Hello everyone! I am new to your forum! My name is Alex, I am from Ukraine. Colleagues, I ask for your help in choosing acoustics for my system! The room is 3 by 5 meters, the acoustics are in the middle of the long wall. My system is a Naim 5i-2 amplifier (I will buy a Supernait someday), a Naim ND5XS player, all Naim cables! I had Dali Mentor 2 acoustics (86Db), the sound was sharp and very tiring. After reading the forums, I paid attention to Proac, Spendor acoustics… My budget is $ 1,200-1,600 for used acoustics. I want a comfortable, soft sound with good “air”. I listen to different music - Dire Straits, Chris Rea, Madonna, George Duke, Accept, Royal Hunt, Ac / Dc. What I can order now is Spendor A5r, Spendor A5, ProAc D15, maybe you can suggest other options! Thanks in advance!
From what I know of them I would be looking at a pair of Spendor stand mounts , but different markets have differing players and there may be some good brands that I know little about such as Amphion that are more prevalent in the Ukrainian market
Good luck and best wishes
Thank you! I have the opportunity to bring acoustics from Poland or Germany…
The Spendor A5 is terrible and I would not touch it. If you want Spendor I’d look at the smaller A2. In case it helps, it’s ‘speakers’ rather than ‘acoustics’.
It’s hard choosing speakers without hearing them first, as we all like different things. Beware of choosing a soft sound, which can be very boring. You want something with a bit of life. ProAc make very good speakers and would be my choice of those you list.
Hi Alex, Asking the internet to help you choose speakers is a difficult one! We all have opinions, so how do you put a weight on the opinions of strangers?
I would include Neat Acoustics in those brands that you consider. Just an opinion of a brand that I think works well with Naim.
C.
Thank you very much! I’m also inclined to ProAc! You don’t know what the difference is between response D15 and some Dali?
Thank you! I understand that you need to listen and decide for yourself in your room and in your system! But unfortunately, there is no such opportunity, so the choice is only taking into account the experience of others
Spendor A5s sound wonderful on my system. Have had them for many years.
My experience of A5s was the same as HH’s - I bought a pair cheap and they sounded absolutely dire. I had intended to demo them, and sell then on if I didn’t like them, but they sounded so terrible that I was convinced that they must have been faulty.
I contacted Spendor, who tried their best to help, and even replaced all the drivers free of charge. When I got them back they sounded no better.
Next I took them to a Spendor (and Naim) dealer. We had a listen, agreed that they sounded awful even with a much better amp, then tried his demo pair, but they were no better. He admitted that the reason he had a demo pair was that lots of people asked for them due to their glowing 5 star review in What HiFi magazine, and that once he had persuaded them to demo a few different speakers they invariably chose alternatives.
It has always baffled me that such a reputable loudspeaker brand could build a speaker that to me was so awful. Clearly your experience is different, and I’m not seeking to criticise you for that. It would just be nice to understand why some of us found the A5s to sound the way they did.
Do you think ProAc D15 will be a better choice than Spendor 5 series?
A lettuce would be preferable.
The D15 is quite old now, so make sure they are in good condition and that the price is low. Speakers depreciate quickly and you may find you can afford something newer. The Nait is the limitation but as you plan to get a Supernait that is less relevant. The more recent Spendor A2 or A3 may be manageable, or some more recent ProAcs.
I sensed as much. Hence my suggestion to include Neat on your shortlist. The Motive range have been very popular with your amp as a search here on the forum shows.
Motives are shown as discontinued now on the Neat site but are possibly still findable at good prices.
I can buy ProAc D15 in perfect condition for $900 or A3 for 1000
Yes, taste in music presentation is interesting. I’ve not heard Spendors so can’t comment on them, but when once I auditioned 13 different speakers, at a cost equivalent to about £3k today with inflation, but likely double that given hifi’s higher than standard inflation, all of which had received excellent reviews, and most the top of their repective manufacturers’ ranges, 10 sounded so awful to me that they didn’t last more than a single track (and at least one of those has been praised by a few members on here).
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