Jan, Worth a check in advance on S400 placement guidelines so that they are suitable for your living space. According to Naim, they should have greater than 50cm from their outer sides to the wall.
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Great stuff thanks. That oomph comes out pretty good from my current speakers
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I run the S-600 with SN3 & they work really great.
Before I buy the SN3 I auditioned them with the SN2 & they play really good as well.
So I believe the S-400 will work perfect with your SN2.
If you can buy the S-600 do it.
If you canāt go for the 400,you will enjoy them.
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Is there a possibility for you to have a listen?
I have Ovators too, I love them but if they were my only set loudspeakers I would get something different. What they do well, they do it extremely well. If this suits you, you are going to be a happy man.
I listen a lot to organ music and this is absolutely brilliant. Iām less happy with the reproduction of symphonic music but I dont think you would mind too much about symphonic music. I found that rock music shares many characteristics with organ music.
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PS I also listen to Metal,Rock & mostly Electronic music.
I strongly believe that the Ovators are the most suitable speakers for this kind of music.
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I agree. I profoundly hate (American) / have a slight dislike for (British) EDM / Metal / Hardrock but even I listen to it since it sounds so great.
I forsee a metal post coming up 
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please not
I have just been demoing ND5XS2 with my supernait 2 and S-400āsā¦ Yep they certainly work for me and have placed order for the ND5XS2. Other sources are CDX2 and LP12 all sound Wonderful to me in my room which is about 5x8 meters
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Naim OVATOR series, suffers from poor public relations, for no apparent reason.
In my opinion they surpass the SBL / SL2 and the rest of their relatives.
These are excellent speakers, a lot of time and knowledge has been invested in their development and especially in their unique BMR unit.
Buy them without hesitation and if you can afford it, look for the Big Brother S-600 that will better fill your large space.
pleasure is guaranteed.
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Pleasure can never be guaranteed. Because you are happy with them doesnāt mean the OP will be. No Ovator holds a candle to the SL2 in my experience. Speakers are very personal and you canāt simply say I have them so you get them.
I disagree. My SBLs are far more involving than the 400s. I always thought the Ovator series was a backward step.
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Good to hear the Ovators get some appreciation, very good speakers and excellent in the right space and right system.
Seems they found a good home.
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As you mentioned, itās all a matter of personal taste relevant to the whole system as well.
I heard the SBL / SL2 in my living room and in my opinion the S400 / S600 are much more musically involved.
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Doesnāt the cessation of Ovators coincide with the buy out by Focal?
Recently Iāve swapped over the Ovators into the smaller room as in the bigger room a pair of Audiovector floorstanders proved much better in many ways - fuller sound better soundstage. (The Audiovector were too boomy in the smaller room )
The Ovator s400 seem a bit bass light but perhaps that what they are or itās the position or it needs more than a Nait Xs to drive them for fuller bass??
Moving them isnāt easy and Iām tempted to sell them or p/x but none of this is easy at the best of times and certainly not at the moment!
Hei sjw,
I mention this simply because I had an almost opposite experience to you with my ears/room/set up when I listened to the Ovators and AudioVectors at my dealers.
The system at the time was the Nd5xs/Nap155/Nac152/UServe, the room was perhaps 5x6 metres and both sets of speakers were well away from the walls, at least 1m.
The Ovators were very musical, wide sound stage and did not suffer from mild bass, in fact I was quite impressed with the bass listening to Guns of Brixton by The Clash.
Then I heard the AudioVectors superior detail and clarity, but lacked musical involvement.
So my takeaway was the Ovators can handle a larger space but it also depends on ones seating position, of course the music will get lost if your seating position is too far away, you still need to find the sweet spot in a larger room.
I just note this down as a different experience, thatās all.
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think the room here is too small for them physically and the furniture canāt be moved out of there. At the moment they are a bit closed in with other stuff and close to the wall, Perhaps tomorrowās project should be to do what little I can to move them out/about!
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What sub do you use? And is it not āoverdoneā and somewhat less āmusicalā when you do?
Sad to say, I think the forum might have done for them.
Given the larger space I think it possible that @JanW might prefer S600s just as you suggest.
Itās worth noting that when the Ovators were current, Naim considered a Nait XS as being suitable for S400s and a NAC202/ NAP200 for the S600s. The latter amp would appear broadly comparable with the OPās SN2.