I think one Atom owner here (@afgverhart ) has had good results using a Purifi based power amp with the Atom.
I’m really tempted by the Boxem Arthur myself, but not being able to audition is holding me back.
Really nice speakers BTW. I’m in the middle of a build myself, but don’t think they’ll end up looking anything near as nice!.
On reflection, maybe you should try to locate a Naim power amp in your area to try before committing. A NAP 200 can be found for quite a reasonable price. If you do like Naim’s amplifier sound then I’d stick with it. It might be more difficult to try the DIY class D before you buy.
Pictures or it didn’t happen. 
Thankyou. Ian that’s kind of you to say. Although I’m no expert on building speakers. I’m just good at following a plan.
Come on, just a sneak peek of your build.
Just to say that I use a Quad “Artera Stereo” 140 watt power amplifier between my Nova and my SL2s. To me, it was a big improvement over the Nova trying to drive the SL2s on its own. This Quad amp is the latest of the current dumping design that Peter Walker launched with the 405 when I was barely out of university. Bought new a year or two ago, it cost me only about £1500.
It was that amp , which I had in mind.
Best wishes
Ian
Hi @Jouke I have been using my Atom as a preamp as I also wanted to improve the sound. In my case - I was using a pair of Dynaudio Contour speakers at the time - I was looking for more power as these speakers perform better on more current. I first tried the NAP200 which sounded nice but was not a huge improvement over the built-in Atom power amplifier. I used a flashbacksales RCA to DIN cable to connect the power amp. Switching to a self-built Purify EVAL1 definitely provided more power into the speakers and it sounded more dynamic and open compared to the Atom only.
Personally I like a good soundstage: wide and deep. In my experience the power amplifier has little influence on this. It is mainly the source and preamp that contribute to the sound stage. The power amp contributes to the dynamics mainly, less to the soundstage. Even though I liked the Purifi a lot, my wife thought it sounded too clean and it was lacking warmth. So I tried the LSA Warp 1, which I thought to be a better match with the Naim sound signature. It sounds sweet, dynamic, punchy and it has the PRaT I like about Naim.
I then upgraded from the Atom to an Atom HE, mainly because it has XLR outputs and no built-in power amp which was sitting idle in my Atom anyway. It was a nice improvement over the Atom as a preamp and with the LSA power amp it sounded really nice. I could have lived with that combination for years. Also the AudioQuest Earth XLR cable contributed to the open and dynamic sound, although I use Grimm TPR cables today (much cheaper and also very nice cables).
But, I love the Andrew Jones speaker designs and I got the opportunity to try a pair of active ELAC speakers designed by him for a very nice price. That is what I ended up with now and I don’t need the LSA Warp anymore which now sits boxed in the attic.
Long story short: if you want to improve the soundstage, consider a better source/preamp. Or, invest in a subwoofer. In my case that brought the best improvement to the sound stage. I have even tried a dual subwoofer setup in my room and that sounded awesome. With the Atom HE you can actually drive both a stereo power amp and a pair of subwoofers using the dual XLR and RCA outputs. 
If you want to improve on dynamics try a power amp with your Atom.
BR,
Richard
Hi Jouke,
you could try the Elac Navis active monitor speakers. Under estimated and price/quality a real bargain.
I am listening to their bigger brothers right now. These are indeed underrated speakers. 
Another vote here for the Atom HE with power amp. I have both an Atom and the Atom HE. The Atom is in a smaller room and drives a pair of B&W bookshelf speakers. It is very good at what it does, and I doubt if I will ever part with it. The HE is in a room similar to the size of yours. It drives a Moon 330A (which is 125 Wpc at 8 ohms, and 250 Wpc at 4 ohms), which in turn drives a pair of B&W 702 S3 three way speakers (90db sensitivity), and a B&W subwoofer set to the very low registers. I have no analog inputs, so this is an ideal set up for me, and works very well indeed.
As has been pointed out, the HE can drive both a power amp and a subwoofer with no issues. It also has a state of the art headphone amp for those of us (like me) with excellent but difficult to drive phones, in my case the DCA Stealth.
I don’t think you get much of an upgrade in going for the Nova in your case. My suggestion is to borrow a good power amp from your dealer, and connect it to your Atom. Go from there.
(Come to think of it, the Atom HE is the hardest working electronics in my house: If we watch the news on TV it is working, watch Game of Thrones on Blue Ray and it is rocking, listen to Verdi on the speakers and it is thrilling, listen to Miles Davis playing ‘round Midnight on the ‘phones … you get the idea! A much underrated piece of hardware in my opinion.)
Cephas and @afgverhart and all others, very consistent story and many thanks for your support. My plan is to first look for a power amp and potentially in a later stage trade in my atom for HE.
@afgverhart , nice proposal, i will definitely consider it. I found a 2nd hand NAP 250.2, which I will first check out (guess that might be a nice option). By the way, my headphones are LSA Diamond (which is a Kennerton Wodan).
I will keep you posted on my progress.
Would members please respect and abide by forum rules. Thank you.
Dear Richard, my apologies. I did not realise I was breaching the forum rules.
BR,
Richard
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