My speaker upgrade audition plans

Good to hear. I really liked them when I auditioned NC 200/300, but as yet not at home. Exciting, but I need to take it slow.

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Definitely take your time :+1:

One thing learned in recent weeks, to share - when considering speakers - there’s a lot for the ears and brain to do, to adjust between several different sonic signatures and nuances. Small steps are probably best.

Enjoy the journey.
R

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I would highly suggest checking out some monitor speakers in the same price range, especially if your room is a bit smaller.

I listened to a decent amount ag speakers when I was searching many moons ago, and vastly preferred the 805 (albeit the signature version back then) over both the 804 and even the 803. They sounded disjointed to me. And since my listening space isn’t huge, they go into the bass region well enough without going too boomy. That’s what happened quickly with larger loudspeakers. I’m still incredibly pleased with them to this day and they went through several iterations of my electronic system.

B&W does like to play a bit higher in the volume range, however. Since you already have B&W, I reckon you’re familiar, but it bears repeating when you start orienting with other brands too.

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Same rig. Similar size room. It’s good!

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That’s absolutely the opposite of my experience. OK I’ve only heard RK speakers at a show, but they were being demonstrated by Russell Kauffman himself. Nevertheless, I didn’t enjoy the demo at all. By coincidence, it was the same show I first heard active ATCs and knew I had to try a pair at home.

Speaker choice is so personal, though, and ATCs really need good enough electronics to show just what they’re capable of.

Roger

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It is - and is also dependent on matching electronics and room environment. The ATCs tend to excel in dynamics and tend to have a slightly more prominent/highlighted mid that can lend itself to some media.

For me the RK’s excel in timing and transparency/lack of phase smearing where I like to concentrate most. The various ATCs over two and half decades I have owned have been no slouches here - but they don’t perform at the same level in my opinion. Really quite noticeable in near and mid field listening and listening to opera, orchestral, acoustic Folk, electronica and trip hop. The RKs in my opinion perhaps don’t quite match the dynamic punches of the ATCs and the ATCs are more forgiving of electronics and offer a slightly more cuddly presentation especially with vocals and can really boogey on quite mediocre electronics if given the power. The ATCs play heavy rock very well. The HF dispersal of the RKs seems to match my room and listening positions better than my ATCs.

But as you say speakers have to match taste, electronics and importantly room and listening position.

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When I read that post, felt like you were very familiar - maybe old buddies - with the ATC sound.

Nice post

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I have recently upgraded to Kudos Super 20a from my previous X2’s. These are driven by a humble Nova but after a week or so settling are really good. Not overly fussy placement wise and I’m sure you’ll get a good deal. I took the plunge as they are ‘upgrade proof’ for me but you already have a great front end. Good luck with your search.

So important the above statement.

Spendor D7.2 here now for 4 years with many hundreds/thousand of listening hours completed. My electronics are in my profile and my system is truly wonderful to ME.

The D7.2 really shines a bright light on the electronics before it. So you need to make sure the total system balance is correct for your music tastes and style. As noted in @Simon-in-Suffolk comment above.

What I can say is that they have performed flawlessly in my system/environment and I can listen all day long without any fatigue whatsoever. The build quality is top class imo.

Good luck with demoing. :+1:

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OK, so today I had my (probably first of several) speaker demo at my dealer’s. I listened to three speakers: Spendor D7.2, Kudos Titan 606 and Russell K 120 SE. They were driven by NSC 222 and NC NAP 250. The NPX 300 was also connected at times.

Spendor D7.2 - I had heard these before and I could likely be quite happy with these at home. Better clarity and overall more cohesion than my current speakers. That said, nothing that dramatic.

Kudos Titan 606 - A more muscular and smoother delivery than the Spendor, and more analog sounding, but it somehow lacked something. Adding the NPX 300 provided some of that missing something, but an even better source (and maybe amp) would very likely show what they are really capable of.

Russell K 120 SE - Maybe a little smoother than the Spendor, on vocals more particularly, but otherwise similarly capable. However, I also felt there was something missing. Again, adding the NPX 300 provided that additional ‘je ne sais quoi’.

So, what next?

Well, a new pair of Kudos Titan 606 speakers is really out of budget, and I feel I’d really need to add an NPX 300 at the same time for it to make sense. I might look for a lightly used pair.

