I noticed the same without the HCDR. Once added and ran in, no lack of bite for me in my room. The Confidence 20 although on technicals a better implementation, I found that it lacks some of the magic of the heritage. The heritage I think are a really special gem in the Dynaudio lineup that doesn’t have an upgrade path. Maybe the new Contour Legacy but I doubt the SN3 will be able to drive that appropriately.
Contours Legacy appear to be almost 4 times more easy to drive than Heritage. 85dB vs 90dB.
Good point, I thought they’d be harder due to the extra driver, I stand corrected. I do hope we hear from someone that tries this pairing.
Efficiency and ease of driving are different things! The only thing you can tell directly from that is that for the 85dB speaker the same loudness will use 3.2x the power, and with the same amp will have 5dB less headroom on peaks, You can have easy to drive low efficiency speakers and vice versa.
1 Like
Musical for some are boring or aggressive for others.
BW, Dynaudio, Proac, Wilson Benesh, Harbeth, Sonus Faber, PMC, Focal….all make standmounths that can be paired with SN3.
None of them sounds the same.
If you don’t listen yourself before, you won’t know. Good luck !
4 Likes
We have had a bit of a move round of kit to put a better system ( a SuperUniti) in the office. Rather than buy new speakers I went up in the loft and dug out my old Dynaudio 52’s. Have to say that in our small office the combination sounds remarkably good, smooth, full bodied sound with a decent bass for relatively small boxes. Having heard the SuperUniti previously with PMC20.23s I dont think the Dynaudios give away too much.
Looked on eBay and there are multiple pairs for sale at around £325 - reckon this would be a bargain.
So many unexplored standmounts although I’ve already reached my destination. There’s no end to this hobby but one needs to stop somewhere. 
The interesting alternatives that I haven’t tried;
Proac D2R
Dynaudio Heritage Special
Rogers LS5/9
Standmounts I have owned/currently own which are a good match to Naim 282/250DR;
Harbeth SHL5 Plus
Graham LS5/9
1 Like
If you have the funds the Vivid S12 is fab…seems to love Naim amplification…see hifi news review…mine are superb in a small room.
The R3 Meta Kef should also be considered
It is inevitable that people will name the standmounts they know best, which are the pair they own, or have owned.
So no apologies from me naming Russell K Red 100s, which I have enjoyed now for over a year, and I use them with NC222/300/250.
Assuming we have the same definition of the adjective ‘musical’, then yes, I would say they very much are.
2 Likes
Dynaudio Special 40
2 Likes
Haven’t had it on my SN3/HCDR but they sound sublime on my Densen b100/b200 bi amped, cracking speakers.
I wish people wouldn’t keep on with the myth that speaker efficiency is a measure of how easy a speaker is to drive: it’s SUCH an insidious error!
3 Likes
Saying it’s just a myth is pushing it a bit because efficiency plays a huge role in how easy it is to drive a speaker. The impedance curve is another major factor, and everything else really comes down to synergy, which is where the whole myth thing really takes off.
1 Like
For me its the ATC SCM7…a cracking little speaker that matches Naim equipment superbly.
1 Like
Not really. Efficiency indeed is fundamental to how easy it is to play loudly, but has precious little if anything to do with how easy it is to control a speaker, for it to play bass well, not wallowing around, which normally is the primary consideration when people talk about a speaker being easy or difficult to drive. And if you want speakers that are easy to play loud, just get horns.
From an objective standpoint, an inefficient loudspeaker with low impedance poses a challenging load for an amplifier, which makes it hard to drive so to speak. The way bass is perceived is a subjective assessment of sound quality, which, apart from room acoustics, largely falls within the realm of synergy.
I don’t think synergy has anything to do with whether an amp can control a speaker suffieiently to keep bass under control.
As for low impedance combined with low efficiency, if the impedance curve is benign, then provided the amp is happy into whatever is that low impedance - and many are to 2 or even 1 ohm- then actually the two partly cancel as an amp will give greater power into low impedance, and there need not be any control issues. Ultimately the low efficiency might limit maximum loudness, but if that is a problem it is simply inadequate amp and/or speakers, not the speakers being a difficult load. Different if the impedance curve is challenging, when, whether or efficiency is high or low, it requires a good amp to keep speaker under control to properly reproduce what is being played.
I couldn’t agree more, BBC-based designs are always a safe choice.
1 Like
Indeed, if you don’t listen for yourself you won’t know but also do your homework
1 Like