Drums sound

hi all, do any of you heard lack of drums on NAIM UNITI ATOM?
Did you, friends, focused to listen to the drums on “twist in my sobriety” Tanita Tikaram or “the pocket sun” Tamat or “kiowas” Sepultura or the songs staying on the drums dominated at the scene? “burn my eyes” album from Machine head and so on…
My speakers are maybe unknown for you BV audio E1.2, but with denon they plays drums exemplary. With Atom, (which sounds great for money) but drums are excluded from the music. Are there any other speakers to try if I m missing drums?

I have Atom paired with ProAc Tablette 10 Signature. Drums a plenty. One of the reasons I chose them as the timing and execution of the drum licks on one of my favourite tracks we exemplary.

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Have you checked to make sure both speakers are in phase? Otherwise their shouldn’t be any reason for drums to disappear, at least not to the extent you are talking about. Possibly re-locating the speakers to a corner at least to hear what has happened to the bass (drums).

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the bass is better than before, dynamic is better! sound stage is breathtaking. I ve got far more hi-fi than before. just drums are somewhere behind. Even the snare drum, not only the tom-toms and bass pedals. For me is interesting how it can be.

Your likely hearing a more balanced representation with Naim than your previous amp.

Agreed you are likely now hearing things as they should be. Do check phase is correct, and try some headphones for reassurance. OH and are the tweeter links in place if your speakers have them?

Just tried the first of the tracks you mention in your OP. On my Atom, with tiny Neat Iota speakers, in my office, the drums are definitely there but they don’t dominate the recording. However to me that gives a nicely balanced sound, as @CrystalGipsy and @cdboy suggested. I’ve just played a track by Moiré Music Drum Orchestra and the drums sound spot on to me as do the drums on most of my jazz discs.

Roger

For drums let me recommend Kitarō (喜多郎)

Just played a few of the tracks you suggested and my Atom doesn’t have an issue with projecting drums.
In fact, one track (machine head) sounded so damn good I recorded it for you. See if you can play this.

Put headphones on though for best effect!

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Machine head

@krbo have you changed your source? If you have moved from lossless /CD to spotify for example, this could have some impact.

It’s the first time I’ve played metal on my system, wow, so thunderous and punchy sounding. I have never actually enjoyed metal before. Naim makes everything sound so good!. Might be partly the big speakers too though.

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Phases are OK. If I connect back to my denon, drums are back again. Just less hi-fi. In “Kiowas” from Sepultura the drums are dominating the scene, even acoustic guitars are missing a bit. (I would say denon have some DSP to do this drums - its one of the CEOL collection of Denon, so is not pure hi-fi) Comparing to Atom. I have to go to studio and choose something bigger maybe, for my living room. 35m2.

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Thank you for your time, Roger. You say “they don’t dominate the recording” and I would say the correct is “they should dominate”. This is what I mean. But it still can be that my speakers together with Atom simple plays different.
…I will try to connect bigger speakers

I had a similar experience when I upgraded my power amp from a 250.2 to a 250dr. The former is less linear at the lower frequences and pulls them up a bit which happened to work with the speakers I had at the time that started to rolloff a bit higher too. The 250dr was significantly better but more linear and honest. It allowed the lower frequencies with the slam and attack to be down where they should be. But that was beyond the capabilities of the speakers I had at the time. The bass and slam just vanished. A speaker upgrade later to a pair that had the same lower end response but a sharp rolloff was able to deliver the goods.

In other words, my amp showed up my speakers.

I think it very much depends on the recording. Full range speakers or larger speakers may help. Sometimes bass frequencies can mask percussion particularly if your room suffers from bass nodes. Have you tried changing your listening position to see if the drums sound better or worse. I recently installed some bass traps which have definitely improved percussion dynamics. I think this is due to improving some bass frequency decay in the room.

CG, can i ask the track?

Marquee Moon by Television. All the other speakers I tested on the same day just lost something at key points and timing was off. The Tabs 10s nailed it the normal Tab 10 didn’t show showed to me it was with the extra money for the different crossover they use in it.

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It’s only the intro to the track, but the most realistic “in the room” drum sound ever, is in “Free”, from the Primal Scream Memphis Tapes album.

Turn it UP!

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Cheers