Which speakers for Naim amplifiers?
Posted by: William101 on 24 September 2015
I would like to change speakers and improve my system :
Naim Supernait 2 with Hicap
Naim NDS/XPSDR (soon…I have for now Naim CD5 XS and Naim Dac/XPSDR)
Naim Powerlines
Loudspeakers Sonus Faber Liuto tower with Naca5 cables
I would change my Sonus Faber Liuto and would have selected these choices:
Proac Response D48 Ribbon
Spendor A9
B&W 804 D3
B&W 803 D3 (but the SUPERNAIT is able to drive them?)
B&W 804 Diamond (previous series)
Wilson Benesch A.C.T. One Evolution
What is better?
What is best for my SUPERNAIT?
Tips also of other speakers?
Hi. OK. I'll be up front. I'm a Naim retailer, but I thought I'd chime in here nevertheless.
After quite a bit of experimentation we've found the ATC SCM-series to be a brilliant choice with a Supernait/Hi-Cap combo. The combination is so good I would happily use them in a studio during final mixdown! Lots of detail and control. Vocals especially are very realistic.
We find many folks also like the PMC twenty-series. A slightly more "receded" sound compared to ATC, but slightly easier to drive and very smooth. A really enjoyable musical combination.
Needless to say the current Focal stuff also works superbly, especially the Aria's. Focal voiced them deliberately to suit the Naim amps (a strategic move, being the parent company). The Supernait/Hi-Cap even does a great job driving the Scala V2 Utopia's!
Hi. OK. I'll be up front. I'm a Naim retailer, but I thought I'd chime in here nevertheless.
After quite a bit of experimentation we've found the ATC SCM-series to be a brilliant choice with a Supernait/Hi-Cap combo. The combination is so good I would happily use them in a studio during final mixdown! Lots of detail and control. Vocals especially are very realistic.
We find many folks also like the PMC twenty-series. A slightly more "receded" sound compared to ATC, but slightly easier to drive and very smooth. A really enjoyable musical combination.
Needless to say the current Focal stuff also works superbly, especially the Aria's. Focal voiced them deliberately to suit the Naim amps (a strategic move, being the parent company). The Supernait/Hi-Cap even does a great job driving the Scala V2 Utopia's!
+1 on Focal arias. I tried probably five or six different sets of speakers including PMC 20:23 and ended up with Arias whcih are just brilliant with my SN2
Glad to hear (see) it! Sounds best with the Naim NACA speaker cable.
I am very happy with Spendor:
HDX with DC1 into nDAC with HiLine into SN2 (+HiCap) and with NAC A5 into Spendor SP2 3R2
Cheers,
Chris
ClaudeP asks a critical question. I listen to mostly jazz and love the Spendor and Harbeth sound signature, very accurate timbre, fast and luscious midrange for vocals. Recently I auditioned ProAc Response D Two and was very impressed. All the qualities of my Spendors but a little faster with a deeper more powerful bass.
If if you don't like your Sonus Fabers, I would stay away from B&W. To me they both share an exaggerated high end and upper midrange.
Don't know which sonus fabers you've heard, but they don't have much in common with the B&W sound signature i have in mind.
All SF speakers I have heard (quite a few new and old) were all about seamless driver integration, specificaly in de midband which results in a perfect rendition of the midrage, especially the human voice.
If anything the serblin designed models could be described somewhat romantic with a pleasant but not over the top warm and intimate sound.
May i suggest you listen to a pair of Floorstanding Cremona's or Cremona M's (which are a litte more forward and responsive than the originals)
Another great speaker (though i haven't heard them yet) aught to be the Spendor D7 which will be on my shortlist when i ever get to it.
Do you think Spendor D7 is better than Spendor A9?
I don't know because i have yet to hear any of them. I only said that if i'd swap speakers to something in that pricebracket, the D7 is the one i'd add to the shortlist together with the Cremona M and some proac speaker, not the A9.
The Kudos X2s work well with the SN2.
As do the Rega speakers.
Very beautiful Kudos X2 but I would take a speaker system that has a sensitivity of at least 90.
My current Sonus Faber Liuto have sensitivity of 89.
This is where you lose the crowd mate.
Combined with impedance plots it could say something about how easy it is to get to a certain volume level but that's it realy.
If you use sensitivity of the speaker as a measurement of soundquality you won't get very far. 90dB's is, depending on measurement method, allready above average.
Not to mention that manufactures exaggerate the sensitivity of their speakers, you have to take them with a grain of salt, as more times than not they rarely meet this spec.
Just to make myself clear, I don't think a Supernait / Harbeth 40.2 matchup would be a very good one. My recommendation was for Harbeth speakers, not necessarily the 40.2s.
My 300 seems to have its hands full trying to tame those big woofers at high listening volumes. IMO Harbeth Compact 7s or SHL 5s would be better suited to your Supernait.
In case you haven't seen it yet there's a video clip on the Harbeth forum demonstrating the power 40.1s can draw under some circumstances.
Just Google ''Harbeth How much amplifier power do I REALLY need?'' Post #9
In case you haven't seen it yet there's a video clip on the Harbeth forum demonstrating the power 40.1s can draw under some circumstances.
Just Google ''Harbeth How much amplifier power do I REALLY need?'' Post #9
Iconoclast,
Many thanks for the hint, I'll Watch the video when I get home tonight.
I could go on about talk 40.1s for a while but I don't want to highjack this thread, I'll start a new one shortly.