The other day I had a hankering to go out and listen to some rigs at some local non-Naim dealers to see what I would hear. My ulterior motive was to see if I could find any speakers that I like better than my VA Bachs, even at triple the price. Well, let me just say that I finished the auditioning with a greater appreciation for my system. First up I got to hear the B&W Nautilus 803s powered by I forgot what. Zzzzzzz. Great, recessed soundstage for those seeking such things and the sound was so smooth I could not bear it. Kinda small in scale, too. And where was the bass? I brought along my Delos recording of works by Walter Piston and fired up the final movement to his Three New England Sketches with it’s massive low-frequency output and startling percussion wallops. They were gone. My little VA Bachs put out more bass, though in an admittedly smaller room. Still, for five grand and with a pair of woofers per tower I expected more. As the store only carries B&W and a couple lower-end Dynaudios, I chose to move on to the next dealer.
Next up was a Linn CD player (the Ikemi, I think) running into a Classe integrated of some type, which in turn was driving some Sonus Faber Grand Pianos. Much better. The sound was closer to what I hear daily, though the sound was a wee-bit too hot, owing no doubt to the Classe. Overall very good and I might consider these speakers. I finished the morning by listening to a $30K+ system of Classe ultra-large components. I believe the vaunted Omega II preamp fed one of the Omega amps. A big ol’ Classe CD player (not SACD) was on tap, and the cheapest parts of the system were some big Magnepan speakers. This was actually a very good sounding system – very clean and detailed with better than expected PRaT – but it was again a little hot. Was I overwhelmed? Uh, no. To be completely honest I’ll take my smaller, cheaper system of Naim electronics and VA speakers anyday. Of course I’m biased, but for $30K I would want a lot more than I heard. Just think of the Naim system you could get with that! I’ll venture out some more to hear other speakers in the reality range (I will not be auditioning $20000 speakers), but somehow I think I know the outcome. It is nice to be reassured of one’s purchasing decisions.
Posted on: 24 February 2002 by dvdkeogh
Paul,
I don't want to speak for Todd, but I believe he uses Vienna Acoustics Bach louspeakers. See the link below to the U.S. distributor.
Dave
Vienna Acoustics Bach
[This message was edited by dvdkeogh on SUNDAY 24 February 2002 at 15:14.]
Posted on: 24 February 2002 by Mike Sae
I want to say that it's a power line conditioner, but they're actually the "Omega" mono amps Todd was referring to.
Since I'm not impressed by shiny bits, I thought the Classe Omega/ Sonus Faber Whatchamacallits were very underwhelmeing even from a round earth perspective. They barely had the scale or soundstage of this system: 
Posted on: 24 February 2002 by kentonious
Todd or anyone--- heard all three? or at least two out of three? I have CD5 and will have flatcap2 with Nait5(maybe NAC112/NAP150). In US, these speakers are all about the same price and I've got it narrowed to one of these. Would have to drive 5 hours to hear the Neat because it it in Austin, TX; I'm in Dallas.