The Russell K speakers? I’m really not sure. A home demo would likely help, but I hated the white plinth, so they would have to be in black.

The Spendor speakers? Again, a home demo would be needed to confirm. As with the Russell K speakers, an NPX 300 would go well with them (I heard this combination previously).

So no decision as yet, but I will continue to mull it over. I may have a demo of B&W speakers next just to add to the confusion!

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I would highly recommend trying ProAc, maybe the D30 RS. These have a beautiful organic sound and made the hairs on my arm stand up when I demo’d them. This was against D7.2, ATC 50A and Sonos Faber ON2. I was coming from Kudos X2 and had already dismissed Kudos S20A and PMC Fact 8 after home trial. I ultimately went berserk with T808, but would look to ProAc first if I ever needed to change speakers. This is of course my opinion after auditioning with my own ears etc, etc, etc

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Thanks. I’d need to change my dealer, but I’ll see who stocks them near me.

If you are looking at speaker at the level of the D7.2 and Titan T606 I would be looking at the addition of the NPX300 first can’t comment on the Russell speakers as I have never listened to them

I went to my dealers 200 series launch speakers used were Spender D9.2 and the difference adding a NPX300 was quite surprising it just made the system so much better.

A home demo of any speaker is a must.

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How about going for lesser speakers (*) AND an NPX300…?

More Naim. Better.

(* - or not changing…)

Yes, That’s pretty much what I have said / concluded. But my speakers need the upgrade more, and I can’t really afford both right now. So I have to choose :confused:.

I already have ‘lesser’ speakers :grinning:.

My budget is really only sufficient for an NPX 300 or Spendor D7.2 speakers. I could stretch this a little, e.g. to cover The Russell K speakers, or maybe a used pair of Kudos 606 speakers, but not in addition to an NPX 300.

The gap between purchases could be a year or more, so whatever I get first I will need to be able to live with without regrets.

That’s a lot of money to spend for a sound that won’t be as you want it for a year. It sounds rather as if the speakers on test collectively showed up that you really prefer the sound with the NPX300 and the better control it brings further upstream

Have you tried the NPX300 with your existing speakers?

Others will know more than me, but I also imagine that the 606s would really benefit from 350s…

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When I had a home demo of the NSC 222 / NAP 250 prior to purchasing I also tried the NPX 300, as due to the imminent price rise I wanted to decide whether to stretch or not. It certainly made a very positive difference, but at the time funds were lacking!

My system is currently unbalanced as I know the 222/250 have more to give than my speakers can handle. They are weak point, so replacing them is my priority. I will get the NPX 300 in time, but I want get to my speaker end game directly rather than make an interim step, hence considering the Kudos 606. Maybe I’m wrong in thinking that?

I recently auditioned the Russell K 120 at home… they didn’t quite do it for me either… I felt the upper mids were a little suppressed… and the performance wasn’t as seamless as the outstanding RK 50s… albeit they gave a deeper fuller presentation, but surprisingly not massively so compared to the RK50s on SolidSteel half filled stands. The sonic balance of the 120s seemed to suppress the body of many vocals, and other parts of the mix seemed to become more prominent. I noticed similar with the 120 in one of my dealer’s listening rooms with other Naim amp and source… so I suspect it is a speaker trait that slightly jars with my tastes.

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I think you need to decide which one would be easier to live with till you get the money you need. I feel I’ve been very lucky how my upgrade path has worked out. I went from nd5xs2/sn3 to nd5xs2/282/hcdr/250dr then swapped my speakers from focal 906’s to Harbeth 30.2xd’s recently I added an ndac. I’m lucky that how the ndac tunes my music works wonderfully with my m30’s. If I were starting from scratch again I’d want my electronics sorted first then find the best speakers. While you can demo both your current and planned electronics with any speakers your considering this either greatly increases your time spent demoing options or limits the amount of time you can listen to each combination.

It would also simplify things when you need to home demo your favourite few speakers. I agree that home demo is essential I had speakers I thought would be great sound terrible in my room (even the dealer was surprised). Even when I decided I wanted to compare Harbeth speakers I was surprised that in my room the c7’s that several different dealers thought would be best sounded odd and emphasised background parts of music to an unwanted degree. Both the other models I demoed p3 and m30 sounded great and did not have this issue.

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