What speakers for Unity Atom?

Nothing is more personal than speaker choice. My suggestion would be to try the peakers on your list in your own room, with your own music and see what you like most ... in the end it's all about what you prefer ...

KLOUT10, you are fully right saying only me can decide what sounds better in my conditions. 

But anyway I am interested in opinions of those who probably had to make more or less similar choice.

I can’t recommend specific speakers but a few points: any speaker with a rear bass port needs a bit of space behind it, so I’d worry about the ProAc (the Tablette 10 May work as it’s designed to go near the wall), the P3ESR is designed to be used in free space, a shelf is a poor place for a speaker: you really need stands. If there is a limit to the height, does this mean there is another shelf above? If so, don’t expect great sound. If you cannot accommodate the speakers properly I’d hesitate before spending £3,000 on a hifi system. It’s a lot of money and you want to get the best from it. 

HUNGRYHALIBUT, your last advice is what I have beeing thiking about for couple of weeks. I have a chance to make a trial before paying money but I am not sure if my potential investement will be paid back with good sound at least by 70%.

Can you really, really, not arrange things so that you can have speakers on stands? It wouldn’t be the end of the world to have speakers on a shelf, and you can get supports to go beneath them, but you must have some space beside and above them. Otherwise they will sound boxy and shut in, which would be a shame. 

Stands is really a challange. I thougth about this. But having 4 years kid and no proper space for stands (because of room design) - this solution will look like the fifth wheel for the car. Opera Prima has front side bass port, so I consider them. As for Harbeth, I suggested if this is a closed box with very weak bass, it would even better for them to be placed close to the rear wall (~23cm), such position can hlp with bass (or not?).

As for the height limit, you are right: I have an upper shelf from one side. Its depth is smaller than a lower one. I see I can have 5-7 cm between the top of one speaker and this upper shelf will "cover" about 60% of the speaker.

What I "like" - my dealer says everything will be quite not bad with this solution :-) 

Neat Iotas have a really nice synergy with the Atom I believe and although rear ported are considered a 'bookshelf' speaker. To the OP, I started out with a Mu-So and ended up with a Nova and Spendor A7's so be careful!! 

However you look at it, there's going to be a compromise so if a bookshelf is what is available then that's what it is. 

In this position I'd be looking at speakers specifically designed to be used in challenging places, such as the Totem Kin Mini. The ProAc Tab 10 Sigs are a sealed design so can be placed close to a rear wall, like others have posted it would be advisable to avoid speakers with rear and downward facing ports. Whatever you decide on, invest a fiver in some small sorbothane feet between the shelf and the speaker in an effort to reduce vibrations and aid isolation. These can be bought quite easily in different sizes from Amazon or eBay.

I think it's worthwhile googling for bookshelf speakers and looking at the online reviews of the usual hi-fi mags to build up a shortlist, then speak with dealers to demo some at home in-situ.

Hope this helps!

Jon

Thanks JONNERS!

Totem Kin Mini is a speciality in my country. And they look "too simple" for Atom (just my idea).

I heard Proack Tablette Anniversary at dealers room. I was not impressed. Maybe ProAc Tab 10 Sig. produces more interesting sounds... Good idea.

And your advice regarding something in between the shelf and speaker is just what I also realise well. But what influence the upper shelf can have on the sound? 

Bezb posted:

Thanks JONNERS!

Totem Kin Mini is a speciality in my country. And they look "too simple" for Atom (just my idea).

I heard Proack Tablette Anniversary at dealers room. I was not impressed. Maybe ProAc Tab 10 Sig. produces more interesting sounds... Good idea.

And your advice regarding something in between the shelf and speaker is just what I also realise well. But what influence the upper shelf can have on the sound? 

As I say Bezb, you're going to have to make compromises. Without knowing anything about your shelves, ideally you want the speakers at ear/eye level when sitting down to listen. If the shelf you have in mind is too low and the next one up can be used and is nearer the ideal height then try to use that one instead. As for the effect of any shelves above? Well, who really knows but you'll just have to live with it!

I wouldn't discount the Totems on looks, my dealer is particularly fussy about what they sell - their only speaker brands are Totem, Spendor and Kudos so my thinking is they must be good, it's certainly a well-respected brand. If it's looks that worry you well ask yourself what's more important - looks or sound? It may be one of those compromises you have to make! 

No, I was not clear enough. Sorry :-)

Too simple - not in design. I do not know much about Totems but they are pretty small and I am not sure if they can express Atom potential in full. You see that "old style" Harbeth is in my list, so look is not an issue at all :-)

Bezb posted:

No, I was not clear enough. Sorry :-)

Too simple - not in design. I do not know much about Totems but they are pretty small and I am not sure if they can express Atom potential in full. You see that "old style" Harbeth is in my list, so look is not an issue at all :-)

You need to try some to be sure really. Think about all those AV speaker systems you can get nowadays, they all feature small speakers, some way smaller than the Totems and other bookshelf designs and they can really pack a punch. You really can't judge a book by it's cover.

