Naim Atom or Nova with PMC Twenty 23

And it surely beats lugging a pair of speakers conspicuously through the Lane Crawford Centre 

feeling_zen posted:

And it surely beats lugging a pair of speakers conspicuously through the Lane Crawford Centre 

LOL

I use a Nova with Dynaudio super 40s brilliant sound. Auditioned pmc but found the 40s more dynamic.

Anyone running Totem Hawks off a Nova?

Try an LS50 I fond it superior to Ref1 and easier to drive.

Mike Sullivan posted:

Anyone running Totem Hawks off a Nova?

I had a pair of Hawks with my Star...... great combo

Emme posted:

Mike Sullivan posted:

Anyone running Totem Hawks off a Nova?

I had a pair of Hawks with my Star...... great combo

Great Emma. I’m picking up the Nova next week. Starting to get excited. What speakers are you using now? I have Totem Hawks running off a UnitiCute2 and NAP100, but these are going to the media room to run off some old Aucoustic Research AR22bx’s. I wondering whether to keep the Hawks with the UnitiCute2/NAP100 and upgrade to Totem Forests with the Nova as a second upgrade when the $’s settle.

Mike Sullivan posted:

What speakers are you using now? 

Now I listen with a Sonus Faber Minina Vintage, but I moving to a pair of floorstanding speakers, probably a pair of Audiovector SR3 Signature, a great combo with Naim amp.

Just found in the ebay UK that a 2nd hand superuniti cost around GBP1600 (made in 2012), is it a reasonable one? Superuniti is sold around GBP3600 when new and its value reduced by GBP2000+ for 6 years. Is buying a new Nova at around GBP4200-4500 (not sure how much discount I will get) and probably can re-sell after 6 years at around GBP1600-2000 worth more?

Not sure anyone can predict how well a digital product will hold it's value. GBP1600 for SU seems about right. But the new range is too new to reliably predict how it's value will hold up. I could guess that it will hold value in a similar way but no one could guarantee that.

If it becomes a cult item that people hang on to it could be worth more than that in 6 years. Or some new streaming platform that renders all in the current range obsolete could be adopted over the next few years rendering it worth less. 

I'd advise to buy the product you want today and cross the resale bridge if/when you ever get to it.

feeling_zen posted:

Not sure anyone can predict how well a digital product will hold it's value. GBP1600 for SU seems about right. But the new range is too new to reliably predict how it's value will hold up. I could guess that it will hold value in a similar way but no one could guarantee that.

If it becomes a cult item that people hang on to it could be worth more than that in 6 years. Or some new streaming platform that renders all in the current range obsolete could be adopted over the next few years rendering it worth less. 

I'd advise to buy the product you want today and cross the resale bridge if/when you ever get to it.

Thanks. Indeed technology usually advance slower than we think in short term, but quick than we think in long term. Same apply to hifi maybe 

Xer, my dealer demonstrated the Atom with Dynaudio Contour 30. The Atom had more than enough power to drive them, and drive them well.

If it helps I went to buy an atom with some pic gb1i so the predecessor of the 23. It was ok but loose in the bass. The nova held it all in shape and it’s the one I bought...

I ran a pair Twenty.23s for a few years running off a Nait 5i with a CD5i & ND5XS as sources, and when positioned correctly they were absolutely superb in terms of low end grunt, clarity and volume. There was never a sense that the [relatively] lowly amp was struggling to do the PMCs justice. They really are a decent speaker. 

I think the twenty5.23 is a larger cabinet version of the twenty5.21, that being the case the Atom should have no trouble driving them - I spent a few hours listening to the combination before switching to the Nova, which I eventually bought as it was, to my ears, worth the extra cost (I had budgeted for the Nova).

 I think the Atom had more of a sense of “fun” and could easily have lived with it, but the Nova had more positives for me.

I also tried the Twenty5.22 which was also a good match - the 21 was a better match to the physical limitations of my listening room so I chose them - I don’t regret it at all - feed them some good music and they really sing - the combination also brings out the performance from badly recorded music so I’ve been playing albums I’ve avoided for ages  - I can now hear why the bands were signed. I’d expect the 23s to be the same.

The Star wasn’t available at the time, but I’ve since heard it and thought it closer to the Nova than the Atom. 

I’d say any of the new Unitis would be a good match to your speakers. The performance increases with price, all are good value for their prices compared with the opposition I auditioned. 

Forgot to add that I wrote the above as I believe the same applies to the twenty series too - the 21 and 23 have, I believe, the same drive units and crossover as each other and differ only in cabinet size so if the 21s are deemed “suitable” (which they seem to be), the 23s should provide a similar, if not identical, loading. 

