Direct comparison btw Ariva vs Ovator S-400

I have owned both and agree with your findings, both speakers are very good but also quite different. Allae you just connect and off they go, always making things sound great. Ovator, to these ears, a better speaker but also a hit or miss affair, sometimes sounding fantastic and sometimes not. 

Better then both above (including Ovator 600) is Kudos Super 20. Could be, with Naim, best speaker below €10.000. 

Everything IMHO of course.

//Jonas

angelodipa posted:

In my ratings at the end the Ariva were warmer in the sound, harmonious and natural ... certainly less powerful and less detailed than the Ovator, but I did not see these as negative aspects because the greater detail of the Ovator and the type of sound (probably due to the BMR tweeter) make the Ovator seem more analytical and cold ... sometimes the sound seemed to be more artificial ... The only aspect that I did not like about Ariva is that the bass is less controlled, tends to have some too many long queues ... and sometimes it covers the details of the other instruments ...

I haven't heard the Ariva, but have heard the Credo, SL2, 400 and 600 for comparison. All speakers had great musicality. The two Ovator's strengths were in their bass acuity and the the clarity/resolution of the BMR, albeit with a rolled-off top end. As far as integrating the warmer, more natural, and more pleasing overall sound you noted, I'd have to opt for the older models which played everything I heard in a dutifully engaging and non-grating manner.

Resolution is okay to a degree, but when you have to fight it for overall engagement it makes no sense to me. Cohesion and integration of the entire frequency range are the bigger factors. Price, age, and technology aside, no reason not to prefer the Ariva. Then there's the ultimate factor to be considered; speaker room-dependence and how that plays to the listener's ears. I'd say enjoy the Ariva and don't question yourself.

I enjoyed the Ariva on the original 5i CD player and amp - it was a forgiving speaker with quite a warm and prominent bass that managed to get to the heart of the music without being overly forensic.  Ultimately however, resolution was somewhat limited, and so the performance never quite improved as much as I would have liked when you scaled up with better source and amp electronics.  With better electronics in place, moving to say, a pair of Allaes, would come as a revelation.  Although I never compared back to back, I'd imagine a similar revelation moving to S400s, provided the front end was up to scratch.

first of all thanks for your valuable contributions ....

@ JONAS: you talk about the Allae ... of which I have always heard a very good talk ... I know that the Allae should be superior even to the Ariva ... but my comparison was between Ariva and Ovator ... no between Allae and Ovator ... maybe I did not understand well ...

@ JOERAND: I think you expressed better than me what I wanted to say ... with Ovator I feel like I'm listening more nervous while with Ariva it's like everything becomes a little more relaxing ... but this always depends on my personal taste ... the Ovator remain fantastic and exceptional speakers IMHO...

About what you were quoting about the age, it made me doubt. The Ariva are 14 years old. Sorry for the ignorance, but do the crossovers need a recap with the replacement of the filter capacitors?

I always found the Ariva a great VFM speaker. With the typical American South home construction - concrete slab + drywalls - I thought it worked well. On wood suspended floors and/or mortar walls, who knows. That Vifa ring radiator tweeter was a real steal, IMO. 

Sorry, did see that now! Ok, Ariva and Allae are very different. I still have a pair of Arivas somewhere but to be honest, I liked them best as front speakers for my home cinema set up (with Naim n-Vi if anybody remember that one).

A party speaker but as Richatd said, not really growing with better electronic. 

I’m a bit surprised you like them better then Ovator but never under estimate the room!

//Jonas

Hi,

I have owned the Arivas, and they are exactly as Richard described them. I wasn't happy with all that bass, but one night, in a moment of gear transition, I was left with my Oppo DV980H, a NaitXS, a Lavender IC, a borrowed Powerline, 2 x 15 mt. of Chord Campana installation speaker cable and the Arivas.

Wanting to play some music, I assembled the system and was amazed at how good it sounded. They still were rolled-off and 'belly', but deep bass was controlled and amazing and they are still – after having owned or demoed in my living room N-Sats (all finishes, 5 pairs), Allaes (incomprehensible, to me), Ovator S-400s (my current speakers), Credos, SBLs (twice) – the most, perhaps the only timbrically correct Naim speaker I have heard.

So, if you like them and can somehow tame the bass with some room placement work, I suggest a Powerlined Nait XS with any decent source, and be happy. BTW, the Chord Campana, when available, costs like 3/4 GBP/mt.

Take a look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THjfUhluUY8

from 2:25.

Best

M.

Jonas Olofsson posted:

Sorry, did see that now! Ok, Ariva and Allae are very different. I still have a pair of Arivas somewhere but to be honest, I liked them best as front speakers for my home cinema set up (with Naim n-Vi if anybody remember that one).

A party speaker but as Richatd said, not really growing with better electronic. 

I’m a bit surprised you like them better then Ovator but never under estimate the room!

//Jonas

Ariva is the only Naim speaker I’ve own and still happily use. Coming from small Dynaudios. So far I’ve only heard the ATC SCM40 which I would consider retire them for. Pretty similar in some regards.

During these almost 10 years with the Ariva I’ve gone from 112x/150x to DAC V1/202/HC/200 and pretty impressive improvements along the way.

V1 was afaik the biggest step, then 202 and last HC&200. 150x was a better ”party amp” but after adding Powerline on the 200 it behaves just as well in that regard. Pre-Powerline it was kind of thin.

If only Ariva were better looking I could live with them until they wither :-)

The Arriva's are probably much more fun sounding. The 400 are clean but missing the move you're ass factor. 

I also remember the Arivas from a demo I did, many years ago and how I remember them echoes the descriptions here. I used to have Allaes, Nait 5i and cdx2, (a lovely system in the era of cd). I was trying to find out if it was worth buying a hiline. The Arivas surprised, though they had a forgiving, broader than Allaes brush style, yet were very musical and engaging. They were able to show a nice difference with and without hiline on the cdx2. I can remember I played ‘Italian dried (or dry) ice’ with Josh Rouse, and I can recommend it today on this hot summers day. It has a great bass tune which the Arivas displayed beautifully.

Thought 1. There can be something about a more forgiving speaker, you might forget about HiFi and digg more into the music...

Thought 2. Naim really had a nice balanced ladder of speakers 10 years ago; N-Sats, Ariva, Allae and Sl2...

Have a nice summer!

Fred

Hi Fred, An interesting post and two good thoughts there. Have a good summer too.

Chris

Yeah, a real pity Naim engineers wasn't allowed to create further developments, on those sometime groundbreaking  loudspeaker design, they threated us with during decades.

Agree! Probably would buy a late pair of DBL if they showed up in front of me. No clue where to use them but they would be fun to own for the sake of it. 

//Jonas