Much the same as my reason for changing amps. I had smaller Dynaudio speakers x32’s and they sounded very good with both a 200, 250 and a 300 I then traded them in for the much larger Contour s3.4’s, the guy I swapped them with was using a big powerful Hegel integrated amp and the contours sounded incredible with them but at home with the Nap 300 and in my smaller room not so good at all.
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Forward sounding speakers matched with detailed forward sounding 300 will probably in many cases be too much sparkle… I might abandon Naim if I cannot get this right. I tend to often get tired ears after some hours of listening even on low level. Might jump for something more warm. Something more focused on warm midrange. I’ll try Tannoy Eaton Legacy first and evaluate what happens but if still problems the onto something else I believe. Question is, what. McIntosh?
Class A possibly? ( Luxman, Accuphase - looks could be deceiving ). ATB Peter
Nagra👍🏿
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Musical Fidelity NuVista 600; with Harbeth SHL5 Plus it is a great value for money hybrid muscle and very neutral integrated that I honestly think you for sure shouldn’t stop considering. I would bet they are a total sinergy.
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Hi Bongoman,
having read this, you might like Audio Analogue amplification. Is there a chance to get a demo in your region?
A new carpet in our living room improved its acoustics a lot. This led to a switch from slightly forgiving speakers to more articulate ones. The sound with Naim amplification, a SN2 in my case, is better than what I had before. But overall very much like you describe what you hear.
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@bongoman if you’re going to stick with solid state I’d suggest Luxman the new Krell 300i, maybe the Pass Labs. Boulder Audio 866, or the Aestheix Mimas, I just got the Mimas and it’s miles beyond my SN2/HiCapDr. You could also go tubes Ayon Audio, ARC maybe Conrad Johnson. The other thing of course maybe adding a good power conditioner. Lots of Naimites having good luck with Audioquest Niagara 3000
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You make a good point, and the law of diminishing returns has a big part to play, however I’ve often found a good leveller is how much interest there is in the music, Over the hardware. The absolute best car I’ve ever had was a 1969 Karman Ghia (5 years ago), purely because it put a smile on my face that no other car will ever do so. It was also the single most reliable VW I’ve ever had (I’ve had three outside of the KG, and they were all overrated, easily being outdone by Ford and Seats (Cupras!). Anyway, for me the KG is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, 1600,twin, air cooled and import from California so great condition (car older than me, just!) but that car for me is a great example for hifi, a combination of beauty, design, and tech (find me a car more aerodynamic) but, to drive, my god, every day was a smile day. For me, the 911 became the evolution, but would you swap the KG for a 911, never, not if you’ve ever owned one. The KG made you feel amazing, everyone wanted to sit in it , it literally stopped traffic, Ferrari’s felt inferior. The day I sold it was tragic, but, at the time, made send sense (daughter to unis, Fiat 500s etc). But, it made driving fun, for me, great integrated Amps sit in this space, Sugar Ray Leonards vs Tyson’s If you like, there is always something bigger , but, the key is, can it move you. Thats not degrading some amazing rigs on here, but, personally, I want my system to evoke some emotion, if your integrated does that, well, job done and enjoy the music, that’s all that counts, spend the difference on the music.
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iPhone just crashed mid software update so this post may have landed randomly in wrong thread.
Thanks all for the recommendations. I’ve got a growing list of amps to try out.
@opus just read up on the Aestheix Mimas, it gets a great review in Hifi news. I’ll look into arranging a demo 
You make a good point, and the law of diminishing returns has a big part to play, however I’ve often found a good leveller is how much interest there is in the music, Over the hardware. The absolute best car I’ve ever had was a 1969 Karman Ghia (5 years ago), purely because it put a smile on my face that no other car will ever do so. It was also the single most reliable VW I’ve ever had (I’ve had three outside of the KG, and they were all overrated, easily being outdone by Ford and Seats (Cupras!). Anyway, for me the KG is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, 1600,twin, air cooled and import from California so great condition (car older than me, just!) but that car for me is a great example for hifi, a combination of beauty, design, and tech (find me a car more aerodynamic) but, to drive, my god, every day was a smile day. For me, the 911 became the evolution, but would you swap the KG for a 911, never, not if you’ve ever owned one. The KG made you feel amazing, everyone wanted to sit in it , it literally stopped traffic, Ferrari’s felt inferior. The day I sold it was tragic, but, at the time, made send sense (daughter to unis, Fiat 500s etc). But, it made driving fun, for me, great integrated Amps sit in this space, Sugar Ray Leonards vs Tyson’s If you like, there is always something bigger , but, the key is, can it move you. Thats not degrading some amazing rigs on here, but, personally, I want my system to evoke some emotion, if your integrated does that, well, job done and enjoy the music, that’s all that counts, spend the difference on the music.
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@Adam1 just a suggestion. Long posts are much easier to read and more likely to be read;
With the use of Paragraphs 
I would still take my 1967 911S over a KG, but never owned one. My favorite of all times is my X3 30e that I got a month ago. Has that comfortable feel and it drives amazingly nice.
I was t aware that they were. Double blimey!
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To be fair, its a beautiful car, suppose my comparison was more towards the 80’s ones onwards, which got larger and less nimble, albeit with a surplus of power that often couldn’t be used, ok trying to get the metaphor back to the integrated vs pre/power, rather tenuously… 
, older 911’s are indeed a work of art.
Interesting
I went to the Hegel website and indeed their top integrated got more watts
But the size of the torroid transformer seems much smaller than even the one used for a Supernait 2
The power supply is the amp
What amp are you using now ?
Nowhere does Hegel post specifications for their transformer but I can guess that with the 590 putting out 301 wpc into 8ohms it’s probably in the 700va range at least.
A custom built passive pre and a Quad Elite QSP which is a low power Class A amplifier that implements Quad’s own current dumping design rated at 140 into 8ohm my speakers are 4ohm.