New Naim system got, now do I change my speakers?

@Huxleyaston earlier you asked about mounting the hicap above the table, there are several wall mounts for turntables. Don’t know why that wouldn’t work, good enough for a rega p10, should be good enough for a hicap. I just love the table, not crazy about stacking Naim components on top of each other. The Focals in the 2’s could be a good choice, by demoing you will know. The 3’s are a lot of speaker to drive.

1 Like

I’ve watched this for a couple of days, here’s my personal view to add to the multiple different takes. I use Twenty5.23s on my Nova, they’re speakers that take me into the music whenever I listen to them. On the end of your fantastic electronics I’m sure the bigger siblings will be stunning. If you’re enjoying the system on its current beautiful table I’d suggest kick back and enjoy the music. If in 6 months time you feel something needs to be improved look again, otherwise remember why you have the system and just “play that funky music”.

6 Likes

My hifi dealer often advises to stop when you can’t tell the difference any more. Sounds like your experience so probably not worth pursuing racks. Some isolation perhaps but having your hifi pride of place is just as valid as squeezing some arbitrary % of SQ that may/may not be there.

I’m sure a decent stand speaks for itself but it really isn’t something that interests me. From the many lovely photos in the systems thread it seems many are also happy without stands. Each to their own.

By the sound of it, the mass of your table is high. I thought so but if it’s significant, relative to the hifi, it won’t be overly affected by acoustic or electronic vibration. It’ll be almost like placing your hifi on the floor. If the objective is to ground vibration and minimise the effects of vibration from one component to another then it’s potentially a good start.

Anyway, let us know how you get on with the Focals. PMC are supposed to be a great match with Naim already so will be interesting to hear how they compare. I love the look of the Kanta 2 but they don’t seem to do the Gauloise blue anymore.

36B23D70-C5DB-4A07-8A6B-AE10C43CF400-12390-00000AF06B8C53D9

This is a fantastic looking table. I want one.
Can think of all sorts of special things to fill those kinky drawers.
I’m guessing everyone is just jealous.

19 Likes

Back to the Speakers…

I had PMC 20.23s for many years and recently replaced them with Kuods 606s, which to me was a very significant upgrade sound quality wise.

I also demoed the new PMCs, but thought they were getting too expensive, even though I really liked the new 25.26i, but they were same price as the Kudos after some dealer discount, which to me was a better speaker.

Thanks for the last few posts, they are all really constructive and helpful.

The responses to my first post have been fascinating, thanks all, a couple were rude but I guess that’s social media.

Considering my question was whether my PMC’s were a good match with my new Naim gear, there have been relatively few loudspeaker responses. The context here was that this is my second pair of PMC’s and it all sounds great in my view and that I didn’t want to get caught up in the black art of hi hi perfection🤪.

So, here are the actions I am taking from your helpful responses…

Firstly I am going to live with everything and enjoy the wonderful combination.

I have made notes of all the suggested speakers and will do my homework, I have a great dealer so will demo at home, as I always do before any purchase decisions. They will have to be truly great to beat my PMC’s but this will be the most impactful potential change to my system in my opinion, so will be something I will check out. I’ve never heard any other speaker combo so it’s something that needs checking.

The table stays, but I have ordered the following additional isolation (I am sure someone will say I could have ordered a dedicated table for the cost of this but I don’t want one).

  • IsoAcoustics zaZen II Isolation Platform, for each piece of kit
  • IsoAcoustics Orea Series Isolation Feet, for under the Hi-cap DR to move it further away from the PSX DR. The Hi-cap might need moving to it’s own dedicated spot suspended and isolated under the table between the legs but let’s see how the above works first.

IsoAcoustics Gaia Series Threaded Isolation Feet ordered for the speakers.

Wireworld Matrix 2 power block, to test against my current mains conditioner. I hear clearly the dedicated mains recommendations and will do my homework here and talk with my dealer, it’s a new field for me that I need to check out.

That’s it. Thanks again for all your responses.

10 Likes

Obviously meant XPSDR, spell check taking over!!!

But we always hear differences! If he had advised ‘…stop when your parter/friend/wife/husband can’t tell the difference any more’ then I would still be at entry level.

G

1 Like

Sounds like a good plan so all the best with it.

For me, the path to audio nirvana isn’t about following rigid systems as it’s virtually impossible to 100% optimise a system. Sure, setup needs some consideration but one can quickly find the process takes precedence over genuine satisfaction. The black art as you say!

1 Like

Once someone resorts to percentages of improvement I feel they’ve lost the argument, because obviously the whole notion of trying to attach a percentage to musical satisfaction is deeply flawed.

4 Likes

See above.

Haha :joy:

That’s true to some extent but as the OP mentioned, he wasn’t really able to hear much (if any) difference between a dedicated support and a table.

I have to say I’ve found similar in the past and confess that I’m the same with speaker cables. I used to use Cable Talk as a cheap alternative to NACA5 (it was claimed to have similar properties). I’ve since moved to Witch Hat N2 and shamefully can’t really tell much difference.

Nait3/CD5 to Uniti MK1: big difference.
Uniti MK1 to Nova: huge difference.
ProAc Studio to ML Electromotions: huge difference.

I’m not suggesting cables and stands don’t work but just that I’ve not heard significant differences. Although I’d caveat that by saying I’ve never listened to a Fraim.

Interestingly my wife is my barometer for most purchases. She never uses my hifi, except for TV but has a good ear.

Perhaps my dealers advice should be modified to, “stop if you can’t hear enough of a difference”.

1 Like

As for the importance of placement, if you read up a bit you’ll see that one of the biggest factors in why Naim is different is down to the massively over specified power supplies used in most of their kit. 500VA power supply transformers to feed maybe 20VA load, for example. This presents major design issues in terms of internal layout to minimise noise finding its way on the power rails - something Naim has progressively improved over the years, with seemingly minor tweaks to internal cable layouts etc. The only problem here is that the customer can unwittingly undo this by stacking power supplies, seriously compromising performance. This is where a dealer becomes worth his cut, and can guide the customer away from rookie errors.

The advice should have clarified that it should be when you can hear no difference when comparing blind…

My wife sometimes hears differences that I don’t - she hearing from the adjacent room, compared to me listening in the listening room! My problem is that when comparing I too easily get drawn into listening to the music not focussing on hearing differences - my wife on the other hand isn’t interested but can’t help hearing the sound.

After a few days away I’m back at the store today catching up with some paperwork and thoroughly enjoying the great synergy of our NDX2 > SuperNait 3/Hi CAP DR > QLN Prestige 3’s demo system :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

I’ve spent years trying different speakers and have recently got a set of PMC Fact 8’s and they are the best I’ve heard with my Naim System.
I wouldn’t worry about getting a specific support either as the only component you need a decent one for is the record deck.
Just enjoy the music, your speakers are well suited, just play around with their position and try toe-in them in so that in the listening position the sound crosses roughly a foot behind your head.

1 Like

If only things were that simple. Opinion as fact. Unfortunately it’s all too common these days.

Thanks, I’m picking up a pair of PMC Twenty 26 tomorrow to have a listen too compared with my 24’s.

Also have an Isol-8 Integra on demo which has transformed my system even further. Wow!

1 Like

I like to give my 2c opinion about famous table…

The material and construction seems to be not ideal for a Hi-Fi stand…

I am not commenting about the looks or anything

Anything from a solid wood with good isolation feet may be better,

Try to put a turntable on it an you may here if somebody walks near…

Maybe:) maybe not

We are off the table debate, it’s staying, loudspeakers was my question :joy::joy:

6 Likes