Hi All, hope this mail finds all in good health. Pls can I check if the Naim Uniti Nova would pair well with the new Dynaudio confidence 30. I have my eyes set on the speakers and have been a great user of the Naim Nova for the last 3 yrs.
I’m a one box setup fan and the Naim Nova updates and performance have been spectacular.
My room size is 20 Feet x 30 feet. Primarily listening to streaming music across genres. I have
Naim Uniti core but I use it occasionally.
I’m just unsure about the ability to drive the confidence 30s with Nova. If the amp is an issue the other option I was thinking of was to add NAP 250/300 DR and use the pre out of the Nova. Appreciate the views, comments, suggestion. This forum is one of the reasons I switched to Naim and swear by it.
£17.5k speakers on a nova? That’s really not an ideal match. They are also 88db at 4 ohms so the nova is likely going to struggle.
If that’s your budget then I’d half it and half again; look at spendor d7.2 and similar. That would be a far better match with the abilities of the nova.
If your heart is set on the dynaudios then I’d pair with 282/250 or 252/300.
I think you are about to be inundated with comments saying it’s a mismatch.
I think Robert’s comments are spot on , perhaps some PMC ?
The Nova is an exceptionally fine piece of kit (I know , I downsized to one) but it will have it’s limitations and driving a speaker three times its price would not be getting the best out of those speakers
In my experience, neither the SN2 nor the SN3, a step above your Nova, could with the ProAc K6, with greater sensitivity than the C3, in a room a third smaller than yours. In the end it was solved with a beast of 220 W/Ch out of the Naim range.
If you opt for a superb all-in-one like the Nova, those speakers aren’t suitable in a room like yours, they are a mismatch; if you opt for those speakers, which can be very suitable in your room, the minimum in the Naim range would be 252+300, although better the 500 series, outside Naim you could solve with a good integrated of at least 200W/Ch-250W/Ch, but you would also need a source up to match.
Apologies for going OT but your statement has sounded an alarm bell, I have a Nova with Dali Rubicon 6 and they are 88.5db at 4 ohms. To my ears they sound great together but I am wondering now if they are not the right match?
They will always sound good and right as long as you do not demand the system too complex compositions at high volume, in small or medium rooms it will work without problems and will do the trick; but as soon as you really want to demand them, the Nova, being incredible, is not up to par, and you can never hear what the speakers are capable of at their full capacity, much less Dynaudio Confidence 30.
Appreciate the prompt candid feedback, very clear. Alternate suggestion by colleague was to consider Focal Sopra 2 (even though the Naim website suggests Kanta); pushing the Nova to its limit. Challenge is local dealers here are out of stock (SEAsia). Any feedback or views on Sopra 2s ? Once again sincere thanks to all, truly the best community out there.
I guess if Naim thought Nova and Focal Sopra were a good match they would have recommended the combo…
I am struggling to understand as to why you are so keen to spend a fortune on speakers for a “humble” Nova, which is approximately at the level of the XS3 and ND5XS2.
Too much speaker for modest amplification is rarely if ever a recipe for happiness. As a previous XS2/ND5XS owner I wouldn’t go any “higher” than PMC Twenty5.23 or comparable….
Just got nd5xs2/sn3 combo and I’m amazed what they are getting out of my focal aria 906’s compared to my old atom. So I’d suggest aiming for speakers the nova can fully utilise rather than spending more and never hearing the speakers at their best. But no matter what if possible home demo the ones your most interested in.
Definitely you want kantas and not sopras.
The Kanta 2 is a great match with eg supernait. The nova isn’t an ideal match but it’s a lot better suited than sopras and the confidence 30.
It sounds like you want to stick to your one box setup with the Nova and then I think it would kind of waste of money to get such expensive speaker, unless… you are willing to upgrade the electronics later on (which doesn’t sound to be the case). Now if you need an excuse for upgrading electronics, those speakers will certainly do an excellent job
I for one got the Dynaudio HS with the expectation to upgrade my then overwhelmed amp with the Nova and went straight past to the SN3/ND5XS2 combo after listening to both at home. And I live with the knowledge that the speakers are capable of even more with further upgrades, but currently enjoying the music very much with this setup. And those speakers only cost a third of the C30s.
Wow, you read my mind (& my future thoughts in a way). It’s clear the one box system as good as it is, has limitations wrt speakers/setup.
If I do go down the path of Dynaudio’s C30, I will need to consider separates in the classic / 500 series and thus increase the overall spend and be ready for a multi box setup. Wife loves the one box setup.
On the earlier point of Sopra 2s vis-a-vis Kanta 2s, reading some old posts it does feel like there was massive debate; Naim & Focal did promote Sopras 2 + Naim Nova for a while.
the Nova as good as it is isn’t best paired with the end game Confidence range.
the CF is very good, but very revealing, it is paired by systems like 252/300 and NDX2/XPSDR at the very minimum.
I remember doing an audition of a Hugo (which is a very good source) vs Chord Dave on a CF speaker, it was so transparent and revealing that all the shortcoming of the chord Hugo were laid bare, and the purchase of a Dave was inevitable for me.
On the lesser Dynaudio speakers I repeated the same test, and the difference between Hugo and Dave wasn’t as day and night.
Team, just wanted to report. I landed up at the local Dynaudio dealer (good listening room with room treatment) and did a quick demo with their current showroom setup (Conf 30 + Rose streamer RS150 + Hegel 390 + good power cable + good xlr speaker cables, played Tidal / Spotify) then switched to (Conf 30 + Naim Nova, no fancy power cable, wired chord network and speaker cables, Spotify only). We played the same tracks - Hey now, Siegfried, Haz & Enves, Nani, Nadia). For the Nova, I set the max volume at 99 (at home its 75) and was playing music at 35-40 volume level. I was expecting the Nova to fail badly but surprised the Conf 30 were extremely forgiving. Dealer set up was obv better, Conf 30 were obv not maximised for performance with Nova. After 60 mins the dealer and I agreed the sound stage, depth, clarity and bass was off but overall Nova setup was only @ c. 25% off vis-à-vis the dealer setup. Note to self, never doubt a Naim.
As I have noted on the HiFi thread, I am a happy Naim Nova and Focal Kanta No. 2 owner. Adding NAC A5 cables, a Powerline and IsoAcoustics Gaia II really helped things sing. I have a smaller listening room (10 feet x 13 feet), but I can’t even come close to turning it up past about halfway, which easily puts out an ear-shattering 90db with absolutely no distortion from my listening position.
I did audition the Contour 30s, but for my ears I liked the resolution and clarity of the Focal Kantas and ATC SCM40s.
I have a Nova as well and entirely agree about adding decent power cable. The other tweak that really improved it was adding an EE8 switch. I really don’t want to start a debate about switches but if you get the chance to demo one then I would encourage you to have a listen