Totem is a great suggestion. If you can find a pair of Dreamcatchers those would work great in a shelf and sound nice as well. 

Thank you. Try to see if I can find them here.

Another, though far more expensive option would be Guru. They're in at about £1800 a pair but have attracted some rave reviews. Lot of money though and difficult to find as not particularly well distributed outside of Guru's native Scandinavia.

I've heard some good things about the pmc db1i and being able to perform well close to the wall..although you'd need to probably buy blind...fanthorpes (aka 5star hi-fi on eBay)in Hull has a nice pair with a return option if they didn't suit. I have the twenty 21's with a superuniti but around 10cm's from the wall and no boom or any other nasties..but I have them mounted on stands..I'm not quite sure if they'd work on a shelf.hope the search goes well.

I know that they have gone up in price but Guru Juniors are excellent speakers that are front ported so work very well close to a wall. Mine are in an IKEA Kallex (5x5) unit with my Atom and work really well. A demo might be problematic (only available from European dealers but can be imported). Dealer might give you a return if you pay for it (worth a try). Or you could pop round and listen to mine if you are near Southampton. 

I tried the Neat Iotas before listening to my Juniors. Black and white doesn't really do it justice. 

Neil

Guru Juniors look really interesting... Thank you for the idea. But how to hear them... :-) Next week I am in Vienna but they have no partner even in such a big city. 

What I think about now: ProAc Tablette 10 idea. Or its Signature version. But new question appears... Atom output power is 40 W and impendance - 8 Omn. While ProAc Tab 10 specification is 5-50 W and 10 Omn impendance. Will such setup work well enough? At least for 20 sqm room.

Friends, last couple of days I spent for studying intresting idea - Guru Q10 speakers. But I was challanged by one point: one audio dealer said that Uniti Atom with its 40 W per channel into 8 Omn will be not enough for Q10 with its 20-150 W, 5 Omn impedance and 87 dB sensititvity. According to him, such speakers need 80-100W amplifier to be well opended.

Do you think it is really true based on the mentioned specification figures?

I tried my unitiqute2 with both Guru q10mk2 and Juniors, with and without nap100.

The Juniors were a better match in both cases, the Qute or nap100 was able to 'wake them up' more easily which made the system sound more fun and engaging with Juniors. They are also more suitable I think for siting on/in a shelf unit, Q10 is really a standmount while also designed for near wall placement.

I'm not sure whether the Atom would give enough improvement/power delivery over the unitiqute2 to make it more suited to Q10 speakers, but I doubt it.

Vandersteen VLR are designed for your application and have a very good reputation. Of course, you may not like the sound sig but a good choice to investigate. Atom should drive them easily...

ATB,

Mark

Thank you the idea, Mark. I'll check this option. Offtop: you have interesting nickname where are you come from?

As for Guru, funny thing is that Juniors has same technical specification as Q10. So, theoretically if Juniors work well with Atom, Q10 also should have no issues.

Today I heard Atom with Audio Physic Classic Compact. No emotions, unfortunately. It seemed these speakers really needed stronger partner than Atom.

It seems to me (just very subjective) that in case to see further than small solutions like Neat Iota or similar, it is really better to have more power... Maybe Unity Nova is a good solution (I believe so) but this is different budget and in that case other interesting solutions appear. Maybe not all in one but two boxes, but the choice is much bigger with such budget. What do you think?

Well I come from the USA but my parents emigrated from the Ukraine...The nickname is really for my car, another passion of mine.The word varyat loosely translates to "lunatic" which is entirely appropriate for my first gen Porsche 911 Turbo Good luck on your speaker search!

ATB,

Mark

Bezb posted:

Friends, last couple of days I spent for studying intresting idea - Guru Q10 speakers. But I was challanged by one point: one audio dealer said that Uniti Atom with its 40 W per channel into 8 Omn will be not enough for Q10 with its 20-150 W, 5 Omn impedance and 87 dB sensititvity. According to him, such speakers need 80-100W amplifier to be well opended.

Do you think it is really true based on the mentioned specification figures?

I had the QM10 at home a few weeks ago. They really are easy loads for the amp. My SuperNait had no issues driving them to levels beyond what I would want to listen to. All this in a ca. 30m2 room with the volume below 11 o’clock. My dealer reported the same for the Juniors.

Unless your room is significantly larger or you are into serious headbanging both Gurus should work for you. Did I mention that I had the demo pair on a bookcase?

varyat posted:

Well I come from the USA but my parents emigrated from the Ukraine...The nickname is really for my car, another passion of mine.The word varyat loosely translates to "lunatic" which is entirely appropriate for my first gen Porsche 911 Turbo Good luck on your speaker search!

ATB,

Mark

Mark, I knew you have some connection with Ukraine because I know well what "varyat" means. Your parents must be from the Western part of Ukraine because this is a special word of this part of Ukraine. I was born there

As for the speakers, I really would like to try Guru. The problem is that it is not easy to find them.