Thinking of upgrading to Spendor A4 powered by the NAP 100.

1  Speakers are such a personal choice, it's hard to give recommendations (though many people still do!)

2  You're taking the right approach by listenting to all the alternatives.

3   If you want recommendations tailored to your circumstances you need to provide more information
a     What genres of music interest you
b     Size and shape of the room
c     What source(s) and amp are going to be used
d    Your preferences in term of presentation from a HiFi system (e.g. Are dynamics more important to you than detail?  How important is extended bass?  Would you find a speaker with a 'modern' brighter top end offensive in the longer term?  etc, etc, ... )

Huge posted:

1  Speakers are such a personal choice, it's hard to give recommendations (though many people still do!)

2  You're taking the right approach by listenting to all the alternatives.

3   If you want recommendations tailored to your circumstances you need to provide more information
a     What genres of music interest you
b     Size and shape of the room
c     What source(s) and amp are going to be used
d    Your preferences in term of presentation from a HiFi system (e.g. Are dynamics more important to you than detail?  How important is extended bass?  Would you find a speaker with a 'modern' brighter top end offensive in the longer term?  etc, etc, ... )

Thanks for point the above out. So to further elaborate on ur point 3

a. I listen mainly to classic and progressive rock like Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd. 
b. Room size is roughly 3m x 3m. As you can see it's a fairly small room so I prefer to have my speaker near to the back wall.
c. I listen exclusively to digital music, mainly from Spotify, in which I have a creek 50CD to work as a DAC and pre-amp. Power amp will be of course a Naim NAP100
d. I'm very bad at pinpointing these hifi terms like transparency, black, neutral etc. To prioritize I would say sound imaging over clarity. I guess ultimately I would want a 'forgiving' speakers which can handle anything thrown at it.

If you want speakers near the back wall you need to avoid rear ported ones, and that includes the Spendors. I’d question whether the 100 has the power to drive them properly. Sealed speakers such as the ProAc Tablette 10 might be worth looking at. It’s worth pointing out that Spotify is a lossy source and that it won’t sound very good - improving the system may make things worse. Tidal is CD quality and likely to be a lot better. 

hungryhalibut posted:

If you want speakers near the back wall you need to avoid rear ported ones, and that includes the Spendors. I’d question whether the 100 has the power to drive them properly. Sealed speakers such as the ProAc Tablette 10 might be worth looking at. It’s worth pointing out that Spotify is a lossy source and that it won’t sound very good - improving the system may make things worse. Tidal is CD quality and likely to be a lot better. 

I can tolerate at most 0.5m distance from the back wall. The Spendor was able to perform from 30cm from the wall during the demo but I would certainly prefer something wall hugging. 

While I heard good stuff about Tidal the library seems, lacking. I rather listen to lossy song which I enjoy rather than lossless audio which I don't enjoy.

But yeah thanks for mentioning ProAc. I've heard good things about their Tablette which gives a solid bass despite their bookshelf design.

Spotify does have a pretty good selection - and for sampling new music I have been pleasantly surprised with its sound quality - not as good as lossless, but far better than I expected. I don’t subscribe, just use the free service to vheck out whether I want to buy. For sound quality you can of course get a store and purchase downloads (lossless, and even higher resolutions), though maybe you’re not the ‘owning’ kind of person, and a better DAC some time might amaze you.

But back to your question. PMC, with their transmission line bass, maight be worth a listen - one feature with a lot of prog is pedal bass, requiring a sufficiently extended bass to hear it. Personally I would always think secondhand with speakers, bringing better ones within budget. However I note you are in Kuala Lumpur, where the market - and choice of speakers - may be quite different from UK...

. 

Edwinxx posted:

My first post here. I currently own a NAP100 to use with an old pair of EPOS ELS-303 and looking to upgrade my speakers. I've auditioned other speakers around the A4 range price (USD 2500) from Epos, Dali and KEF already and I found the Spendors are the best suited so far. Just wondering if there's other brand of floorstanders I could miss out before pulling the trigger.

There are plenty other (UK) brands out there I would choose v most of your list, I did like classic Spendors, their more recent range do represent some ups and downs imo

If you possible could have a listen at Kudos and Neat floorstanders, Graham or Sterling makes some wonderfull speakers too, mostly standmounts though.

The Nap 100, fine as it is, no powerhouse, perhaps look for easy driven speakers, Rega RX3 comes to mind

I think you may be a bit short on power for the A4 with the nap100; an xs2 would be the minimum to drive them comfortably, a supernait even better.  The Spendor Classic 3/5 or A1 are good options for you - both sealed boxes (not 100% sure of the latter) so placement is more flexible, and designed for smaller spaces such as yours.  I haven't heard the Classic 3/5 but I loved the predecessors - a nait 5i can handle them fine.  Expect fantastic tonality and solid bass extension from the Classic vs. a speedier/livelier presentation from the A1.    

hastings posted:

I think you may be a bit short on power for the A4 with the nap100; an xs2 would be the minimum to drive them comfortably, a supernait even better.  The Spendor Classic 3/5 or A1 are good options for you - both sealed boxes (not 100% sure of the latter) so placement is more flexible, and designed for smaller spaces such as yours.  I haven't heard the Classic 3/5 but I loved the predecessors - a nait 5i can handle them fine.  Expect fantastic tonality and solid bass extension from the Classic vs. a speedier/livelier presentation from the A1.    

