From B & W to......?

Speakers are such a personal decision, there are so many really good sounding speakers available today, Proac, Atohm, ATC, Dynaudio, PMC, just to name a few of the very fine speakers that are available, and have very good synergy with Naim electronics.

GuyCaballero posted:

the bass has lost it's direction. It isn't as controlled & quick

Have you considered looking at sealed box speakers? That factor will quickly narrow the field of contenders. You'll get fast, controlled bass. At the same time, you may sacrifice deep bass.

Hi [@mention:72948380310829950]

I agree with Bandlands that speakers really are a personal choice. How each sounds in your room can make a big difference too. The Focals are a very good speaker. There are also offerings from Sonus Faber and my personal choice, Revel, which worked extremely well with my SN1. Have fun auditioning! 

I like Aria range from Focal, but all the brands suggested are worth auditioning. I m not a fan of Proac with Naim, but out of the rest, the Revels are pretty special imo (the Performa range). I also like ATC and Spendor a lot.

I have the F206 performa3 and I really enjoy how they sound with Naim gear. A beautifully balanced sound and great with all types of music. 

Another vote for ATC, once you've heard SCM40 nothing else will compare for the price. Have a dig around this forum and the web for reviews and decide if they might worth a demo.

I had a good long listen to Focal Aria 926 speakers at my dealer's, and was very impressed.  The experience in isolation, and vs other things I heard through either ownership, or demoed the same day, left me with nothing bad to say about the Focals at all.  It was only when my dealer suggested trying Kudos X3s, that I heard anything to better the Focals.  To partner my own SN2 I chose the X3s after a week-long home demo.  Purchased them four months ago, and no regrets.  They are outstanding for the price as far am I'm concerned.  I still feel the same is true of the Focals actually, but the X3s have similarly big and full bodied sound, surprisingly given there smaller size and just two drive units, but I found they were more natural and organic sounding, with mid-range detail I've never heard anything else approach.  

All that said, as mentioned above, speakers are such a personal choice, and you may value completely different things, but as a starting point for demos, something from the focal Aria range is a good choice in IMO.

I use B&W 804s in my main system, on the end of olive amps. Having recently added a Nova for a second system, I’ve paired it with PMC 25.23s. Very different presentation from the B&Ws, but I really enjoy them, excellent bass extension and pace.

Also Harbeth, Neat, Kudos,  Dynaudio........

GuyCaballero posted:

B & W has changed things up.

After a few long listens to the new 702 S2's I really like the mid & high but the bass has lost it's direction. It isn't as controlled & quick as it was in the CM10 S2. I had planned to upgrade to the 702's  but have found I don't enjoy them as much as I had hoped. So......it's been suggested I give the Focal Aria a listen. I've always enjoyed the B & W signature but the new ones just aren't the same. Any recommends? I'll have a Supernait 2 running them which ought to handle most that are in my range.

Buy a pair of second hand Naim Allaes and you never want anything else. 

A lot of great tips as always!

I have owned Naim & B & W in the past & listened to countless others but always come back to B & W nowadays. I'm not adverse to box speakers but the decoupled tweeter takes the sound to another place. I'm hoping to find a pair that compare I guess. Time to start scouring the pre owned sections perhaps.

The difficult part is finding most of the makes mentioned here in Canada which as a plus helps narrow things down.

Have you considered the B&W 800 D3 series?  I know they are more money.  I'm also wondering if the new series takes time to break-in.

I had hoped to get to the Diamond series on the next upgrade after this one. They're a big jump in price though. The CM6 that I have were $2500 & the stand mount Diamond are $7500 plus matching stands.

If you like the B&W 'signature' you may find Focal a bit forward.  I'm a big Focal fan and have found B&W a bit too tame for my tastes. But it's always worth a listen. Maybe the Arias will push your buttons.  Depending on your budget, the next up in the range might also be worth a listen. I had a demo of a Kanta 2s earlier this week.  I can see them pleasing lots of people, especially Naim fans.    

I’m currently using Burmester B10 speakers with my 272 preamp and 250 DR amp.  It’s a desktop system and sounds great.  I felt that I was missing some bass, so I added a JL Audio Dominion subwoofer.  I’m very happy with the sound.

In this system, I’m using the Uniti Core, and select albums from it to play.  So far I have around 870 discs ripped.  I also have my Astel & Kern SP1000 DAP output hooked up to the 272 thru one of the analogue inputs.  I’m also trying to find a way to shuffle individual tracks when playing from the Core.  Anybody know how to do that?

GuyCaballero posted:

I'll have a Supernait 2 running the [speakers] which ought to handle most that are in my range.

Source(s)?