TL;DR: It’s all about speaker-room interaction dammit (and speaker-amp synergy)! What speakers should I buy?
Chapter 0: Intro
I’ve been a Naim - Dynaudio user for the past 10 years, but unfortunately, I can’t say that I’ve ever been truly satisfied with my HiFi system. Following many years of upgrades, tweaks and moving speakers around, I still can’t get no satisfaction or enjoyment of my system. Following some chance events, I ended up with some spare equipment that I set-up in a friend’s place… and then I finally saw the light! So please bear with me for a lengthy post over this HiFi trip!
Chapter 1: B&W vs Dynaudio shootout
When I decided to build my first HiFi system I was completely clueless (as it turn out). So what follows is a list of what not to do when getting into the audiophile world… Mistake1: my main requirement for speakers was to get a pair of floorstanders that would keep me company forever (even if they might have been a bit large for my then current living room). Obviously if the speakers don’t match the room it will always be a mess… Anyway, following discussions with friends who knew a thing or two about speakers and online reading, I ended up auditioning B&W 683 and Dynaudio Excite X36. The Dynaudios sounded more “exciting” than the “dark and muffled” B&Ws and they looked better, so Dynaudio it was. To complete the system, I got a Nait XS (1st gen) and a DacMagic 100. (Mistake 2: When comparing speakers, the electronics were completely different to the final Naim choice)
Chapter 2: Entering the rabbithole
Not being content with my system and getting listener’s fatigue pretty often, the sane thing to do was of course to get a FlatCap XS and Naca4. Can’t say I remember much difference to be honest. Anyway after a few years I moved to a bigger place. Being in Belgium, the room layout doesn’t help much really. There is a (non-functional) fireplace on the front wall, where the HiFi and the TV is located, between the speakers. On the right side there are windows and on the left a big opening to the dining room (pretty much of equal dimensions). So, no first reflections from that side. Ceiling is 3 meters high. To cut a long story short, the imaging was always (and still is) pretty bad, with a completely flat image and no sense of space.
Cue more upgrades, such as a pair of bass traps (not enough to have an impact of course), Fraimlite, SN2, Allo Digione, nDAC (I don’t recall at what order by now) to make the sound less bright and more bearable. In the end I bit the bullet and accepted that it’s the speakers. So, in search for something less bright and less overpowering, I decided to go for stand-mounts. After auditioning a few Dynaudios and ProAc, I found the dark sound that I was looking for in the C1 Platinum. I even demoed them at home and of course they sounded much better than the X36. Of course they were bloody expensive, so I waited patiently until I got a good deal on a second hand pair. Success (or was it)?
Even though the sound was now less fatiguing, it still wasn’t satisfactory. Still no 3D image and the music is not engaging. To put it simply, I am rarely drawn in by the music… Solution? Let’s demo some more black boxes! Thanks to my friendly dealer, I demoed a 250DR directly into the SN2. Surely there was more power, but not so much control (that’s why they are called NACs, remember?) Then followed a demo of a 555DR on the nDAC. Surely that would solve all my problems, no? Well, blimey, I couldn’t hear a single difference! Even more blimey, I did hear a difference by trying the PowerLine that was with the 555PS into the SN2. More bass that is. So naturally I got one when the right opportunity showed up on the second-hand market. Add the customary Isoacoustics GAIA III, HiLine, Naca5, Musicline Netzleiste PLUS and you’ve got the full Monty at an appreciable cost.
Of course, several REW measurements and speaker relocations have been made. The room suffers from a terrible mode at ~45-46 Hz, and no amount of room treatment will tame that realistically. So I am now using a (sacrilegious I know) DSP cut at that frequency to make sure it doesn’t make the sound too muddy. Clarity did improve, but the sound remains lifeless and congested, for lack of better descriptions. Several times I’ve thought to throw away everything, get some crappy digital speaker and call it a day…
Chapter 3: The enlightenment
With all these upgrades, my trusty old Nait XS and DacMagic 100 was still here and there was no financial benefit to sell it really, as I had bought it new just before XS 2 came in the market, so the second-hand price was pretty low (Reminder to self: never buy new HiFi again!). Anyway, in a strange turn of events, I ended up buying a pair of second hand B&W 685 for pretty much peanuts. And recently a (pretty much empty) living room of a good friend became available to place my spare equipment. So there I go, spreading the equipment on the floor, connecting a Chromecast Audio as a source (imagine all this jitter via the optical connection, the horror! 
