My next speaker purchase

Hi-Fi Corner
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Hi all
I will be buying new loudspeakers soon - exciting!

There’s many I’d like to try, but with what’s available for me to audition and in my budget (I am in regional Australia - travelling to Sydney for audition) I have a short list. Room is 5.3m long, 3.6m wide and 3.7m high ceilings. Amp is NAP250DR.
I am also looking for a particular aesthetic to fit the room - something in a nice wood veneer that isn’t too modern/hi tech looking.
Anyway I will auditioning;
Contrast Audio - Soul (in home demo)
Chario - Pegasus and Cielo (travel to Sydney)
Neat Orkestra (travel to Sydney)
Spendor Classic 3/1 and 2/3 (travel to Sydney)

There’s also ATC SCM 40’s (passive) and Proac Response D2R - D20R that i’d love to hear but would require flights and accommodation in Melbourne which I’m hesitant to because it really starts to add to the cost then.

The ATC’s and Proacs are still on my shortlist.

Unfortunately where I am there is very limited Hi Fi dealers/brands available to audition locally.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Especially from ATC or Proac owners with Naim amplification.

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What is the rest of your system, including any current speakers? Cabling and supports? What don’t you like about it? Maybe new speakers aren’t the first priority after all? Naturally all your proposed models will have their supporters, but remember that these listeners have formed those opinions by listening to alternatives. That’s what you should do too, and choose from those models you can audition - yes, the grass is always greener, and there’s always one more model that you really should hear … even when you think you’ve heard them all … but that way madness lies.

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Well i sold my last speakers Q Acoustic Concept 500’s as they just werent going to meet the brief aesthetically and as far as SQ goes they were very good but I didnt consider them end game speakers so I had no qualms selling them. We just moved into a new (old) house and I wanted to start over with new speakers.

I have an Auralic Vega G2, into the Naim NAP250DR. Speaker cable is QED Supremus.

After selling the Concept 500’s i’ve just been using some entry level bookshelves Mission LX2 Mk 2 as I got them on special so were super cheap.

I really like my system. Just need new speakers.

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Depending on what source you have ??? my recommendation is you can’t go wrong with the Neat range with naim gear

Neat Orkestra’s a good choice if source and pre amp up to the task

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Hi - always good to hear from the Southern Hemisphere. Different speakers really do affect the tonal balance and synergy with your system and most your room is vital. But from what you say a home demo is going to be difficult.

From the models you describe Neat have a brilliant reputation and are renowned for working well with Naim. Enjoy your trip to Sydney😎

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We will all ‘explain’ that you should never buy speakers without a home dem - east for us to say!

It can be hard to organise demos in Wimbledon! I have a house in Tas and have not even tried doing them there, so I sympathise. However it looks as if you can get a lot of good speaker choices in one trip to Sydney.

More generally, al the current Neats work with Naim- most want a little space around them, but they seem to be more tolerant of placement issues than most. Just don’t mix Isobarik/ downward-firing drivers and a shag pile carpet. For maximum musical involvement per £, Xplorers and Orkestras may well be top pf the list - I have bought Xplorers to partner Naim 82/Hicap/ 250 for Tasmania.

If you want something very musical but will sacrifice 1% extra vigour and boogie for 2% extra neutrality - Spendor A7 and D9.2 will be recommended by many here.

ATC make wonderful speakers in much the same vein, though some have suggested that they are a bit more sensitive to getting other things right. Also, the ATC sweet spots for many are the active options. I have heard ATC sounding ordinary and spell-bindingly good, depending on the other details.

If Spendor Classics are very much your preference over their more obviously incisive models but you’d like something even kinder to ears (and imperfect recordings) and with more of the flavour of the analogue era, many would suggest Harbeth.

Purely visually, the Neats looks a lot more elegantly finished than they did, but for woody beauty I (as a big fan) wouldn’t put any Neats (except perhaps the XLs) in quite the same category as (say) Sonus Faber.

I hope that helps.

Good Luck!

Please tell us what the result is.

Is Coffs Harbour possible? ATC dealer…

Audiogenesis in Sydney carries most Neats; while Audio Solutions has B&W, Sonus Faber, Spendor, JBL and Fyne - that range covers a lot of tastes.

