small room

Posted by: kota on 10 May 2016

Hi there
 
It's been quite a long time since I last posted here but I need some advice from you guys.
 
After a house move, I'm now facing having to have my system in a much smaller room which happens to be my office. My desk chair is only 2.5m away from the speakers which is just too close for high listening levels with this new near field situation. Also and for space reasons I need to downsize my boxes.
 
I've got a valhalled LP12/Ittok/Denon 103,  a Naim cd3.5/flatcap, 72/HiCap/180 and Neat Mystiques 2 speakers which simply can't sound decent in this small room unless at very low levels.
 
The obvious solution for me was to change the Neats for some Kans but these are very hard to find these days but I could always get some Dynaudio's dm 2/6 which should work just fine. Unfortunately I also need to downsize due again to space restrictions so a Nait 2 springs to mind but these again are very difficult to come by.
 
If you were in my shoes what would be your best bet if it takes selling my existing pre/ps/power combo to get a newer smaller Naim kit (ex-demo or second hand) bearing in mind I will still be needing a phono stage?
 
Cheers
 
Pedro
Posted on: 17 May 2016 by hungryhalibut

Ok, that is indeed very.... compact. I'd say you want as little stuff as possible, so Nait and Kans on wall brackets, with a little Rega CD player. 

Posted on: 17 May 2016 by bazz

These are the nearest to Kans I've heard, albeit with modern drivers. Kralk Audio BC-30 from West Yorkshire.

I bought a pair as the first step in a second system and put them in the main rig for a week on Skylan stands for running in purposes, in place of active SBLs. Lively little buggers, I like them a lot, could have left them in there longer. 

Fairly mid-forward, superb on speech and acoustic instruments, but pretty well balanced when right up against a solid wall as intended. Just the thing for a small room, and very reasonably priced at 429 squids.

I'm an old (very old!) Naim speaker man, it's near impossible to find sealed boxes meant to be used hard up against the wall these days, everything seems to be free space bass monsters, the total opposite of what I want or enjoy. These fill the bill.

Mine are the first pair in walnut I believe. These photos by maker Alan Clark, a couple of mine on Flickr.

 

BC-30 2

BC-30 3

Posted on: 17 May 2016 by joerand
Hungryhalibut posted:

Ok, that is indeed very.... compact. I'd say you want as little stuff as possible, so Nait and Kans on wall brackets, with a little Rega CD player. 

Nigel,

I've seen you mention several times here lately likes of the "little Rega CD player". The only Rega CDP that's gone half-size is the entry Apollo-R and I'd hesitate to call it a suitable source for the 72.

Posted on: 18 May 2016 by kota

Hi Bazz. Nice looking looking speakers but I'm afraid hard to get locally. Won't risk it buying blind as you also probably would.

Anyway, very good system you've got there and you're brilliant with your camera. I wish I had your talent.

Cheers

Pedro

 

 

Posted on: 18 May 2016 by hungryhalibut
joerand posted:
Hungryhalibut posted:

Ok, that is indeed very.... compact. I'd say you want as little stuff as possible, so Nait and Kans on wall brackets, with a little Rega CD player. 

Nigel,

I've seen you mention several times here lately likes of the "little Rega CD player". The only Rega CDP that's gone half-size is the entry Apollo-R and I'd hesitate to call it a suitable source for the 72.

I think I mentioned it in the context of the Nait, and as a secondary source, and then only because it's small. 

Posted on: 18 May 2016 by cdboy

If it was me I would sell everything except the turntable. Find a SuperUniti, add a phonostage, rip the CDs (given the system is in the study) and buy the best Totem bookshelf speakers the budget would allow. Tidy. Compact and sounds mighty fine. 

Posted on: 14 June 2016 by kota
Time for an update on my quest for better sound.
 
I decided to make some radical changes in my house and compromise elsewhere so after some redecoration, rewiring and new screws on the floorboards for equipment and speaker's support, I've managed to move my whole system to a bigger room with absolutely stunning results.
 
Music is now back and I couldn't be happier. My Neat's are now much further apart and away from room boundaries, my rack and table aren't between them anymore and my listening position is more than twice the distance to the speakers than what it used to be in that small room, which incidentally, is where I'm sleeping now :-)
 
Also learned some of my kit has been serviced by Naim not so long ago so thank God I didn't sell any of it. Still waiting to do some upgrades on my LP12 though but that can wait for now. After a small re-tune in its new location is sounding pretty good too.
 
Anyway, thanks again for all those who tried to help. At the end of day this was by far my best move.
 
Cheers,
 
Pedro