Could anybody give suggestions on replacements for Naim N-Sats.
Mine have suffered accidental damage and I have now been told they cant be repaired as there are no spares available.
The replacements will be partnered with the 3.5 cdp and flatcap and connected with Naca 5 speaker cable. Speakers will be placed along the longer wall and can be placed anywhere up to 12ft apart and brought into the room by about 1ft.
My nearest dealer is about 100 miles away which makes auditioning quite difficult.
Where abouts are you? I recently traded some mint cherry n-sats and n-stands to sound org in York. They are fairly rare items and not fully appreciated by most. I would have kept them if I had the room as I loved them.
I have Cherry N-sats. We must be brothers. Although living here in sunny Perth, (40C today), maybe not. Plus I think they sold a heap of Cherry N-sats.
But if weāre not brothers then thats fine.
On to the question at hand, if I had to replace mine maybe some Tablett 10s. Or someā¦LS3/5aās, if sound levels werenāt to loud. Although the price here for new LS3/5aās is a bit extreme.
I would see if you can home demo some ATC SCM7s to see how they work with the Nait. ATC is one of the few manufacturers that can match the speed and timing of Naim speakers.
I would be careful attempting to pair ATC 7s with a Nait 3. The OP might find it woefully underpowered. I used to have 7s. They are fabulous speakers of course. I found a 140 was the lower bound amp for them. A Nait 2 was hopeless. A 250 was just right. I currently run 32.5/hc/250 on HTS 7s and find it a balanced match. The 7s might be small but to my ears they ask for real power.
There arenāt many of us! I think the name of them didnāt help with their popularity, N-Sat imply they are surround rear channel speaker or something? The sounded amazing with my Nait 5 based system and just got better all the way up to the peak of my system (82/PSC/HiCap/200/CDX2).
I have a dubious Harmon Kardon receiver driving them in my office, and they work ok. But if I run them with my 172/200, (from my main system), they rock.
Hopefully next year I will be able to upgrade the main system and slot the old Naims into the office permanently.
I used to have Kan 1ās, (both passive and active), and the N-sats are so much more liveable.
I never had a chance to hear any Naim speakers. How do the N-Sats sound compared to todayās competition in the āsmall speaker marketā, such as ProAcās Tablette or Neatās SX3?
I havenāt heard the Neats but the ProAc Tablette 10 is pretty good. Like all good small infinite baffle two ways bass is fast but not extended.
The N-sats are simular.
I have had extended periods with sbls and nbls in my lounge, (way way back in the day), and now have been listening to S400s for the last 5 years. These speakers are all pretty fast. My drug of choice. I could say that itās been a life long weaknesses. Other speakers I have owned are Linn Kans, SARAs, Isobariks, Meridian M2s, which have all been that way too. Tonal accuracy is important but tight bass with great attack is paramount.
The N-sats are a bit soft in the top end, which for a secondry system is not such a bad thing.
Just as an aside, earlier Tablettes were ported. Of the earlier models l have only heard the 8s. This might sound crazy but to me they were a bit āwoolyā. Yes I know. Still nice but just a bit too ācomfortableā.
I also think the LS3/5a is bit bloated too, but in a different way. And yes a 100mm bass driver too.
To my way of thinking, a cabinet has to be really well made to avoid bass waffle and drone. Ergo, lots of thickness AND money to make 'em rigid.
The BBC idea from the 60/70ās was for thin ply walls, with bitumous damping. I had Spendor BC1s, (my first decent speaker), and whilst they had some fine attributes, such as great vocal timbre and astonishing imaging,(for the time), bass was very wooly. As were the Spendor SA1s and BC3s. But I kept persevering with the BC1s. Modified the cabinets. Bought a Naim 22/120 amp. Made better spiked stands.
The first time I heard Isobariks, (playing the Witches Chorus from Macbeth), I was hooked! Bass! Fast! Exciting! Okay I did have stars in my eyes, (My boss was giving me the demo, I had just started working in a Linn/Naim dealership), and the concept of āfoot tappingā was new.
We call it PRaT now, and to me Naim speakers have generally been on the mark. But they arenāt the only guys into this. Kudos, ATC, Vivid seem to be in this camp too. And there are more Iām sure.
The Harbeth P3ESR would be an equally good alternative to Falcons and Stirling LS3/5A, I have a pair, lovely delicate sound - but the entire LS3/5A debate has always been a bit of a Marmite issue. Some love, some loathe
Eddie, I have heard Spendor SA1s and liked them. Have not heard them with gear like yours.
But I think they could be described as being ān-Sat likeā on the basis of what the salesman said about the SA1s being āveneered inside and outā, implying that their stiff cabinets contributed to their speed.
Chris
(LS3/5a owner of twenty years, n-Sat owner for five).