speakers but what can replace active NBLs?

Active with? Presumably you don’t have passive crossovers for them. What are the constraints? If you need boundary speakers the choice is rather limited.

No I have three 250.2s snaxo w/ supercapDR

Why not get another set of speakers that can be run actively or is it that you want to try a full 500 system if so then without knowing room dimensions and speaker posistion requirements it is a bit hard to comment.

What’s the reason for the change? 

If you don’t need speakers against the wall there’s a host of candidates, not many with similar qualities to the NBLs but you must be after something different anyway or you wouldn’t be thinking of a change.

Stick with active NBL's 

Kudos Titans, then if you decide you’ve made a huge mistake, you can go back to active. 

zoot posted:

   If I jettison my active NBLs , I will go with a passive nap500 but the big question is what speakers?          552, cd555, NDS, lp12

The room is 13'8" wide 26' long the speakers are 8'8" apart 11" inches from back of short wall, sweet spot is 12 feet from tweeters centered .

I have heard the Kudos Titan 707s driven actively by 2x250DRs (and they outperformed a single passive 300DR on the same speakers) but I am not sure if the 250DRs have enough welly for the 808s, even three of them active. Kudos I am sure could advise here.

If this is a possibility then you could listen to the 808s active with your existing 250s and see. I would imagine that your SNAXO would need to be modified for the different cross-over points of the 808. Again, this may or may not be possible. Naim will have the answer though. If this doesn't work out you could still get that 500 and drive the 808s passively.

The 808s will need some space around them and this may rule them out. The 707s though can manage with less space and they are superb.

DBLS

andyvk posted:

DBLS

Id love a pair,

Another vote for DBLs

i don’t know about Kudos but a lot of modern speakers are designed to be a considerable distance from the rear wall and you could end up with a pair of speakers sitting in the middle of the room

DBLs are big, whichever angle you look at them but at least they’re tucked away sitting tight to the wall

you will have another advantage in that whatever upgrades you may contemplate in the future, speakers won’t be on your list, that job will be already done 

Lyndon

lyndon posted:

Another vote for DBLs

i don’t know about Kudos but a lot of modern speakers are designed to be a considerable distance from the rear wall and you could end up with a pair of speakers sitting in the middle of the room

DBLs are big, whichever angle you look at them but at least they’re tucked away sitting tight to the wall

you will have another advantage in that whatever upgrades you may contemplate in the future, speakers won’t be on your list, that job will be already done 

Lyndon

 

   DBLs are impossible to find, If you have any ideas please. Tomorrow I'm going to audition a pair of Wilson Alexia's and a pair of Avalon's( not sure of the model at the moment) I'll have a 500DR to do the driving if I go passive. Without hesitation I admit a bit of reluctance I love the way they do rock, jazz and chamber music active NBLs but I do feel I'm giving up something , ...a greater sense of being there, more air , better blackness , bigger soundstage? Room size 13'8' wide, 26' deep .

You can find DBLs if you're patient, and they're the obvious choice. Otherwise I'd go with nigelb's suggestion of active Kudos 707s. Your 250s should be fine driving them actively.

In the past 12 months I've seen 3 pairs of DBLs on the market. One pair sold on ebay in South London (£2700 in black, no boxes). The other two were on a specialist hifi forum, and IIRC were UK and Berlin based. Both those in well maintained wood finish were around £6k.  A fourth pair, the ones I bought, were not advertised and I only became aware of their existence after mentioning the ebay ones in conversation with my dealer. 

So as Tonym said, patience. Maybe also set up an automated search on somewhere like hi-fishark.

Regards,

Willy.

Audiovector sr3 or sr6 is the 3. option if you want to  remain active. I have not heard Naim active  speakers, so I have no idea about differences in sound signature.

Claus

Kudos Titan 707s seem the obvious choice but 606s are rather gorgeous too  

I use my NBLs passively driven by a NAP500. I have a mental list of just two possible replacements in case something dreadful were to happen to the NBLs. That is the already mentioned Kudos 707 and the PMC Fact 12. But if you can get crossovers for the NBLs I'd hang on to them. In my opinion they're one of the Naim Audio super stars. 

 THANK YOU ALL FOR THE INPUT  on my active NBL dilemma. I decided to purchase a lightly used pair of Wilson Sasha's , the amp I'm going with a 500DR. I realized I cannot part with my NBLs (at least not for a while). I came to the realization that after auditioning several high end alternatives like Avalon Compas, Wilson Alexia's 2, Vandersteen 7, all amazing that it is almost impossible to judge a winner, . My desire to cut down on the number of boxes may never come to pass but I'm going to give it a try. My room is well sized for these larger Wilson's but how can anyone truly ascertain before buying how they will take to sounding in ones own space, God only knows but I'll rolling the dice again. If I blow it  I'll sell the Sasha's and go to plan B  probably replace the Sashas with the NBLs and maybe if lucky two more 500s ....thanks for listening , no one ever said an education is cheap

Zoot, 

I would encourage you to (if you have not already) to demo Super Lumia speaker cable with your NBLs.  Much of what you're seeking could come down to a speaker cable change.  It's a remarkable upgrade for (any) Naim system.  

Thx Chris, just bought a pair of Wilson Sasha's and a Nap500 going to try passive if it doesn't work I'll get two more 500s and wait for a chance at DBLs?

As an active NBL owner, I'll be extremely interested in your findings!

Wise choice not getting rid of the NBL's not much out there that can connect you that well with music. Plus, they are worth so much more than what you will have probably sell them for.

Mario.

zoot posted:

 THANK YOU ALL FOR THE INPUT  on my active NBL dilemma. I decided to purchase a lightly used pair of Wilson Sasha's , the amp I'm going with a 500DR. I realized I cannot part with my NBLs (at least not for a while). I came to the realization that after auditioning several high end alternatives like Avalon Compas, Wilson Alexia's 2, Vandersteen 7, all amazing that it is almost impossible to judge a winner, . My desire to cut down on the number of boxes may never come to pass but I'm going to give it a try. My room is well sized for these larger Wilson's but how can anyone truly ascertain before buying how they will take to sounding in ones own space, God only knows but I'll rolling the dice again. If I blow it  I'll sell the Sasha's and go to plan B  probably replace the Sashas with the NBLs and maybe if lucky two more 500s ....thanks for listening , no one ever said an education is cheap

Familiar dilemma Zoot - I have a pair of passive nibbles sitting in a spare room and I have not yet decided that they should be moved on, despite enjoying their (probable) replacement!

Peter