New naim AMP for custom build speaker

[Retm]

Helle Everyone
I just discovered this forum here. From what I have seen its really nice how you treat eachother… night and day compared to another forum where I‘m signed up aswell

Let my first introduce myself real quick.
I‘m Reto from Switzerland. I‘m in my mid 20ties and just discovered this hobby.
Last year I frist bought some Wharfedale Dentons 85s, a Vincent SV500 AMP and a very cheap turntable… from time to time I made small updates (like we all do )

My current setup is the following:

• technics SL1210 with Goldring 1042
• vincent SV500 AMP
• Vincent PHO-200
• Troels Gravens Faital 3WC-10 speakers
• svs sb100pro subwoofer

I often listen vinyl but would love to stream in high quality aswell… currently I just connect my iphone with a cable to the AMP… as you can image it sounds…. Not very good…

May I tell you my problem:

I recently finished building my custom speakers from Troel Gravens - Faital 3WC-10.
it was such a fun project to build my own custom speaker. Here is a picture for you:

The new speakers are ghe following:
Basics:
3-driver speaker
Dimensions: 37.5 x 40 x 68 cm, WxDxH.
System sensitivity: 93 dB/2.8V/1 meter.
Impedance: 8 Ohms, minimum 5 Ohms at 35 and 700 Hz.
Point of crossover: 500 and 2400 Hz, LR2 filter.
Power requirement: 20+ watts/channel.

I love the speakers, but would love to get some better quality music.

I ready to sell the vincent AMP, svs subwoofer (i dont need it anymore i think…) and invest some more money for a good streaming solution but keep the possibilities to use my turntable.

I have an offer for an Atom for about 2400 $ maybe less.

My question for you guys:

Do you think the atom is an upgrade to the vincent? Do you think I still need a power amplifier and the Atom to get the full potential from the speakers?

I‘m really new to this… i just wish for a better music listening i know this is different to everyone’s ears…

Or can you recommend me something else? What would you do in my case If you have… lets say 3500$ budget.

Many thanks for your help.
Have a great one!
Reto from Switzerland (sorry for my bad english…)

[Mike-B]

Hallo Ratm, welcome to the forum & hopefully to the world of Naim

The Atom would be a good choice for your Faital 3WC-10
Looking at the Troel Gravens web pages on this speaker, they look an easy drive load with impedance rating of of 8 ohms, the lowest going to only 4 ohms & a very high sensitivity @ 91dB/m.

Good luck & let us know what you finally go for (and your English is perfect)

[GavinB]

You’ll still need a phono amp with the Atom though. Your speakers look wonderful!

[Retm]

Thank you Mike!

I‘m almost convinced that I will buy the atoms. The only thing that keeps me from pulling the trigger is that my room acoustics are really bad… would love to have the Dirac Live feature… its build in in the NAD M33 but thats way above my budget…

Is there an option to add „more bass“ to the speaker if i feel it needs to? I will sell my subwoofer but in case i think the bass is to „hidden“ i can‘t just rotate a knob and add more bass. Is there an option in the menu uf the atom? Or should i keep the subwoofer??

I think the atom is a good place to start with. I can still extend to an more powerfull preamp if i have to right? Thats possible?

Thanks!

[Retm]

Thank you so much! Was an interesting journey building a speaker. I just like the “vintage” design…

can you recommand one for me? or should i just keep the vincent pho-200?

have a great one! thanks a lot

[frenchrooster]

A thread for @Mark84 , and Mark63. They have built or still building Troels speakers. So they know what they need. They know their babies

[Eoink]

Welcome aboard @Retm, those speakers look great. Hopefully the two people tagged above can give advice from their experience. And your English is excellent.

[Mike-B]

Hi again Retm, the Atom does not have a control to change bass output, the output over the 20Hz/20kHz audio range is ‘flatline’. The amp is more than able to produce bass to the limits of your hearing.
Any bass response & whatever limitations they have will be with the speakers & the room interaction. The Faital 3WC-10 bass unit is a larger than normal for home use at 10 inch (254mm) so in theory should be able to go deep, I see the port tuning is 35Hz but the in-room begins rolling off before that. However because in the room bass is very dependent on the room, only a test in the room will tell you.
As you are unsure I would advise to keep your subwoofer until you have tested the Faital speakers in the room, with your existing Vincent amps, then try with/without the sub.
I have a feeling that as you have been used to the sub, you will end up keeping it.

