Speaker Ideas for Unitiqute 2

If you can find a set Guru Juniors and the Qute 2 are a match made in heaven

PMC twenty.21

I have used a UQ2 with Naim SL2 speakers with stupidly good results. Quite honestly, these days, £1500 on new speakers just about gets you going.

We bought Blumenstein Audio Thrashers for about $500 plus shipping and they sound amazing with the UQ2 using Crimson Electronics speaker cables and a Naim Power Line.    The Thrashers are US made to order sold customer direct, but they are just the ticket for a small room and the price and curent construction are first rate.  They can also be had with a matching subwoofer, although we passed on it.

+1 for Guru Juniors. No need to spend more, fit perfectly with all your requirements and to my ears had better synergy with UQ2 than the larger QM10's.

Although the larger speakers just edged it when we added NAP 100, I still didn't feel they were worth double the cost, when the Juniors sound gave 90% of what the QM10.2's did. Not sure if there's still a shortage of Gurus in Europe/US, the dealer here in Singapore didn't seem to suffer from the supply issues.

As a matter of interest why do you want to change the Iotas?  I have a pair (mounted to the wall in a small room on the end of a 72/HiCap/140) and I think they are pretty good, though admittidly bass light.  I have heard them with a £300ish REL small sub and that really 'fiiled' in the sound.  In fact I think I am one of the few people my dealer has sold Iotas to without the sub - it did make a hell of a difference - its just it didn't suit my circumstances.

I echo Mattnbarns, I had my Iotas with out a sub, then got a Monitor Audio Vector sub for a very good price. I only did it out of interest but I'm very happy with the results.

+2 for the Guru Juniors. They are outstanding for the money. I have a pair with the UQ2 and is a wonderful pairing. They are however not easy to find anywhere - although there are some knocking around in Denmark (be aware they are priced per speaker - oddly) http://www.topsoundhifi.dk . Otherwise i recently demoed the new Rega RX1s and they were really very nice - not as much base as the Gurus but i guess you might get close with the RX3s. You might want to consider adding a NAP to your system. For £1500 id hunt down some Gurus and add a NAP100 - you won't be disappointed. 

This is something I hadn't really thought of doing, and could be the cheapest option.  I do love the mids / highs of the iota and the soundstage it's just the bass that is missing so maybe a REL would be worth a try.  The T Zero or T5i look to fit the bill.  The only trouble is that I have this deep nagging thought that simply going for a better set of speakers would be the purists way to go.  I can't help but think adding a sub is not true hifi and that I could get better all round integration (from high to low frequencies) from a set of small floorstanders. Hmmmm

I recently heard the new Rega RX3 with Naim Amp and Naim CD, sounded really very good indeed. 

+1 on the Regas -- the UQ2 and RS1s were a really good combo. Saw a pair of RX3s at my dealer this weekend and they looked really well turned out.

Just an update...

After home demoing many speakers with the unitiqute, I have gone for a set of PMC twenty.21!  For me, PMCs beat most speaker manufacturers hands down and the twenty series just have so little to complain about, that they sealed the deal.

As a comparison, I tried the following:

Neat Iota - Lovely sweet treble and mid-range, get your foot tapping but lacking in authority / bass in a mid-large room.

Neat SX2 - Great speakers for their size, do everything well but nothing fantastically well.  However, they sound damn awful in my room with overblown bass. 

Neat SX1 - Like the SX2 but with greater depth and the ability to handle more complex pieces.  Again though, they really didn't suit my room. 

Kudos X1 - Great all-rounders and on a par with the Neat SX1.  These go deeper and have perhaps a better high end,  but with a slightly recessed mid-range that isn't to my liking.  Unfortunately, the bass again was slightly too much for my room.

Rega RX3 - I was disappointed with these and found them frankly rather dull! Perhaps comparing them to speakers twice the price didn't give them much of chance though.  

