4 speakers from Naim amp

Hi-Fi Corner
1

Hello,

I am looking for Naim options to drive 4 Dynaudio S4-C80 ceiling speakers. I have an Atom and a Mu-so today, and want to bring another room into the Naim experience which I love, utilizing the naim app to control everything.

I am looking primarily at pre-owned, and was thinking of ND5 XS + SUPERNAIT 2 + NAP 200 DR, or similar, idea being to use the bi-amp option on the SUPERNAIT to give me 4 speaker channels and enough power.

Would appreciate any feedback on such a setup, or variations / other recommendations. In a perfect world, I would setup the 4 speakers in 2 zones to enable volume differences between the zones (always same source), but I can live without that to get the right user experience.

Thanks,

Will

2

Sounds like the old Naimnet is what you’d need, but you’d have to look around for second hand.

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3

Another option is using a Nova and a power amp in a bi-amp configuration (Nova connected to 2 speakers and use the pre-out connection to a power amp that feeds the other 2 speakers) similar to the ND5XS2/SN2 option. Depending on the ceiling speakers, the NAP100 might even be a nice match?

4

That’s still a lot of £ for 4 speakers in the ceiling.

5

Yes, but less than the ND5/SN2/200 the OP is suggesting. Maybe running 4 speakers of one Uniti is possible?

6

I’d try to do this for 3 digits in £ not 4 (or even 5!).

Have you thought about adding another mu-so?

7

Have not heard of naimnet before. Looks like the right idea! Do you know when that was sold? Will have a hunt.

Yeah, Naim is not the cheapest solution, but there’s a lot of used units around. Would love to find a solution for 3 digits but think it’s going to be a bit higher.

What was the idea with the Mu-so, @robert_h? The room is 70m2 and have had a Mu-so unit in it previously and the sound is lost in the room, completely unable to fill it.

8

That’s a stadium not a room.

9

Minor typo :slight_smile: 70 sq.m

1 Like
10

I understood 70m2, that’s 3 x our biggest room.
Are ceiling mounted speakers going to work?

11

I hope so. That was the intention of the S4-C80s; they were recommended by my local dealer. Original plan was to pair them with a Rotel distribution amp.

12

I demoed my speakers in a big room at the dealers; not as big as 70m2 but certainly bigger than ours. Have you tried a pair of “regular” speakers?
And I set up my little rega r3 speakers in a village hall once with my nait xs and that was filled easily. And that’s probably closer to 70m2.

13

Our old house was a show home with in ceiling speakers in every room, all driven by one pair of speaker terminals in a cupboard.

So one connection, 16 speakers per channel on bell wire.

I’d check what the amp is expected to drive :laughing:

14

My experience of using ceiling speakers ( best quality, expensive ones) in two different installations is that they are not capable of creating a real HiFi experience however you drive them. The positioning and mounting compromises don’t allow for great sound IME. It doesn’t matter what power amps they’re driven with, so don’t go crazy with quality amps is my advice.

Btw, are you sure you mean 70m2? Is it 7m x 10m or similar?

15

I have some floor standing speakers (Evoke 50) which fill the room nicely, but it’s a busy room (multiple structures) with no great floor placement option. I like the idea of having more speakers distributed so can fill with low volume. Trouble with ceiling speakers is trying before you buy. The local dealer does have a good sized demo room (not as big) though no ceiling speakers. When I purchased the Evokes (intended for my living room - 40 sq. m) I took my old Ikon 6 to their demo room and compared the difference between speakers which was helpful but still quite different to at home.

The room I am focusing on now is a large kitchen/dining room with a sofa/sitting area in one part of it. There are multiple listening positions so I do not expect to get the same listening experience I have in the sitting room, but I’d like to easily fill the room (even at low volume) and have good clarity. But truth is I have never tried ceiling speakers.

16

I have also thought about having two speakers per channel to keep the amp setup simple; it’s a possible option.

17

@KJC; that’s interesting feedback; thx for sharing.

yes, 6.2 x 11.2 ish.

18

In your experience here, how many ceiling speakers were you using, and what size space?

19

I would be cautious here. Naimnet was a spin-off from around 14 years ago and used the now defunct Netstreams Digilinx system, so you’ll be locked into what is essentially a dead end tech-wise. Naimnet gear turns up from time to time at tempting prices but ultimately it may not be a good investment. Naimnet was not a success but Naim learned a lot from it and it sowed the seeds for Naim’s streaming network connected devices.

20

Hi Willf
We’ve since moved so I had to do some email searching to remind myself!
Here’s what I ordered:

Order summary

Monitor Audio C280IDC In Ceiling Speaker (Each) Ă— 4 ÂŁ1,040.00
Monitor Audio C380IDC In Ceiling Speaker (Each) Ă— 2 ÂŁ660.00

Subtotal ÂŁ1,700.00

Driven by Sonos Amps as 3x stereo pairs in an L shape Kitchen/Dining Room/ Sun Room roughly 50m2 in total. It sounded fine for background listening, but didn’t give a real HiFi experience IMO.
In the new place we’ve gone for Naim Muso QB’s which work at least as well for us.