[Retm]

such a fun coincidence… I know the videos from @Mark84 from youtube… His video showing the Atom and the troels speaker playing you and your friends -DS convinced me to build the troels speaker

thanks at this point Mark!

[Retm]

Thanks Mike
I acctually tested the Faital (with the Vincent AMP) with and without SUB.
The Sub is definitly not needed anymore… But sometimes I use the “BASS-Knob” on the Vincent to add more Bass if the track sounds really flat… Thats a feature that will be missed and I have to live without if i go the Atom way and sell the sub… In case I keep the sub, is it possible to connect to the atom?

Thanks so much !

[GavinB]

@Retm

can you recommand one for me? or should i just keep the vincent pho-200?

Sorry, no, I’m not a turntable user (or at least not for some years now). I’m sure plenty of others will have suggestions though.

[Mike-B]

@Retm

In case I keep the sub, is it possible to connect to the atom?

There are two connection methods - low level & high level.
Connect from Atom pre out to the sub.
Connect at the loudspeaker terminals
You should refer to the sub installation instructions on this as its considered preferable to connect at the stereo speaker(s)

[PeakMan]

If you’re looking towards NAD, I’d have thought the M10 was the obvious competitor for the Atom. There was a thread here a while ago about the M10 and whilst the consensus of those who did a comparison favoured the Atom, at least one reviewer went the other way. I think a revised version has recently appeared with some improvements and it does offer Dirac Live.

Roger

[Mark84]

Hello @Retm, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your speaker build. What a fantastic job you have done, I saw your reply to Troels on his website only a few days ago.

I actually really want to build that speaker myself. I have a suspicion that it will sound very nice with naim equipment. Just a guess though. The faital speakers have had amazing feedback and this 10” version is great way to sample it without having to build one of its bigger brothers.

Regarding amplification, I think that the Atom is a really good place to start for you and your speakers. As @Mike-B said, those speakers are an easy load and Troels specifications can be trusted.

My Atom provided me with almost two years of bliss, I absolutely loved it and it seemed to have a lovely synergy with both of the Troels designed speakers I’ve built over the past few years.

They were however, (both pairs), a little hot in the treble, which was fixed by using the higher resistance option for the tweeters R1 in the crossover. Maybe due to my hard floors and windows.

I personally would substitute the Nad and it’s dsp for the higher quality sound of the atom. I almost made the same decision but I am very glad I went for the Naim option. Although, I will advise that it has resulted in me selling all my electronics to fund the purchase of an NDX2, so be warned, this may happen to you too!! The new streamer is in transit as we speak, but I still don’t have an amp to use it with when it arrives.

[Mark84]

Dial in the sub to the atom with it on the slightly bassy side, and then keep it mostly switched off. Then you can just switch on for music that needs it.

[Mark84]

If I built those speakers I would love to build some stands like the ones for the Linton Heratage.

[Retm]

Good Morning Mark (at least good morning here in Europe)
Thank you so much for your kind words! I will poste a more detailed review in the future… I’m currently very busy with work and education.

Thats good to here, that you think it will be a good match. We will see

Good point with the higher resistance R1 option… I mounted them to the crossoverboard but havent connected them yet… Sometimes the highs are a little harsh already… luckily I haven’t glued the front yet, I will definitily try that out first!!

I will will not buy the NAD for sure… Atom is my first choice.

(I’m already talking to a potential seller)

Have fun with the NDX2. It looks like a beast! It will for sure sound lovley with your speakers!

What kind of amp are you going for? A tube-amp would be interesting to test out dont you think?

[Retm]

I will keep the sub for the beginning and test it out… if I really need it or not

[Retm]

These stands look great. The only concers are, that they are to big for my room.
I can’t decide whether I should build something like this:

or this:

or this:

Or something like the klipsch heresy stands… I know they are not ideal because of the alignment of the tweeter and bass.

It’s a hard decition… But for sure they won’t stay on those boxes.

[XMB]

@Retm

The only thing that keeps me from pulling the trigger is that my room acoustics are really bad

Then you should try and get a demo of the Lyngdorf TDAI-1120. This includes RoomPerfect that will sort out your difficult room.