), and roughly placing the B&Ws in the room (on appropriate stands of course). First trial, hmmmm, not that great really. Let’s get rid of the toe in and set them firing straight. Press Play on Spotify (mp3 quality, even more horror! ) and… blimey square, cube and so on… Finally, I hear a 3D image and sound with spaciousness. Instruments that float in space and are not stuck on the speakers. And sound that is actually fun to listen to… And with a system that is 7.3 times cheaper (in official prices) … Bloody acoustics…
The main difference with that room is that it has no openings (once you close the doors), slightly irregular shape and a ceiling of 3.5 meters. Reverb time is huge (RT60 = ~900ms) vs mine at ~450ms, but it seems not to matter. You just play music and enjoy it! Of course I can notice some limitations in the “finesse” or detail of the speakers, but again it doesn’t matter. The sound is much more open and I feel confident that if I start upgrading the components on this system and in this room, the improvements will be much more obvious. So why is that? Obviously, the symmetry of the reflections helps a lot to establish the image. But in my system I can never get this clear rhythm that you get from the drums to get the music going…
Chapter 4: Solve the mystery
Being an engineer, of course I should follow a methodical approach to get to the root of the problem. So over to my friend go the Dynaudios. Time for some measurements first. In terms of frequency response, here are the Dynaudios (toed in) at my place (orange line), the Dynaudios (Green) and the B&W (blue) at my friend (no toe-in there). The curves have been SPL aligned by REW at 500Hz, 4-octave span. You can see how bad my room acoustics are! B&Ws also seem flatter overall. Their lower LF output is actually a blessing as it doesn’t excite the 47Hz room mode that much. They are also front ported which seems to make the in-room placement easier. I didn’t spend any time to optimise the Dynaudio position, which seem to be more picky for extracting the most out of them.
Let’s play some music then. Comparing the two speakers back-to-back, it’s obvious that the Dynaudio is a more “adult”, mature speaker and you can feel its authority. Definitely darker in tonality, it is missing some spark of the B&W. More importantly, though, it is missing the PRAT! I can see it’s potential to convey many layers of information, however they all fall on top of each other and in the result is completely unengaging! 10 times more expensive speakers and yet so disappointing result. And it clearly has to do with how the drums are emphasised in the B&Ws and give so much rhythm. It’s clear to me now that the Dynaudios need a much much better front end to show what they can do.
Final trial: the B&Ws at my place. No optimisation of speaker placement, but still, the shortcomings of the room are obvious: no special 3D image and the right speaker is always a bit more obvious. However, the PRAT is there! I keep playing song after song and they are all so enjoyable. I’ve never felt “We are the champions” and “Another one bites the dust” like that in my whole life!
Chapter 5: Epilogue
So where does that leave me now? Life is too short to waste it with music that you don’t enjoy. And I am not going to spend an infinite amount of money to make the Dynaudios sing. So, as much as I am attached to them and their lovely engineering and quality, they will have to go. Of course, the question is, with what to replace them. Based on my newly found wisdom 
, it’s clear that I should go for a more modest stand-mount, which is much more forgiving in terms of room placement. I don’t want a bright sound, but I do want a speaker that knows how to jam and throw a party like these lowly B&Ws can do. Obviously I will need to audition a lot at my place to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. But any pointers from you guys would be great (especially if you managed to read up to here)! I am curious about the Sonus Faber Sonetto, which look great and are front ported. Of course, the current B&Ws could be an option to try, but now they are rear ported so not sure if they will be as flexible with room placement. Any other suggestions?
In terms of front-end I think I am set for life with the current system… Not planning to change anything apart from a Powerline here and there. So, the speakers should not be too demanding for the SN2. Once I reach that stepping stone of speaker Valhalla, probably a REL subwoofer will follow to complete the trip. Ahh, and a new house with better acoustics! 
Apologies for the lengthy post, but I really had to get it off my chest. Cheers!