I'm not sure about the 3/5 but the retailer demo the Classic 2/3 with me and while I love the vocal performance of it it simply lacks the bass 'thump'. Not to mention it's simply beyond my budget and too big to be driven by the NAP100. I love the classic 200 powered by a set of BAT amplifiers but heh that's beyond my reach at the moment.

I'll probably re-review the offerings from Dali. A bit disappointed by the KEF LS50 and Q700 but the retailer is inviting me for another audition this weekend.

Still looking out for the ProAc retailer nearby.

Edwinxx posted:

hastings posted:

I think you may be a bit short on power for the A4 with the nap100; an xs2 would be the minimum to drive them comfortably, a supernait even better.  The Spendor Classic 3/5 or A1 are good options for you - both sealed boxes (not 100% sure of the latter) so placement is more flexible, and designed for smaller spaces such as yours.  I haven't heard the Classic 3/5 but I loved the predecessors - a nait 5i can handle them fine.  Expect fantastic tonality and solid bass extension from the Classic vs. a speedier/livelier presentation from the A1.    

I'm not sure about the 3/5 but the retailer demo the Classic 2/3 with me and while I love the vocal performance of it it simply lacks the bass 'thump'. Not to mention it's simply beyond my budget and too big to be driven by the NAP100. I love the classic 200 powered by a set of BAT amplifiers but heh that's beyond my reach at the moment.

I'll probably re-review the offerings from Dali. A bit disappointed by the KEF LS50 and Q700 but the retailer is inviting me for another audition this weekend.

Still looking out for the ProAc retailer nearby.

If you are a bas "thump" guy, floorstanders might be what you should steady be looking for

Certainly tiny bookshelfs do have limitations in deeper octaves, usually their mids are better, at least thats my experience, we have all our priorities.

Proac are excellent, really nice you mention them, quite an easy load too so your little amp won't have difficulties if your not in very large room ?

If you like Dali then look for Audiovector too, another Danish brand which are expanding in your price range. Designed by a former Scandinavian Naim experienced distributor, so voicing should be fine, no idea if these are available in your part of the world.? Their S3 are worth an audition, beautifull looking too.

Bass 'thump' is all very well, but producing a lot of bass in a small, square room is very likely to cause problems. This will only be worse if the speakers are very close to the wall. So choose carefully. If you have the option of a home demo, use it to try as many options as you can. If dealers will not offer this, it may be better to look on the used market, so that you can try some speakers, and sell them on if they don't work for you. 

I’ve just setup my 4m by 5m office as a media room and have a NAP100 with a Cute2 playing through Totem Hawks. They be a little above your price range, but perform better than the lower price Totems. I’d sugggest floormounted privided you can be half a meter or so from a wall and away from the corner. The Hawks will also take quite a bit more power, so you will be future proved for an amp upgrade if that’s of interest.

i play Yes, Pink Floyd, Rush, Marillion etc through this and can attest that the Hawks are well suited for progressive rock.

BTW, when people refer to distance from rear wall , what counts is the distance of the fron t baffle of the speaker, not the rear, except possibly when specifically referring to a rear port.

In a moderately large room (7m by ~7m, but an oddshape)  I found the best position for my PMC EB1i speakers is about 60 cm from the rear wall - which places the backs of the speakers anout 20cm from the wall.

Of course, the most even bass response may well be if you could recess them into the wall so the baffles are flush - which may sound impossible in many rooms, but maybe not if you have wall to fall full height shelving packed with anything, so creating a false wall.

Totem dreamcatcher

Amphion 410 or Ion

Dali mentor menuet

Etc.

Small footprint.. 

Easy to drive

Good sound 

Good for small rooms

I tried a pair of dreamcatchers in a room that size and shape for a second system. Tiny speakers with tiny drivers and rear ports but they didn’t need to be a long way into the room and though the bass didn’t go way down they covered it well. They were great at warming up some Wishbone Ash and did a credible job of Tool too, they were just downright fun to listen to. Their achilles heel was classical piano music, they could make a Steinway grand sound like an upright but if Chopin isn’t your thing that probably won’t matter. I found a pair of used Naim allaes for my second system in the end.

In that room the difference between one note bass and tuneful bass was 5mm difference in the distance from the back wall so be prepared to fine tune your speaker positions.