hi, I really do enjoy looking at the forum, and know there are many members with loads more knowledge and experience than me ... so would appreciate some advice.
I have a naim uniti 2 coupled with a unitiserve, feeding speakers up on the wall in my kitchen downstairs. Also now a muso sitting underneath my TV, which works well as a "soundbar" (although the volume needs to be cranked up as discussed elsewhere).
a while back i posted about a possible upgrade to my speakers in the kitchen (on brackets up on the wall - to keep my wife happy). i did have a pair of neat iotas, and in the end replaced them with some spendor D1's (after some auditioning I found them to be the right compromise between size / looks, and giving a bigger more satisfying sound).
downstairs each room is served by a wired network, and i am now thinking of maybe moving the uniti 2 into a smaller sitting room, and coupling them with the iotas, connected again to my wired network.
which leaves me with an option to get something new to feed the spendor D1's in my kitchen. my thoughts are another uniti 2 maybe, but i don't really use the CD tray at all now. so perhaps it is time for a superuniti?
will I get a noticeable improvement in SQ by moving up to a superuniti? or is there something else i should try? is it worth looking at separates?
bear in mind that the spendor speakers are new and not due a change, they work very nicely up on the wall with spendor supplied brackets. they also keep my wife onside, as they are not that much bigger or more conspicuous than the iotas they replaced.
I would really appreciate any thoughts / comments / recommendations you may have. thanks and all the best.
Posted on: 12 January 2016 by badger1963
thanks FZ. no real limit to budget, but let me suggest a figure of a maximum of £5000 to give a general idea. but it may be the case that with the speakers I have in place, that it may not be worth going much beyond this anyway? I guess speakers of this type have their limitations.... although so far I have to say I am very happy with them.
Posted on: 12 January 2016 by ChrisSU
A Superuniti would be nice, but for that sort of cash, you could get a 272/200 which would be a huge step up from any of the Uniti series.
Posted on: 12 January 2016 by feeling_zen
So if I understand this correctly, you currently have a UQ as the kitchen system and a Muso in the lounge. I do have another question though. Where do you do you main listening and will it accept floorstanders?
I guess the answer about the location and whether this will be an upgrade to one of the existing systems or a new system in another room is also fairly important. You can do an awful lot with 5K but it is easier to narrow down when the goal is understood.
Posted on: 12 January 2016 by badger1963
Hi FZ. Sorry if it was not clear in my original post. Forget I ever mentioned the muso. At the moment assume all main listening is in the kitchen. The Spendor d1's will remain on the kitchen wall. Given the space we can have no floor standers. With the approx budget, what could I replace the uniti 2 with?
Posted on: 12 January 2016 by Adam Zielinski
I currently use a SuperUniti in a similar set up to the one described - in the kitchen / dining area, feeding ceiling mounted MonitorAudio Gold speakes. It's a bit of an overkill for the speakers, but I like what it does 
SuperUniti will give you an improvement on your amp. However.....
You can also leave the Uniti 2 in the kitchen - it is a very capable system and simply get a UnitiQute 2 for your other listening area. It too is a very good system, able to drive speakers at good listening volumes.
Separtes like 272/200 or SuperNait and NDX will start to make sense if you ever plan on connecting them to regular floorstanders.
Posted on: 12 January 2016 by hungryhalibut
Like Chris above, I'd suggest a 272/200. It's miles better than a SuperUniti, let alone a Uniti. It just seems a shame to only be able to listen in the kitchen though, but presumably you have proper seating in there for listening, rather than just listening while you are chopping the veg?
Posted on: 13 January 2016 by badger1963
shhhh! dont tell my wife HH but I have plans for the small sitting room as well. but at the moment yes the kitchen is the main listening area, and for the purposes of this post lets focus on that area only. would the 272/200 combination be overkill for the speakers I have? they have to stay mounted on brackets on the wall, otherwise I will be in the spare bedroom.
Posted on: 13 January 2016 by Adam Zielinski
Of course they will. But not because of the power - 200 is rated at 70W into 8 Ohms. Same as your Uniti2.
It would be on overkill to use such a fine system in the kitchen. But if you plan to create a dedicated listening room, than this is a fine upgrade path to take.
Posted on: 13 January 2016 by feeling_zen
It really takes some doing to get a mismatch so bad where the amplification is overkill for the speakers. Generally high quality amplification can make lower cost speakers punch far above their weight. The reverse, however, with expensive speakers and low cost amplification is almost never true.
Gotta agree that the 272/200 is a great way to go since you've made it clear that streaming is your source and that combo gives some great options for future upgrade paths (XPS on the 272, changing the speakers in the future if you really feel like it).
On the other hand, if you wanted to completely swap out the kitchen system and use what you have for another room (the lounge with the Muso finding a home in a bedroom or something), you might consider using the uniti as the source and preamp for now and going down the 250DR route with a new pair of speakers. I think this will not sound as good a 272/200 up front (but could be wrong) but if you really want upgradeability and the choice to add other bits like a dedicated pre, streamer, power supplies etc, that would give a better long term investment. What is a bit unkown is your feelings on box count and whether the next upgrade is intended to be the final one.
- 272/200 for the best VFM immediate improvement.
- 250dr + speakers in the 1000-2000 pound bracket if you just want to add a single box and be done with it but leave the door open for taking the system much higher.
I think recent speakers are great VFM compared to 15 years ago. I think a 200 could make many speakers in the 500-1000 pound bracket sing without being mismatched but if you can spend a couple grand on speakers too, then go for it.
