First time poster here, good morning all. I’m just in the process of re-installing my old old Nait 5i amp and CD5i (not italic) and need a pair of relatively compact bookshelf or standmount speakers which need to work quiet close to a rear wall. I’ve got a fairly diverse taste in music so they need to cover all bases, if such a thing exists ? Budget is £800to £1,000 so I’d appreciate any thoughts and recommendations so I can draw up a shortlist prior to auditiioning. Thanks
Tons of good speakers around at that price point, although if you really need to put them close to the front wall the choice becomes rather limited.
Slightly above your budget (around 1200) would be things like ProAc Tablette 10 or Neat Iota Alpha. You might be within budget if buying used is an option, especially for the Iota Alpha because you don’t need a stand for these.
Many speakers are usually front or rear ported, but if you can position them around 30cm from the front wall many others will work. You might want to look into KEF LS50 Meta or KEF R3. As far as i remember the KEF have an additional foam you can put into the bass reflex port to make them work better near the front wall.
All these suggestions will work well for every kind of music (i have listened to all of them except the Tablette 10 which many in this forum with a varied music style seem to appreciate)
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Thanks, really helpful and a good start point. It may be worth pushing my budget a little to cater for any future upgrades.
Old Royds works close to rear wall, some of them are bargains if you can find a nice pair Minstrels for example.
Some of Royd’s speakers were further developed by Rega when Joe closed down…, the transmissionline Ela are similar to Apex and later range of RS/RX with side-fired woofer are designed to work against or close to rear wall.
Rega no longer make speakers in wooden cabinets but you might find some ex-dem or s/h.
My RX3 works exemplary few cm from wall.
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The Sonus Fabre Lumina II’s have a bottom port firing forward and don’t need vast amounts of space from the wall. Darko did a review of them on YouTube and he likes them more than the KEFs.
I have to say I always take a second look at Sonus Faber’s speakers; they always look a little different and project a quality that they may or may not live up to.
I have watched the review yesterday, it seems like a nice speaker (if you can live with its slightly neoclassic look)
However, in my experience it does not really matter if the port is on the front or the back of the speaker, they may both get boomy as long as it is a ported design.
This looks like a sensible recommendation, the RX3 seems really like a bargain and looks good too!
If i was to start again i would definitly put it on my shortlist.
Thanks, the RX3s look nice and have some good reviews but I’m really looking for bookshelf speakers.
N-Stats if you can find them. One of the best sounding Naim speakers and good match for any Nait.
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Within your budget here’s hundreds of bookshelf speakers out there, perhaps you should try to listen at some of them to restrict choice a bit.
I know this is not always possible.
Maybe avoid those rear ported or non ported, but again, there’s exceptions for near wall placement.
I agree they were superb - but a love or hate speaker really, as I have read many dislike them.
Sure a good purchase as value will stay put.
I used Spendor S3/5Rs with my 5i. Superb BBC style speakers they’re a sealed box and work great close to a wall.
There are several iterations, the latest is the Classic 4/5, but they are all good and make excellent second hand buys.
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Q 3020i, 3030i, Concept 20
AE 300
Spendor 3/5 pre-loved
Magnat Humidor
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Did you have a chance to compare 4/5 and 3/5 ?
No, not as yet, just trying to draw up a short list to speed up the auditioning process. There really are so many options so everyone’s input is appreciated - thanks.
No, but I would expect it to sound broadly similar and as it’s the latest model you should be able to get a demo at at a dealer.
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Just seen on TomTom that Neat are making a 100 pairs of the legendary Petite.
Have you seen the price ?
Can’t understand if 4/5 worth an upgrade from 3/5. I’d prefer to have some opinion before I start playing with boxes.
I was really interested in them until I saw the price ! Sure they’ll be great but more than I can afford/justify at present.