Speakers of about 5000 range to go with Uniti Nova

One of the 'rules' of buying speakers is that you need to try them, ideally at home. If you can't it's rather like asking someone else to choose your dinner. So it's risky having to rely on others, though you are clearly aware of this from what you write. For what it's worth I'd say that I heard the Nova at my local dealer last week, with a pair of Dynaudio Contour 20s, which cost about £5,000 with their stands, and it sounded excellent. That said, the speakers are rear ported but will need space behind them. Another current speaker I like is the Kudos C20. 

I'd also suggest an alternative approach  - the 272/250DR, with a pair of speakers for £1,500. Something like the ProAc Tablette 10, which cost about £1,300 with the ideal Target heavy stands, and will sit by the wall. 

Given the size of your room, HH's suggestion is much less risky.

In your price range I listened to Russel K 120 and 150, also the Kudos Super C20, all sounded great in their own way. However I listened to the PMC 25.26, and they just did it musically for me, they are about £7400. I lucked out and my dealer gave me a deal on their demo pair which were a couple of weeks old. All of these speakers give a good account of themselves, and the Nova handles them with ease, it's a personal choice. As HH says don,t take our word, go listen, your dealer will have tried with even more combos than mentioned.

Well! I do agree about speakers being a personal choice. I think I will reserve some of my budget for a overseas trip to see which sound I prefer.

Naim suggests pairing the Nova with the Focal Aria series. Any views on how the 926, 936 sound with the Nova.

As Naim are partnered with Focal, they almost have to recommend them. In my view you can do a lot better, so it's a recommendation I'd treat with a large bag of salt. 

What about the PMC's then as GAZZA suggested.

I guess I will go for a demo before buying. Would be good to have a list of speakers to try out though..based on availability.

The twenty.23 is really good - I used them with the SuperUniti I had before the current amplifier. I wouldn't go bigger than the twenty5.23 in your sized room. £7,400 on electronics and £4,000 or less on speakers makes far more sense than £7,400 speakers on the end of a Nova. The other thing to think about is getting used speakers, though this may not be practical where you are. You can get real bargains, enabling you to spend more elsewhere in the system. 

The 25.24 is £4470, so in your price range. I have heard this driven by the Atom in a very large room and it was fine, a demo in a room nearer your dimensions would probably help. The Nova would drive these speakers easily.

Sadly used speakers is not an option as you said.

Will plan a trip shortly and audition the PMC's to see which is suitable.

Thanks for your all help,,,appreciate it..

I haven't heard the Focals with the Nova I'm afraid Rahul, I've never got on with the sound of the Arias so wouldn't be a good guide. I listened to lower-end speakers as my Nova is for a second system in a smaller room, I was very impressed with the Neat SX1s, but like Gazza came away with a pair of PMC Twenty5s, in my case the 25.23. Judging by our experiences, the 25.26s as he found or the 25.24s for price purposes should be on your list, worth a try with the 25.23s as well and I think they're great for smaller rooms and are nicely priced for the quality.

Makes sense EONIK. Thanks for your advise.

I paired ProAc's D20R speakers with my SuperUniti and they gave me everything you are looking for. Fast, engaging, great depth of soundstage and terrific, controlled bass. As they have downward firing ports they are relatively easy to place, and at £2,750 are well within your budget (as are their D30s, although I suspect their bass may be too much for your room size). As my taste in music very much mirrors yours, I strongly recommend you give them an audition. I tried PMCs, but found them transparently bland and uninteresting, although they are, without doubt, accurate.

I know what you mean TIMMO1341, many a times I have heard speakers which are highly rated but sound very bland to me. I think it might be because of the type of music I have used for my auditions i.e rock. As mentioned earlier its all down to personal taste I guess. Will definitely include the ProAc's in my list of speakers to audition as you advise.

I went with Focal Chorus for my Nova, perfect match but as we speak looking into a pair of Aria 926.

