Naim Atom + Linn 119 speakers, speaker overkill?

Hi-Fi Corner
1

I’ve been listening to my Naim Atom with Guru Junior speakers for ~6 years. Generally I’ve been very happy, music is clear, detailed and base quite punchy.

However, for many recordings I find the upper-mid range and treble too strong at expense of the lower end, which can make listening for any length of time a no go and makes me avoid some bands. In other words, any music that sounds a little whinny, can sound very whinny on my system.

So I auctioned a couple of alternatives (Guru Q10, Guru 12, PSB B600 and the Linn 119) at the local hifi shop. All speakers sounded great in the shop, even my Junior’s sounded better (meaning my room at home is not optimal), but my fear of too much top-end made me opt for the Linn 119 over the PSB B600, even though the later were more detailed and potentially sounded clearer.

At the moment, I am trying the Linn’s out at home

The Linns have great bass, good sound-stage and are so much lower tonally balanced than the Juniors, which makes extended listening easy.

The speakers are like night and day, with the Juniors being day and Linn’s night. Where the juniors are very light, the Linn’s could potentially sound flat(?) and maybe the bass a bit too strong for my room and maybe lacking in detail. But the more I listen to the Linn’s I find it harder to go back to the Juniors.

I would really appreciate the Forum’s thoughts

Are the Linn’s overkill for the Atom, and is the Atom really capable of doing them justice?

Thanks!!!

System: Naim Atom with Guru Junior speaker

Room size: ~12-14m2, and sofa ~3m from the speakers.

2

At 86dB sensitivity and only 4 ohm impedance, the Linns will be a bit of a handful for the the Atom and you won’t be getting the best from them. But the key question is whether they work in your room. The flatness and less than tight bass suggests that they may not be ideal, so give them a good few days listening before deciding. It’s easy to think that the new speakers are better, just because they are different. Why not try some other alternatives too? If the Gurus are a bit bright, try reducing toe in so that they point forward and not at your head. You may find that that’s all you need to do. It’s free as well.

2 Likes
3

I would be much more inclined to go for the PSB B600 out of the speakers you have tried. I trust it to be properly designed, much more so than the Linn. I did find using my Atom that when driving speakers with a non-flat frequency response that the volume on the high end was prone to considerable distortion on some passages. For example Miles Davis hits very high trumpet notes on some of his best music, but it would send my (now retired!) speakers into conniptions. You may also find that the Atom has a shortage of base power on some music, but you won’t rectify that by speaker choice. I would go for the best speakers you can get (B600!!) and then think about an amplifier upgrade later.

4

Justification for that assertion?

Roger

5

Hi @Leigh, choosing speakers is, for many of us the hardest part of building an enjoyable system. But if you find yourself not listening to a significant part of your music collection, as I did with forum favourites Kudos some years ago, it’s time to change. That’s assuming you’ve tried all the obvious room and positioning tweaks.

As for alternatives, I’m afraid I’ve no experience of the Gurus or PSB, but there are loads of other possibilities. I used my Atom with tiny Neat Iotas, but their bass is limited, so I wouldn’t recommend then in your setup. However, the Neat Iotas Alphas, knee-high floor standers with a down-fitting bass port, might fit the bill. My brother bought an Atom on my recommendation and uses his with Focal bookshelf speakers. I’m not a fan of big Focals, but his setup does sound pretty good and Focal speakers do tend to be easy to drive.

As you’re home trialling, I assume you’re working with a dealer. So I’d explain what you like and don’t like about the Gurus and the Linns and see if they can come up with a suggestion that bridges the gap. That’s their job after all. And remember it’s your ears that will be listening so go with what sound best to you, not your dealer or other forum members.

Roger

1 Like
6

Unless you go for more efficient (higher sensitivity) speakers…

7

Thank you all (@cephas @HungryHalibut @PeakMan and @Innocent_Bystander ) for the good advice. I wanted to give both speakers (Linn 119 & PSB B600) a good home test before responding.

After having the Linn’s for a week and swapping to the PSB, I am still facing a hard choice.

Both speakers are solid and seem well built, so little difference there. The PSB’s are a little easier to drive, but not much. The day I swapped the Linns for the PSBs I was sure I would go with the PSBs…

The PSB’s are much more akin to the Junior’s I would like to replace, but better in every way, more base, more detail, but also suffer from similar downfall. Certain vocals come through too strong and too harsh; think Donovan’s Season of the Witch, or Michael Stipe’s vocals in Everybody hurts / Nightwimming etc or some of Laura Marling’s songs. However, they also have a level of detail I’ve never noticed before, take the refrain in The Decemberist’s The Crane Wife part 3, I have never heard that many different levels in Colin Meloy’s+backing voices.

The Linn are tonally much lower, the high’s more muted, and the base gorgeous. Where the PSB’s force you to listen, the Linn’s are also happy to stay in the background.

The Atom does punch above its weight, and can drive speakers it probably shouldn’t be able to. The same for the Guru Juniors they should much much better than you would think.

The Linn’s probably need more power, but there is still plenty left in the Atom’s dial:) and I probably will want to upgrade the Atom in a few years. I am not sure if their lack of detail (maybe just compared to the PSBs) is due to the Atom or just the speakers.

I’ll try the Guru 12, but the shop was not overly enthusiastic about them, The Focals I tried were a no go, and I also tried several B&W back when I originally bought the system. My Junior’s blew them all away. Unfortunately, not many other options available.

I would welcome any of your thoughts, and I’ll let you what happens over the next week

Thanks again!

Leigh

8

From what I’ve read the new Linn 119s are supposed to be very good, however I do wonder if they are optimised for AKtiv operation in a Linn system? The review I read in HiFi+ certainly suggested that.

If you want to retain stand-mounts, how about one of the Fyne Audio designs - they offer several stand-mounts at a similar price level which (on paper) are more sensitive and an easier load.

9

Thanks, the new Linn’s do sound good, but there is also a lack of good systematic reviews on the net. I’m still hoping some more people might post with real word experience.

The point about using them in a Linn system is a good one, and might represent a future upgrade path.

I’ve also good heard good things about Fyne Audio, but there are no dealers in my area. So I am a little limited in choice

1 Like