow. No flow-- no PRaT, in my opinion. Also, they utilize an 8 inch woofer/mid. I think this is important for another thing I'm sensitive to-- scale. The performance neds to sound suitably sized. A little boombox with a lot of PRaT is fun, but there's no impact.

Your amp is more than enough for these speakers. Downsides? They certainly dont look as good as the Neats and they arent as flat-earth. Probably not as well made either. Buuut, they definitely offer a fair helping of flat-earth virtues at a great price (say 2250.00 US). Luck to ye.


David

"I'd love to go to Austin! In fact it's something I wanna do for years.
First reason: I've got a email-(girl)friend living in Austin. We've been corresponding via mail for more then 5 years now, and we've never met!"

No offense, Alco, but isn't this taking Flat Earth a little too far, a girlfriend you've never met (etc)?

Is boarding a plane too hifi?

You don't know what you're missing! In my experience at least Texas women are an extremely convenient mix of the Southern belle and the fast western gal.

But I'm sure everything is weirdly different in Austin.

Herman

Why not give the Totem line a listen. Arro, Sttaf, Forest; depending on budget.

Nic

Hi,

The Neat web site (http://www.neat.co.uk) is broken...

Victor

The Tropical Linnie
Victor V. Diaz-Diaz

QUAD esl with a Nap 180??????
It'll never work well!
I have listened to more and more speakers around 3000£. And the best I heard were the BW 803!!
I have a pair of 803 since 3 months and it sounds really good with my CDX/nac102/Supercap/Nap180..
You should try it!
At a lower price, I like the Dynaudio 1.3 SE;

Charles

Thanx for your helpful opinions so far!!

My next question is... where's the nearest Neat dealer to the Bristol area?

I,m still checking some of the other speakers mentioned through seaches on the web...Cheers for now!



Mad Boy Matt

I will say that I owned the famous Totem model one for some time and I thought they were terrific speakers. Later on, I heard they are bright/prominent/forward etc.. from many on audioasylum and even on this forum. I was ashamed that i liked them. But now, i think i can admit it-- I truly thought they were a special speaker. I never tried them with NAIM though, which I regret. Just dont toe them in at all. I think the Reference 3a is probably a more coherent speaker, but the totems did some special things. Especially, i hate to say it-- image-wise. Also, bass was exceptionally clean and tight. Voices were stunning. thats my input.


david

Matt - do a forum search on Shahinian. You will find a wealth of information, especially on the Arc. I bought this speaker because I was unhappy with SBLs and still consider it the biggest single upgrade I have ever made. A unique (IMHO) combination of flat earth PRaT and slam with round earth out-of-the-box presentation. Suits Naim gear to a tee - I normally use a 250 but have used a 180 a couple of times in my system and they had no problems. Jason Hector drove his pair with a Nait 5 when testing that gear for hi-fi plus and it allegedly coped; the 180 will be fine. There are plenty of guys on this forum who are evangelical about Shahinians (including some guys at Naim from a discussion with the guys at the show yesterday). Do the search, hear them.

Steve

After years of auditioning, I've just replaced my mega-bucks Wilson Audio Watt/Puppies for SBLs. I really didn't want to accept it, but the SBLs are better in a Naim system.

Without wanting to sound too anoraky, it would be good to hear of your Wilson vs SBL experience.

thanks, Dev

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Contrary to Steven Toy's claim about them being "slow", these are actually the fastest speakers I have ever heard. They are blindingly fast and articulate. If you do a demo it is essential that you hear a pair of properly run in FB1s

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The bass is fast enough, but the midband is slow, inarticulate, and leading edges are smeared. Don't buy them to go with a Naim system! In all, they time like a bloody calendar.

Now where's that guy from Down Under who eventually realised I was right all along?...

Regards,

Steve.

It's just a pleasure to hear music as it was intended to be heard.

1) JM Lab 816s or 916s.

2) B&W CDM9 NTs (shock, horror, they can boogie!)

3) Naim Allæs - the best speakers I have heard from Naim, imho. They really are the dog's bollocks, doing everything right.

Regards,

Steve.

It's just a pleasure to hear music as it was intended to be heard.

I bought the Wilsons for the wrong reasons, mainly because they cost so much I thought they must be good. On a saner level, I wanted small floor-standers which could do the bass in the chest thing. I then entered a sorry merry-go-round of trying to find the right way to drive them. I already had a CDS, because I felt it was the best CD player that I had heard (still do), and didn't want to change it. I was reluctant to go back to Naim amps at the time as I had been unhappy with my 72/Hicap/140 being noisey and a poor match for my previous speakers (ATC 20). In retrospect I think the Naims may have been faulty from new, but I didn't think of that possibility.
Tried the Wilsons with Mark Levinson amps for a number of years; plenty of everything in the sound, but I always wanted to turn it off after an hour. Too fatiguing. Changed amps to Sugden Masterclass as these are very warm sounding and have a good reputation for low fatigue. Much improved, but we found that almost any other speakers sounded better with the Sugdens than the Wilsons.
Final solution was like a breath of fresh air. Sold the Wilsons (not difficult due to Colloms/Kesslers' constant praise in HiFi News) which provided the funds for us to have two decent systems. Now have dedicated Naim system in small 'dead' sounding room, with SBLs absolutely wonderful. I had always found SBLs too bass light in our large room, but realise how perfect the can be in the right location. Sugdens remain in the large 'bright' glass&wood room where they work very well. Still looking for the ideal speakers for them because have yet to hear anything better (of the same size) than the borrowed Kef Reference 104/3 I'm using at the moment.
What I have learned is that, firstly; the room is the most important component in the system, and secondly; the guys who design this stuff tend to know what they are doing so same-make system are a good idea at the higher end of the price scale.

thanks for that. useful to hear your views.

Ex-dem or very recent SBLs.

Alleas.

Dynaudio Audience 52, Audience 72, Contour 1.8 (just) or even Contour 3.0 (but you'd have to try them at home to make sure they work as they can sound total shite with a 180 otherwise).

Epos m12s. Not particularly good hifi in terms of frequency extremes but such fun!

Totem Arro - amazing little floorstander for under a grand. Really big open scale with pace. Looks bad value (tiny speaker) until you hear it.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

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Originally posted by Rockingdoc:

What I have learned is that, firstly; the room is the most important component in the system, and secondly; the guys who design this stuff tend to know what they are doing so same-make system are a good idea at the higher end of the price scale.

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Totally agree with you on the first ... our current showroom sounds so different especially in the bass compared to my home.

As for the second, I agree 75% ... the other 25% is that I found other speakers to work quite well too with Naim source or amplification, for example ... each with their own strengths and weaknesses ...

The FB1s I heard had been run in solidly for a few days - weekends in the demo room ovenight, and every spare hour during the quiet early week.

Maybe after a few months, they may just start to almost exhibit the same midband articulacy of my Naos speakers, which did it from being brand new, and at only £1000 compared to the £1650 for the FB1s. The latter did door-hinge-rattling bass though which is what impressed me about them initially.

The tonal neutrality and woody timbres of the FB1s are equal to the Naos, and was the only speaker to impress me in this regard until I heard the Allæs, but they just don't do leading edges and detail the way I would like. The Allæs do the lot!


Regards,

Steve.

It's just a pleasure to hear music as it was intended to be heard.

[This message was edited by Steven Toy on TUESDAY 17 September 2002 at 00:18.]