A 250 will want 3.5M as a minimum speaker cable length and ideally 5M+. I have not heard the QED Supremus and you may want to ask speaker dealers about matching. If you do need a change there, many of us will point to Tellurium Q, Witch Hat and Kudos, but Naim A5 is always a decent choice IMHO.

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My recommendation is don’t buy “blind” and assume a neat speaker is a guaranteed perfect speaker. Yes there is some synergy with Naim. However I auditioned the Ekstra along with other speakers, and they didn’t make the cut which came as something of a surprise given I was moving up from motive sx2.

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I’ve just replaced my much beloved Linn Keilidhs, which I’ve owned for nearly 30 years (rehomed by my brother-in-law).
I have selected a pair of Dynaudio Evoke 50’s, which are an available in a number of finishes, 2 being real wood veneers.
Dynaudio have dealers in Australia including ‘Lifestyle Store’ in North Parramatta, Sydney.
Definitely worth a listen.

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I have run ProAc D2D and ProAc D30RS speakers in my Naim system. I also have a pair of ATC SCM 7 speakers and all have sounded fabulous with my system.

You can do a search on the forum for ProAc or ATC and see over 50+ threads of discussion on both speaker lines. Lots of folks use them on the forum.

I have also been to demo’s at my dealer with the ATC SCM 40’s as well at the ATC SCM 40 and ATC SCM 50 active speakers which are also fabulous.

Lots of good experience on the forum but nothing beats a demo at the shop and possibly at home.

Good luck with your search and have fun along the way…

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I bought D20R. I am very very pleased with them.
NAC202 NAP200 NAPSC HICAP non DR

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ATC SCM40s are fine speakers but to me where they become really special is in the active version.

When I was auditioning speakers a few years ago I listened to passive 40s driven by 250DR with 272/XPSDR in front. Whilst I enjoyed that setup, I felt that the ATCs would profit from a bit more control, eg a NAP 300. Many on the forum who drive passive SCM40s with a 250 or even a SuperNait would disagree, but I doubt that had I kept my 272/250 I would have gone with the passive 40s.

A Vega G2 with active SCM40s — that’s something else though. I had that system until recently. It took a Linn Klimax to oust the Auralic, but I’m still using the ATCs.

Roger

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I’ve spoken to the ATC importer who is in Melbourne they told me there is no retailers for ATC home audio gear in New South Wales at all, so not sure how Coffs Harbour has come up - interesting!

I am thinking about trying Witch Hat Phantom - 5m pair - more so I have more flexibility of placement than anything else.

Audio Genesis and Audio Solutions are indeed two my destinations for auditions.

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Source/Pre is Auralic Vega G2.

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Well my shortlist is very much around what I can actually listen to. Home demo’s here in Aus seem to be a real rarity.
ATC and Proac are the two brands I’d love to hear but believe it or not there is no ATC dealer anywhere near Sydney, and whilst there is a Proac dealer they have one model on the floor - a DT8 from memory and no plans to stock D2R’s or D20’s etc… so… shrug what can I do…

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Yeah there seems to be a real divide between the opinions of the 40 passives vs the actives. It’s a 7 hour drive each way for me to get to Melbourne to have a listen to these. That’s a lot of fuel $$ and I’d need to stay overnight - 14 hours of driving in one day doesn’t leave much time for actual listening. It adds a reasonable cost to the speaker purchase when you factor that in.

I think my approach will be listen to what I can and if one of those options knocks my socks off I will forget about the ATC’s. If however none of the speakers I audition make me want to own them then I will probably make the trip to Melbourne to see what all the fuss is about with the 40’s passives/actives.

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Or perhaps consider more expensive models that you can audition, reflecting the costs likely to be incurred by visiting Melbourne … ?

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Coffs Harbour - apologies! Google suggested multiple ATCs for sale there, but it looks like that’s twaddle.

Witch Hat - I use their Morgana interconnects but Tellurium Q speaker cables, so can’t help, but the others threads here can help. However, the experience did suggest that the whole ‘burning-in’ time guidance was worth remembering - if you try them, do give them a couple of weeks before deciding.

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love P3ESR again in original version

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@HallowedBeThyNAIM
How did the search/demoing go?
I listened to the ATC SCM 40’s (Passive) in my search for new speakers.
They were very close to the Dynaudio Evoke 50’s that I actually purchased.
Either model would be a great choice🙂
Do let us know how you got on and whether you made the trip to Melbourne or not?

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