Neat MF9 vs the speakers of today

Not really a comment on other speakers, but here goes. I'm also an SL2 owner looker for greater scale (impressed by Shahinians), however in discussion with Simon at Audio-T Reading, he commented that SBLs and SL2s like to be further apart than many imagine to produce their most effective bass and scale. I moved mine considerably as a result, both apart and away from the wall (believing they have to hug the wall to produce their best bass) and there has been a substantial improvement, just as Simon predicted (and without any "hole" in the middle, indeed sounstaging has also improved). Well worth trying.....

Hi,

Having been through much of the Neat range, I've had MF9's for a few years now.

The main area of improvement over the previously owned MF7's was in the bass presentation, which seems crisper, much more controlled and realistic. 

They're not giving "more bass", as in one dimensional sounds, but rather I can "get" whether the musician is plucking the strings or using a plectrum.

Polar Bear, a regular contributor to this forum has previously gone into great detail about his time with MF9's, concluding that they are amongst the best he has ever heard. 

I have to say, I concur.

If you have the chance to get hold of a pair at an advantageous price, then go for it, bearing in mind that all speaker are to some extent room dependent, so it would be something of a leap in faith to do so without a home demo.

Hope this is of some help.

Dave. 

Thanks for the experiences to date, I appreciate the room plays a big role but home demo is out of the question. I remember having epos m22's and comparing these to the wee neat motives and realising the passion had returned to the music, then buying the momentum 4is blind, they were one fun speaker.

I did and I still maintain they are amongst the very best speakers ever made.

Interestingly I moved up from Naim SL2's to the Neat Mf9's having tried most of the best speakers available at the time wanting more size and scale. 

How do they compare to current speakers, well to be honest nothing has changed so much in ten years to make them a bad speaker. Compared to the Momentum 4i's and the s600's mentioned in your original post they are in a completely different league.

The only speakers I would compare them against on the end of a Naim system are the ART's I own and the Kudos Titan's. Which one you choose out of the three is very much personal choice.

Another piece of advice is go for the best Naim power amps you can afford, I ran my Neats of a pair of 500's and that system remains possibly the best system I ever owned,

Regards

PB

Those were the days, tower of power, pink walls and all. 

Hi PB,

Thanks for sharing PB.

As I have two 250.2's currently with my active SL2's in your experience would you recommend bi-amping with two 250.2's, or running mono i.e. one 250.2 per MF9 or just selling the two 250.2's and upgrading to a single 300?

Thanks.

Personally I would go for the single 300, although they are not a particularly demanding speaker to drive, they will appreciate the extra power.

One word of caution though, as good as the Ultimatums are and they are clearly the better speaker, you will never replace the sense of transparency and air that the SL2's have in abundance. This is the difficulty Michael B is having replacing his SL2's. Choose wisely and you may want to read his thread for reference,

Regards

PB

Just to confirm Polar Bear's view, I've been running my MF9's quite happily on a 300, (Soon to be DR'd), and haven't felt a pressing need to move up to a 500...............yet! 

PB, interesting that you mentioned that.

Is it me only or there is someone else who feels like SL2 are more transparent than S600 ?

Strange observation when comparing a successor to predecessor ...

I still think S600 is a fair speakers on the end of 280/252.2.

But I'm not sure they can justify the transparency and speed of 252/300 and 552/500 ...

As for Neat -- I can't say for MF9 but I compared XL6 vs S600 in 552/500 system at Cymbiosis and preferred the former (although XL6 was rendering a leaner presentation).

Again, I don't know how big is the difference between the XL and MF range.

The SL2's and the S600's are two very different speakers AMA and for me its hard to believe they were made by the same company. IMHO the SL2's were so very Naim, they displayed every characteristic you would expect from a Naim speaker, detail, dynamics, air and transparency, a little lean in the bass maybe but very seat of your pants presentation. The S600's seem so far attached from that and thats why you could convince me they were made by someone else.

If you think about the logistics of the range, the S600's sit in the middle of the speaker range and for me they are made for the 282/250 market but not unlike the SL2's they will benefit greatly from the better amps, the 252/300 and the 552/500. Every speaker will improve as the amps improve.

I have only really commented on the MF9's as they are the only Neats I have had at home, I have heard the whole Neat MF range albeit in different places and systems. As for the XL range I have only heard the XLS and the XL6's and I enjoyed them immensely. I haven't done the direct comparison between MF range an the XL range but from what I have heard the XL's appear to have the better treble and that defines the way the whole sound sounds. 

I haven't been fortunate enough to hear the XL10's, something I may regret and I suspect they improve on the MF's in the ways I wanted the MF's to improve, I always wanted a little more from the upper ranges of my MF9's and that the reason why I switched to ART's. They give me the detail and dynamics I had been searching for, albeit they took a lot of work getting the very best out of them.

Kind regards

PB

I have heard SL2s in a beautiful arrangement with various high quality turntables, NAT 01 and CDS 3, and for me they are the only conventional speaker that approaches the original ESL in coherence and transparency.

I have also heard Orator S400s and S600s in excellent systems, and also the S800s ...

My favourites, and this entirely personal, but seeing that Iike SL2s may be seen in some context ...

I think the S400 is a great speaker that is not quite so clear as the SL2, but more forgiving. I preferred the S400s to the S600 or S800.

But please consider in this that my favourite speaker is the ESL original 1957 version. 

Speakers are so personal that what I might like is unlikely to be what someone else likes. 

If you are not quite sure what you like then auditions are the only way to go.

ATB from George