That is the only thing that is related - the sound volume in the room for a given setting.
However for anything other than extremely inefficient speakers, running even a 40W amp anywhere near it’s maximum will give a volume level that will quickly damage your hearing… so volume isn’t really an issue! On the other hand an electrical load that has a difficult reactance curve will degrade the sound of a less capable power amp at all volume levels - so in reality, that’s much more of an actual problem.
Excellente. I also figure that a speaker could be efficient in high end and create all its volume in a narrow annoying frequency range? Unless the protocol for sensitivity measurement specified an average across x frequencies. Which I doubt they do.
But highly efficient speakers are often recommended for valve amps and low power amps right? Is that all a big mistake?
The other three PMC twenty 5 speakers would be my first choice, I used PMC FB1 for many years and speakers that size need a decent amp like the Supernait, Nova or 200.
By all accounts the Atom is a mighty fine product, but don’t forget that in power terms it isn’t that great, my choice would be a small Spendor /Neat /Kudos floor stander or the PMCs I mentioned earlier.
Which PMCs, the .21 22 and 23s? Are they necessarily easier to drive purely based on size?
I think this is where I am getting confused because other forum searches turned up people saying 24s were easier to drive than .23s. And the .22s have same drivers as .24s but with smaller transmission line cabinet.
The spendor a4 is a nice size but I have read that this line needs power to drive them in some forums.
If it were me I’d decide where I wanted to go with the electronics. If it’s a Nova, get a Nova and choose speakers to match. Many people have fallen into the trap of getting over ambitious speakers and then spending far more than they wanted in order to get them working properly. Get to a dealer and try some options; you’re already starting to go round in circles. It’s your ears and your budget and nobody can tell you what to do. If you really, really want the 24s with your Atom then go for it, just don’t be surprised when after the initial ‘wow, look at my massive speakers’ phase you find that the music is gutless and uninvolving.
a) budget, keep speakers and amplification in reasonable keel with one another. Think about your Atom for a moment , in the UK it retails at £2,200 , but that also includes the costs of the streamer, the screen and the DAC. So probably in retail terms the amplification element is around half of that about £1000.
b) the speakers you are looking at are in a different price league at £4700 (ish) will they drive it ? Yes, but you won’t get the best from them for a budget of just over £6000 I would split between Star and a smaller PMC model
c) I’ve had PMCs and they are a good all round brand, but some speakers do work better with differing types of music - for example I use Harbeths P3ESR which are really good at acoustic and spoken word
but I wouldn’t expect to get the full diva treatment if listening to Richard Strauss .
My advice is don’t get hung up on the technical side, get the system in balance
Hi Ian. Very helpful. I already own the Atom so working within that limit.
Various reviews point out they have low sensitivity and should be paired with a beefier amp but people here seem to argue that isn’t important as most amps will never be used at full volume anyway.
The Spendor A2 and A4 look nice though. But A4 is close to pmc 20.5.23 price locally. Makes me think of the pmc 20.5.23 and considering a NAP100 down the track.
I would suggest keep the 24’s. I had a similar dilemma by the time I needed an upgrade of my kit. I used to have Dali entry level Zensor 3 and upgraded to Rubicon 2. There was a certain amount of time when i could do some testing with both pairs, before i would sell the Zensors. I was also afraid my back then modest vintage NAD 3020 would not be able to drive the rubicons, I kept listening to those and after the burn in period they simply sounded marvelous. It was obvious though the little NAD could not drive them properly, but when i put back the zensors, things were considerably worse, just because it is inferior to the rubicon. The difference was pretty clear and big, so I continued afterwards with the rubicons, sold the zensors, and to this I am keeping those, driven by sn2 though. My point is you will notice a huge difference in performance between Spendors and PMCs, and it might not be a question of driving ability of the Atom. I have not heard neither of those, but I assume PMCs are in a completely different league, even with an amp like Atom they will be superior to the Spendors.
I have tested 5.23 against 5.24 and 5.26 with Uniti Nova.
The 5.23 and 5.26 are fast and rhythmic in my room.
5.24 is not my cup of caffe. Bass was never fun to listen to and my conclusion is Atom won’t fix it.
I personally recommend the A6r before them new models.
The A7 is the new model to replace the A6r.
A6r is softer at the top and warmer in tone and extremely rhythmic.
Sounds more natural to my ears.
A4 sounds more like A6r … but my choice is A6r. Can be bought in the used market for good price.
Good luck
If you have some spare time, go onto the system pictures thread, you will get a good idea of how many experienced Naim users build their systems . You will find the speakers are not generally the major cost.
If in doubt get a NAP 200 (I use it myself and it is a fine bit of kit)
