£3k speakers for SN2

Well I own Focals and PMCs but have never heard Harbeth, although I have heard smaller Stirling Broadcast and Grahams BBC style 'thinwall' speakers, good but I listen to a lot of contemporary music so it doesn't play to their strengths. Still not heard a Spendor I've liked (not heard the D whatever though). Kudos X3 perhaps?

The Graham Audio LS5/9 are well worth investigating. They're a reincarnation of a 30-year old BBC design. I run them from an SN2 in a room slightly smaller than yours. I prefer them to the Harbeths, as the bass is better controlled. Midrange is simply the best I have heard from a two-way speaker ; the transition between tweeter and mid-bass is impossible to spot. They are monitor speakers with extremely precise imaging. Detail is superb, and not thrown at the listener. Rather, they draw you in, striking a beautiful balance between detail and emotion. The BBC engineers had it spot on 30 years ago...

Jan 

You have £3K to spend on speakers.

The internet is your oyster. Why not have a look?

You could stick with ProAc, which offers a couple of relatively new floorstanding models with and without ribbon tweeters.

I've not heard the Spendor D7 but I did run my SN2 with my Spendor SP 1/2Rs with great success. These have been superceded by the 1/2R2 version now, which might be worth exploring. 

Finally, there's always Neat, which I gather works very well with Naim.

B&W 804D ex-demo!

That's an interesting dilemma. Until recently I was using PMC twenty.23s, which cost £2,300 new. They are really excellent speakers, which worked really well in my room of 3.6m by 5.5m. I used them firing across the room, with about 20cm behind them. Then a few weeks ago I bought some used (obviously) SL2s, having received the advice that my 272/250DR would be enough for such a revealing speaker. Having now lived with them for those few weeks it is clear that they are in a totally different class to the PMCs, which perhaps is only to be expected considering they sold for about £6,000 new. They are just so involving and so easy to listen to and enjoy. So, with your £3,000 that's what I'd get, if you can find them. I paid much nearer to £2,000 than £3,000 for mine, which are very late examples in superb condition. In any event, you could consider looking at used speakers in order to get as much for your money as you can, though this does make home demonstration much harder, but if you buy at the right price you can always sell them on if they don't work out. 

I'm running a pair of Spendor A9s in a similar size room, placed about 30 cms from rear wall. I ran a SN1 with them for 4 years and I think they sound fantastic - I know Spendor are not one of the more popular speaker manufacturers here but I love mine. I did audition smaller / cheaper Spendors when I bought them and they didn't do much for me. I felt the A9s were in a different league to the rest of the line up.

A used pair would certainly be in your price range.

I run Harbeth 30.1's with my SN2 - it also timed impeccably with the P3ESR's when i had them whilst awaiting the 30.1's - in fact the P3esr's were pretty bloody amazing actually. 

With only £3k to spend on speakers I'd be be looking for something pretty decent secondhand, as that is not a huge amount of money if buying new - though the difficulty may be that people who have spent perhaps £5-£10k and still upgrading so selling s/h are few and far between, so choices can be limited, so it may mean being patient and hunting far and wide...

I have the Aria 926s you mention on a SN2 and they work very well indeed and I love them.  They cost a lot less than £3k which would leave you plenty left over for cables or whatever else.  When I got mine I spent weeks auditioning different makes and models and ended up with three sets I tested at home, well worth doing if you can

Audiovector SR3 Super. Perfect with Naim which is used when developing their speakers. Audiovector used to be the importer of Naim to Denmark. Bass port is underneath the speakers hence they are easy to place, they are easy to drive and are very dynamic, and should you wish to upgrade your source and amplifier later on you can do the same with the speakers. Audiovector will upgrade the tweeter, mid-range driver, woofer and crossover. They also fix scratches and hey presto you have new speakers which happen to look like the old ones.

Hi, I am running Spendor SP2 3R2 and they are around 4.000,-€ in Germany with stands.

I find them fantastic, in fact they brought me to Naim and nothing else. I found them 6 weeks old on eBay for a bargain, took them home and heard them with my Rega Elicit and was totally blown away. Then I started researching the internet and found out that Spendor work best with Naim amongst others. I had always been interested in the Supernait but never got a chance to hear one. This time I went to a dealer nearby and borrowed me their SN2 -Demo, took it home, found everything I was ever looking for in HIFI together with my Spendor speakers and spent a fortune on NAIM since, never looked back on earlier speakers. Thats what Spendor did for me.

Best

Chris

Very interesting indeed and one for my short list.  Are they difficult get hold of in the UK?

Jude

I have KUDOS C20 with my SN2 and I'm very satisfied. give a look and try it if you can. 

I listen at low volume a lot and love my Credo...if I had that much money I may get Allae or SB400. 

Having heard Naim speakers in a loop of Naim gear I'm sold.

There are two sets of SBL locally I could have tried, but when I learned they are as difficult to set up as an LP12 I was not interested.  Any single piece of gear with an entire website dedicated to setting it up raises red flags for me.

Also I've owned the Rega RS5 and they were pretty nice, have you considered the new Rega RX3?

There's a pair of ovator S600s on a well known auction site, ending 17.12 today, opening price £3500, no bids yet...

If I had a few grand spare if take a punt (having never heard Naim speakers) and flip them if they didn't suit my setup. Although easy to say when I don't actually have the cash to take a punt  will be interestng to see what they eventually go for.

I run a pair of Harbeth Monitor 30.1's fed by a 202/200 combo through NACA5 in a room slightly smaller than yours. I find them a real joy to listen to, also at lower volume - dial at 8/9 o'clock - and they get never tiresome after lenghty listening sessions. However, advising on a set of speakers is like arranging a blind date for an old friend, so you better find the right speakers for yourself by taking the time to audition a shortlist of say 4 or 5 different pairs and then decide which pair you want to live with.