Kudos S20s

Nice summary Lindsay - I took the view that life was too short not to buy 

Well put Lindsay. The treble will calm down but I would rather have more treble which gives more detail and insight into the music. As you say, you are hearing neuances you haven't heard before but what are they like for portraying the emotion, the feeling and how is the texture and realism of the music?

Well right now I do feel rather close to Norah Jones

Well you are close to your speakers :-)

Not quite as close before - these go backs little further. 

Sounds like a winner lindsey! They are wonderful speakers indeed. The cresendo is great tweeter if they fit to the room, as you experience. You even get grunt. When I moved and got a larger living room they sound bright because bass could not fill the room and tweeter became too dominant. So in the right room and w your gear, very good speaker. Highly recommended.

polarbear - i will post my story on my new speakers over the weekend. Its ARTs with seas newish diamond tweeter which proved to be insanely natural, fluid and resolved. Newer heard speakers like this in my room...

Evening Lars, I look forward to reading your report on your new speakers. Which ART's did you go for?

ART's are very natural, very musical speakers, I have had ART's for over 10 years now and would find it impossible to replace them. However if I was in Lindsay's position I would be seriously considering them. I have spent many hours in Peters dem room listening to the Kudos, both Titans and the S20's and they are highly engaging speakers,

regards

PB

Fully agree on kudos, great speakers! I have had the s20s for 4-5 years (5th pair built so early adapter :-) titans I never heard but could anyway not get approved by the home minister

I will elaborate on the ARTs in a separate post, but its essentially a brand new production model using this amazing tweeter. Mine are the first supplied to a customer, I think. They are called ART Diamond Signature 8.3 - so based on alnico 8.3 w reference cabinet but the new diamond tweeter and xo implementation. I never heard the alnicos but derek calls the diamonds a gamechanger, and they surely sound wonderful

/Lars

Sounds very interesting Lars, I will admit I haven't spoken to Derek for a long time as I am more than happy with my Deco's.

Maybe it's time I spoke to him again.

Interesting update Lindsay. You mention that the S20s integrate well in your room and Lars mentions that if a room is too large the treble can become rather dominant. Do you mind me asking the dimensions of your listening room? It seems that room size might be a significant factor with the S20s.

Nigel, worked well for me in 20m2 room w 2,5m to ceiling, less so in +40m2 w 3,5m to ceiling...

nigelb posted:

Interesting update Lindsay. You mention that the S20s integrate well in your room and Lars mentions that if a room is too large the treble can become rather dominant. Do you mind me asking the dimensions of your listening room? It seems that room size might be a significant factor with the S20s.

Nigel our lounge is awkward about 18' by 10' with the main door and 2 French doors at one end and a bay window the other.  I guess about 9' tall.  The speakers have to point across the 9'.  

I think these integrate far better than the Dynaudios  I really enjoyed the listening session last night. 

One of the problems that Lindsay has is that the Dynaudio's are less efficient than the Kudos. To get the best out of the Dynaudio's he need to turn the volume up and then the bass takes over the room. I would imagine it becomes uncontrolled and flabby. The S20's are far more efficient and you can get the best out of them with less power and therefore the amp is having more control over them.

I have heard his speakers playing at lower levels and I have to admit they are very good. I have questioned why he needs to change them, however if he's playing music much louder when he's on his own and they are loosing control  I can fully understand.

Correction on the room front 18' 6" by 11" 6" so a little more room to play with than I thought. 

PB:  I wasn't aware that we had to have a reason

Lindsay - there are lots of speakers out there, but integration with the room is priceless 

I was a bit of a brand tart really when I changed as I wanted to consider wider options and with various dealers  

On balance and imho the S20s worked for me better than the other speakers I had considered and much better than my previous speakers (both different and better) and were/are exceptional value for money 

So I am now a Kudos (and of course Naim) brand advocate - or Fan Boy if you prefer 

Hi Lindsay,

I am using a pair of C20, though not a Super 20, what I did experience when it was new, the treble can be a bit "hot".  The SEAs Crescendo tweeter do need quite a bit of time to run-in.   

Incisive and engaging speakers.  Super 20 can only be better.  It allows you to hear your turntable's(Xerxes 20) strength.  

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks Foxy and others.   The evaluation continues   It's strange with some music I can hear a quite marked and drastic change for the better with other stuff less so    Love the resolution and timing but the treble is still up for debate  

Regards,

Lindsay

Dynaudio Contour 1.8's can be very hard to equal or better.

Badlands yes I agree.  But listening to Mozart 38 by the Berlin Phil conducted by Herbert VK and frankly it's mesmerising.

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Badlands yes I agree.  But listening to Mozart 38 by the Berlin Phil conducted by Herbert VK and frankly it's mesmerising.

Is that treble starting to settle down?

Wenger - I think it's really recording dependent and the S20s demonstrate the crap for what it really is!!!

That is no doubt a clear indication of just how good the S20's are......the reviews I've been reading suggeest once positioned correctly and run in, they are a top top speaker......the question is are they making you smile?

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Wenger - I think it's really recording dependent and the S20s demonstrate the crap for what it really is!!!

I came to exactly the same conclusion. They're not very forgiving of poor recordings but with a decent recording the experience is sublime. They're able to reveal so much that had remained hidden with my existing speakers. They also have - to my ears at least - a really attractive tonal balance. They're musical as opposed to hi-fi, if that makes sense.

JP, sorry >>They're musical as opposed to hi-fi, if that makes sense.<< doesn't make sense to me at all - although I note that expression is confusingly used on some other hifi web forums like some sort of double speak... . A hifi speaker will be effective at conveying recorded music if it accurately reproduces the musical audio signal in a high fidelity manner in a given system/room. A poor speaker, that is not hifi, is unlikely to convey music  at all well. I suspect when some use the term 'hifi' in a derogatory sense - they really mean lofi - or poorly matched systems/rooms.

Me thinks the S20 hits that simulcram of all diametrically opposed discriptions. If it were named the SX20 more people would get it.