A pair of Adam Audio A4V monitors might suit your budget and negate the need for an amp.
Thereāre 20 active standmounts
Hi. I have b&w 705 s2 driven by nap100 and atom he. If it is all i had id be happy.
Naim stuff lasts have 8 year old nap250 dr and it is better than new
Get any second hand 250. Or even a 100. My 100 is sweet w 705:s2.
Thanks!
Which are Ā£5.2k so well over the Ā£4k budget.
Roger
New price
And the OP has said they will buy new.
Roger
His/her choice. If budget is limited used or at least ex-dem makes a lot of sense - and decent amps & speakers last for decades. (Sources may be a different matter.)
Thanks for all of your comments, I checked soem of the options you suggested here. This is my current view.
I am considering the active speaker option, my selection is the AE1 based and will visit a dealer over the weekend who has a demo setup with the Atom HE.
Regarding the passive speaker options I will consider the SF Lumina II or the Sonetto II driven by an Arcam PA240 or the Arcam Radia series. This is avaialble at my local dealer and they suggested Arcam vs. NAD as better macth with the Atom HE. Class G was another argument they used, however while I understand the benefit of it, as I will listen the sytems with low volume, maybe a Class AB amp is enough for me. The Radia doesnāt have XLR input compared to the PA240, but I am not sure XLR would bring the improvement in my setup over RCA. Checked some forums, the opinions are mixed.
What is your opnion, active vs. passive route? XLR is priority over RCA?
Please do not submit your comments based on Ā£Ā£Ā£ as i can make the math myself
Thereāre theoretical and real life aspects of those. Theoretically balanced has bigger potential, you effectively get monoblock amps and active crossovers. In real life you can easily prefer particular amp and speaker combo. For xlr and rca it is the same, better rca cables can easily mask theoretical xlr benefits.
The pros and cons of active vs passive is, like so much in domestic audio, highly subjective. For me, a streamer/pre into active speakers is a neat solution to box accumulation and I now have two systems set up that way. It also reduces cable spaghetti though you do need power leads to each speaker. At the level of my two systems it has not entailed a reduction in SQ. Indeed I think it gives exceptional value for money in terms of āsound per poundā. But there thereās something else. I find an active crossover gives a stability to the stereo image that really enhances most of the the music I listen to. For me, this makes listening that much more compelling, but others have a different take on this, so do take account of their views as well.
On the choice of balanced XLR vs RCA, with active speakers youāre typically running long interconnects carrying line level signals from preamp to speakers with some potential for interference which can put balanced cables at an advantage. Additionally, the Auralic front end in my second system uses rather good Class A preamp modules and a nice resistor ladder volume control, but thatās only in circuit if using XLR. Of course thatās only an issue in my use case.
I get a sense that the active speaker route is growing in popularity. PMC have their new active modules and Kudos are bringing in their new SIGAO external crossover this year. I wouldnāt be surprised to see more manufacturers joining this bandwagon, particularly as the quality of small efficient Class D amps continues to improve.
Roger
Thans for sharing your thoughts.
Thanks Roger shaing your expecience. I will test some other active speakers in the next coming weeks like PMC and SA, just need to find a dealer who has demo setup with the Arom HE.
My RCA vs. XLR question was about the Atom HE-> power amp->passive speaker relation. If we go for active speakers, I defintiely will go with a one with XLR.
Regarding your active speakers, do you use them through wifi or cable them? I read some comments, that wifi would limit the frequency if you want to listen to high res audio line Qobuz.
Active speaker driving - which can be via active speakers with active crossover and power amps and built in, or separate active XO and power amps/channels for the different drivers in the speakers - is inherently better than using a power amp full range to drive speakers with passive crossovers. Of course in practice it also depends on quality of the different parts, so a better amp passive might be better than poorer amps active - but where the active XO and amps are provided ready set up by the speaker manufacturer you know they will be well matched - and when built in/on the speaker boxes there is the additional advantage of minimal boxes (and no thinking about speaker cables).
however additional power cables to be considered
Thanks IB for the explanation.
Neither of my active speakers support WiFi.
Roger
Active speakers, while compelling in theory are not an option for me. I would need a power cable that is 25 feet. My outlets are at the opposite end of our living room. The roomās construction of plaster, concrete and cider block would make adding new outlets near the speakers a nightmare.