My name is Oleg and I’m from Bremen, Germany. I used to own Naim equipment, but then I switched away from Naim. For the past 4.5 years, I’ve had Linn Majik DSM/3 speakers and Audio Note AN-J/SPE in my living room. Then I bought a pair of beautiful Harbeth SHL5 Plus 40th Anniversary speakers, which were always my dream speakers, and a Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe. I’m actually quite happy with the sound. The Harbeth speakers are gorgeous. But, but after I bought a Naim Nait 50 for the bedroom, I want to go back to Naim. I definitely want to keep the Harbeth speakers and trade the Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe for Naim. I’d prefer the Naim SHL5 Plus because I could get €2500-€3000 from selling the Gold Note. I’m dreaming of an SN3/NDX2 set again, but unfortunately, it’s still too expensive. I’d rather not pay double right away. My question to the community is: would the Harbeth XS3 speakers plus a streamer like the Wii M Pro Plus and later the NDX2 be enough? Or SN3 + WiiM Pro Plus? I absolutely need a phono input for the Linn LP12. Or do the Harbeth turntables require a lot of power? Alternatively, a 272/250 combo, and later replacing the 272 with a 222. The problem with the 272 is the lack of Qobuz and phono support. My room is 33 square meters.
You are back to Naim with Nait 50, you hardly get a better amp.
It should have no problem with either AN/J or Harbeth - which need some distance to rear wall, more than AN/J.
Your sorted IMO.
I don’t think the Nait 50 will be the best option for your SHL5s (and you may have already tried it), and I don’t think the SN3 will be quite up to the job in a 33m2 room either. I only say this from personal experience with these exact same speakers and amp.
The NAP250 (the new classic) may be ok… but I would say make sure you have a good home demo before committing.
If I were you I might start with trying a 222 (or NDX2) into your current amplifier so you introduce the Naim streaming and DAC flavour back into your system. The advantage of the 222 (practically speaking) is that if you get a 250, ideally 350, or any other power amp later, you will have its integrated phono stage that you want.
Thank you very much!
If you check the Harbeth thread, there was an owner of the Harbeth SHL5+ who thought that the 282/300DR is the minimum requirement for the speakers after upgrading from the 250DR. He felt that the SHL5+ sounds broken when driven by the 282/250DR though that’s his opinion and experience. Coincidentally I owned the SHL5+ and have upgraded from 202/200 to the 282/250DR, and in my book the 282/250DR is a significant upgrade from the 202/200. If you want a good sound from the SHL5+ I would suggest the 282/250DR as a minimum although another owner didn’t think that way.
I once tried the Nait XS with the SHL5 (non-Plus) and the sound was just lacklustre. That combination made me feel that the Nait XS is the most underwhelming integrated that I’ve tried. The Nait XS actually sounded almost the same as the Rega Elicit mk2 when I compared both with the Harbeth SHL5 in my system for about 3 hours. I’m not sure about the XS3 but the SHL5/XS1 does not sound good to me. It’s a mushy sound without much dynamics and detail, a bunched up sound all concentrated in the midrange without much separation.
My experience with Harbeth/Naim :-
Nait XS / SHL5 : 1 day
NAC202, NAP200, Dual Cap from another manufacturer, NAPSC / SHL5 : 6 years
NAC202, NAP200, Dual Cap from another manufacturer, NAPSC / SHL5+ : 2 years
NAC 282, NAP250DR, Hicap DR, NAPSC / SHL5+ : 7 years
Thanks Ryder!
Okay. Do I understand correctly that I need at least a NAP250/250DR for my speakers? The Supernait won’t be powerful enough? It’s within my budget. But I want to keep the number of devices to a minimum. That’s why I was thinking of the SN3/NDX2, maybe a HiCap later.
No problem @Oleg_Winkler . I don’t have experience with Supernait 3 but would expect that it will match the SHL5+ much better than Nait XS or XS3. Perhaps there are few Harbeth owners here who use the Supernait3 who might chime in later.
The XS3 is out of the question. Okay. We’ve made some progress.
I’ve heard various SHL5 loudspeakers several times - not the latest XD though.
I have yet to hear a combo which control the sloggy bas in those speakers, the basnotes can’t follow the upper tone area, makes coherence and timing rather bad IME. I found I liked their 2-way speakers much better. Saved some money too.
Maybe a pair of NC350 is the way to go, but how does the little NN50 perform ?
Placement could be an issue, maybe try them on the longest room distance possible, unfortunately early SHL5 can’t work close to wall.
SHL5+ much cleaner bass than SHL5 non-Plus which shows a plodding bass no matter how you place the speakers in the room. The bass will still stick out like a sore thumb even though you place it 2m out from the walls. I’ve tried. Nevertheless, SHL5+ doesn’t have this bass boom but you still need to place it out from the walls, about 1.0m clear distance from the front wall and ~0.8m from side walls.
More powerful amp with SHL5+ = cleaner and more controlled bass.
Less powerful amp = smeared bass and boom.
I use Harbeth with Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe. Not with NN50.
Oh sorry, I thought you have tried both combinations now that you own a Naim amp.
I have zero knowledge to Gold Note, but would be interested how NN50 run your Harbeths.
No doubt NN50 would run AN/J fine, if you still own them ?
I sold my AN-Setup Meishu + WE300B/ AN-J/SPE 
I will back to Naim
In the Nait 50 speakers thread @Nagraboy has reported his experience with Nait 50 / SuperHL 5 speakers (Click here)!
I remember the Meishu, one BIG box, no racks will have enough room for this giant.
I’ve used mine with some Royds 7L and sometime Heybrook Quartet.
Ended up preferring my then 72/HC/140.
May I ask: after 15 years with Harbeth speakers, do you now have different speakers? Do you no longer like Harbeth? Or what was the reason for switching from Harbeth?
The reason I switched from Harbeth was i found something which I like better. After living with the Harbeth for so long, I somehow got a little bored and wanted a change.
My main speakers are now the Marten Duke 2. I swapped the SHL5+ for a pair of Graham LS5/9 about 3 years ago.
I had the SHL5+ with a SN1 for about year. I had a bit of bass boom. I later switched to a Compact 7ES-3 30th Anniversary with an eventual upgrade to the SN2. I still have both today. In my room (L-shaped) I prefer the Compact 7s.