TallGuy posted:

I think the twenty5.23 is a larger cabinet version of the twenty5.21, ...

About the same actually. Twenty.23 is taller than the Twenty5.23 (noticeably so) but the Twenty5.23 is wider (only slightly).

Odd difference, having owned both, the less sensitive on paper Twenty5.23 is noticeably easier to drive than the older more sensitive Twenty.23. 

I love both speakers and could easily live with the older model. They do things very differently though. 

PMC speakers go up in price on August 1 st so if you are serious now is the time to demo and order, best of luck.

Xer posted:

feeling_zen posted:

 ..

Thanks. Indeed technology usually advance slower than we think in short term, but quick than we think in long term. Same apply to hifi maybe 

Streaming tech run very fast, TBH they often end up beeing expensive investments for users

The recent new Naim range makes room for many cheap s/h purchases, soon a lot of old NDX/NDS will be traded-in

Not so with amplifiers, they easy last much longer

Hi Xer

I also live in HK so experiance much the same problems as you.

I started with a Unitilite and Proac Studio speakers. I then quickly added a Nap200dr then a Fraim. 1 year later I have a 272, 250dr, XPSDR, PMC 25:23. If at all possible buy the best you can afford now it will save you in the long run. Reselling secondhand stereo equipment in HK can be costly as I have found out. Once your in the Naim game it’s hard not to keep striving for better and better sound

Mac

Hkmac posted:

. Once your in the Naim game it’s hard not to keep striving for better and better sound

Depending on how you read it, that could be a fine compliment to Naim or the worst insult ever.

Hopefully Naim still holds its value in HK better than where I am (Japan). I had a 1 year old 282 appraised for sale and its second hand value here was about USD1000. 

I think the former in this case. It seems we don’t have the same secondhand market in this region like they do in the UK , yet..

Fortunately for me in the end I lent my old system to a friend to test it out and he loved it and bought the entire system albeit for a good price. Other previous offers I got from the secondhand market in HK we’re about 60-70% of the cost even under warranty.  

TallGuy posted:

I think the twenty5.23 is a larger cabinet version of the twenty5.21, that being the case the Atom should have no trouble driving them - I spent a few hours listening to the combination before switching to the Nova, which I eventually bought as it was, to my ears, worth the extra cost (I had budgeted for the Nova).

 I think the Atom had more of a sense of “fun” and could easily have lived with it, but the Nova had more positives for me.

I also tried the Twenty5.22 which was also a good match - the 21 was a better match to the physical limitations of my listening room so I chose them - I don’t regret it at all - feed them some good music and they really sing - the combination also brings out the performance from badly recorded music so I’ve been playing albums I’ve avoided for ages  - I can now hear why the bands were signed. I’d expect the 23s to be the same.

The Star wasn’t available at the time, but I’ve since heard it and thought it closer to the Nova than the Atom. 

I’d say any of the new Unitis would be a good match to your speakers. The performance increases with price, all are good value for their prices compared with the opposition I auditioned. 

I have an audition again on Atom and Nova. This time we also try NDX 2 + SU2. I also bring my wife, who has much better ear than me. And Kudos Super 20A is used which sound more similar to my PMC 20.23.

As many said, while Atom can try the Kudos Super 20A well (especially when volume below 50), the Nova has a much better control and bass. Interesting thing is that Atom/Nova has a much better clarity & detail than NDX2 + SU2. The sound of NDX2 + SU2 is like something behind the curtain. My dealer said this maybe due to the cable, or due to shorter circuit distance in Atom/Nova.

One bad thing on such high clarity/detail is that it also amplify the noise in the song (it's an old recording), which is somehow irradiating.  It is fine if the song is recorded recently the noise is removed probably.

Perol posted:

Xer posted:

feeling_zen posted:

 ..

Thanks. Indeed technology usually advance slower than we think in short term, but quick than we think in long term. Same apply to hifi maybe 

Streaming tech run very fast, TBH they often end up beeing expensive investments for users

The recent new Naim range makes room for many cheap s/h purchases, soon a lot of old NDX/NDS will be traded-in

Not so with amplifiers, they easy last much longer

If the streaming part of Nova get outdated, so can still treat it as a usual amplifier and connect to a new streamer, hopefully...

feeling_zen posted:

Hkmac posted:

. Once your in the Naim game it’s hard not to keep striving for better and better sound

Depending on how you read it, that could be a fine compliment to Naim or the worst insult ever.

Hopefully Naim still holds its value in HK better than where I am (Japan). I had a 1 year old 282 appraised for sale and its second hand value here was about USD1000. 

that's really low price ....