Must admit though the 272/250DR/£1500 speakers makes more sense, as a source first approach.

Rahul Uchil posted:

I know what you mean TIMMO1341, many a times I have heard speakers which are highly rated but sound very bland to me. I think it might be because of the type of music I have used for my auditions i.e rock. As mentioned earlier its all down to personal taste I guess. Will definitely include the ProAc's in my list of speakers to audition as you advise.

I have PMC's Twenty5.23 -- an updated version of the 20.23. I would expect the 25.23 to work rather well with a Nova, and can't quite see why PMC is bland -- as you would expect from a PMC owner.  At the end of the day, speaker are, as others wrote, a deeply personal choice. I tried a lot of speakers before settling for my PMC: Neat, Dynaudio, ProAc, Focal, Harbeth, KEF, B&W and I have probably forgotten about a few. Sadly I couldn't try Kudos...

Rahul Uchil posted:

I am planning on buying  the Naim Uniti Nova. I have a budget of about 5000 pounds for the speakers. 

You get what you pay for

Or not !

Loudspeakers are a personnal thing and what Peter likes, Paul may not.

One way only, go listen or get rights of return

For example I'd choose cheap Rega speakers (such as RX3 or RS7) anyday over any Focal even they are very very much more expensive, in short, budget should not decide more than a maximum.

At your budget you could easy get some Naim SL2 speakers, these need to be placed against wall and will likely not loose much in value. Engaging and not laid back are the words here, Soundstage may not be their forte so perhaps not ?

Old Sonus Faber likewise (value)

Proac seem to be widely popular currently, Id love to hear the new SM100 or Tablette 10 myself

Kudos and Neat speakers are often choosed among Naim owners

The new Dynaudios get good reviews

Vintage Tannoy, superb (new retro out)

And so on

EDIT

With your music taste perhaps get listen to some old JbL speakers, in some way they are great on rock/metal with their 12"or 15" bas. I have fond memories of 4312 or 4333 but there are so many variants

One of the best. If not THE best you can get on the nursery slopes of high end speakery.

Reference 3A.      Veena.

Will also leave some ££s left for fancy cables. Would complement the future/retro look of the Nova. 

In addition to the JBL mentioning, a new 3677 is much loved on the Lejonklou pages

Had heard JBL speakers ....cant remember which make...about 15 years back. They were very bright and not really what I was looking for. The situation might have changed. Should check them out...

With a room of just 11.4 X 13.9 feet (3.5m x 4.25m), if you use full range speakers you'll inevitably get significant bass peaks at 48.5Hz and 40Hz.

How much this affects your listening pleasure is a personal thing, but the peaks will be there - that's simple unavoidable physics.
The only way to avoid this is to use smaller speakers with an anechoic response that drops off substantially at 48Hz.

Very true. Will have to go and hear them for myself. I will be concentrating on the smaller speakers as suggested.

Wish I could keep the system in the living room......

My approach to good bass in a smaller room is speakers with a limited LF extension and then to use a sub to fill in.  The sub is driven via a digital signal processor that has filters that reduce the volume at the precise frequencies of the room resonances.

As this filtration is only on the signal to the sub it doesn't cause degradation to the sound-stage or differentiation of instrumental timbres, or interfere with the musicality / engagement of the sound as presented through the main speakers.  For me this solution works very well; as close as I have ever got to having the best of both worlds in a small room.

That sounds perfect but a bit complicated. Being a novice, I wouldn't know where to start.

Can you be more specific...

Glad to know though that there are options available if I feel a little underwhelmed by the sound.

Thanks for that....

I guess what he explained is go get a good sub (such as a BK 200 or more) to assist below say 50hz (very low bas)

Plenty of good 2way speakers to pair with

Will the sub outlet be available in the Nova and will it have the digital signal processor that has filters that reduce the volume at the precise frequencies of the room resonances as mentioned...