Monitor Audio GX50 - I really wanted to like these and I did.  They sound dynamic, the ribbon tweeter is great, but like the Kudos X1, the mid-range is a little recessed for my liking.   I couldn't quite bring them out far enough into the room though to control the bass, and don't particularly like the sound of a ported bassline.  If I had more room and 1k max to spend though, these would be the speakers for me.

PMC twenty.23 - Absolute stunners.  I couldn't fault them, other than the fact that they need more power than the qute to control them and really get them going.  If I had more money / space, I'd have these without a doubt though! 

PMC twenty.22 - Good sounding speakers but a little too big for me.  Good all rounders but they lose the speed and bass depth of the 23.

PMC twenty.21 - In a side by side comparison with the 23s, the 23s win 60-70% of the time, but at £800 less these are great! Not picky with room placement, produce a stunning mid-range, great detail / soundstage and take everything in their stride.  I love the ATL bassline which gives deeper bass than you might expect.  The compromise is the amount of bass, which is slightly lacking sometimes, but life is full of compromises and this for me is a small one. 

Richy

Well done. A nice story that shows why trying at home is the only way to choose. The 21 is a very good speaker and it's pretty too. Are you using the dedicated PMC stands? They are a bit pricey but get the best from the speakers. PMC had an offer (at audio T at least) last year where the stands came free with the 21 and 22. 

I use Focal Aria 906's with my Unitilite and am very pleased with them.

Nick

hafler3o posted:

PMC twenty.21

... is the right answer! Well done Richy. Now you will be needing the 22s for that SuperUniti or 272/250 soon ...

Hungryhalibut posted:

Well done. A nice story that shows why trying at home is the only way to choose. The 21 is a very good speaker and it's pretty too. Are you using the dedicated PMC stands? They are a bit pricey but get the best from the speakers. PMC had an offer (at audio T at least) last year where the stands came free with the 21 and 22. 

I certainly did and I agree! They are solid stands (weighty with isolation too) and look good too!  I assume you have the 22s then!!?  Out of interest, how much did you fill the stands (if at all)?  I tried the PMC recommended 0.5l of sand but found that it sucked the life out of the 21s a bit too much - yes they sounded more precise, but in my room they became so inert that I found them less musical and engrossing

Ah, no. I bought the twenty.23, which I've now sold and replaced with Naim's SL2, to go with my recently improved electronics. The 22 looks weird to me - too deep - whereas the 21s are just right. 

Richy posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Well done. A nice story that shows why trying at home is the only way to choose. The 21 is a very good speaker and it's pretty too. Are you using the dedicated PMC stands? They are a bit pricey but get the best from the speakers. PMC had an offer (at audio T at least) last year where the stands came free with the 21 and 22. 

I certainly did and I agree! They are solid stands (weighty with isolation too) and look good too! X I assume you have the 22s then!!?  Out of interest, how much did you fill the stands (if at all)?  I tried the PMC recommended 0.5l of sand but found that it sucked the life out of the 21s a bit too much - yes they sounded more precise, but in my room they became so inert that I found them less musical and engrossing

I'm the guilty one, 22s need meatier amplification than the qute, a SU (and upwards) is about right. The loss of speed and depth in the bass is because the qute cannot drive the heftier crossover and bass motor as well as the xover/motor in the 21/23. Side by side on the SU the difference in performance is quite something. Check my profile for 21/22s side by side... As HH says the 22s are deep and a bit ponderous but you won't need to get too close because they are effortless at reasonable volume (ok loud!) I use mine in a room 8.5m deep so they look smaller when seated.

Just set up my UniteQute 2 with my old N-Sats on wall brackets (not floor space for the floor stands) and N-Sub. Sounds great as second system in my office.

I have 2 Qute left, I replaced the 3rd one with a Uniti

 - Sonus Faber Cremona AuditorM with one Qute

 - Sonus Faber Minima Vintage with the other one

Different, but both systems sound fantastic

Regards,

Edouard

I have just bought ATC SCM11's to go with my unitiqute. They are very very good