Naim nova!

Hi All , I’m considering either adding bowers wilkins 705s2 speakers to my Nova ,or a 250dr power amp . I currently have the bowers wilkins 706s2 Speakers. Unfortunately I cant aford both . Any ideas which would bring the biggest gains . I have demoed both and am not sure . They both made a difference in different ways . I’m tempted to go speaker route as the room is only 14ft × 12ft and I dont turn the nova up much above half way , however I do understand there is more to it than just volume .

I would go speaker. If nothing else, you don’t increase the boxcount.

I’d suggest you think about why you want to upgrade. Your room is not particularly small - mine is about 16 by 12 and I use a NAP300 for example. The Nova is designed as an all in one and I’m not convinced adding a 250 will achieve much - the chap who bought my 250DR added it to a Nova and described the improvement as pretty marginal: the Nova source and preamp becomes the limiting factor.

If you ultimately want to move to separates then the 250 might be sensible, but if you plan to stick with the Nova - and why not? - then speakers seem more logical. Whether moving up by just one model makes sense I don’t know. Maybe it’s worth looking at the 805d3.

I recently had my ex Nova briefly mated with an SN3 and it was rather good, I think you might be surprised how an external amp will improve the Nova

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I added an old olive NAP250 to a Nova very early on and it also gave significant improvement, hard to advise if speaker or amp would be better for the OP though.

What do you feel is lacking in the existing system, and which component brings you closer to what you want?

Demoing stuff is frustrating when there isn’t a clear outright winner or improvement significant enough to make it a ‘no contest’ decision. Have you looked at other speakers as well as they have such individual characters, and synergy between components is very real - again, what’s missing/lacking if anything or is it an attempt to improve things all round?

I’m struggling to find enough difference with a demo product to convince me the cost of upgrading from what I have is worth it, this is surprising me as I thought it would be clear cut - I may better off doing nothing or spending money in other areas.

The 250DR would be a fair bit more expensive than the speakers if purchased new.

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