I have gone through a similar hunt for speakers to put on alcove cabinets close to a rear wall or wall mount to pair with my Nova. If you can, I would try the Aria 906s, Kef LS50 Meta, PMC DB1 gold and/or Dynaudio Evoke 10. They all had different strengths and weaknesses in my room but if you want bass and punch then the KEFs were amazing although a bit harsh in the treble at least in my room. I preferred the Aria 906s when wall mounted although they looked a bit silly on brackets being so large. Also, decoupling from the shelf surface made a big difference for all speakers, tightening up the bass and opening out the mids and trebles. I used some rubber garden pot supports when demoing and then bought some isoacoustic pucks which are quite chunky but I like the look. Ultimately I would have gone for the Dynaudios which were the most balanced and least fatiguing of the lot as well as looking great. However we then decided to move house so I put the whole experiment on hold!
I run my Atom with Totem Acoustic Rainmakers, they are on my desk, no longer available unless you can find somebody with old stock like I did, or second hand. They are small and bass is limited, but enough for me. I think speaker cables also have a considerable impact on smaller speakers and bass, for example Rainmakers love the NACA5. It might also be worth trying some of the other Totems if you can.
I would also like to try PMC DB1 Gold. Recommended amp power starts at 20W
Past posts on same subject here
I have been using a tiny Do Acoustics Microcosmo with my Uniti Star as a stop gap speaker pending redecorations etc etc but was so impressed with balance and staging that I eventually purchased the full fat Armonia Mundi Impact from the same manufacturer. Within the limitations of size, (14x14x10 cms) they were quite satisfying to listen to and aesthetically pleasing - how many other loudspeakers do you know that come in a purple colour called Aubergine by their manufacturer? It’s horses for courses so not expecting my likes to suit everyone.
I recently bought an Atom for the bedroom. I brought down the old Naim nSat speakers (with the silver stands) from the attic. I see the Atom as the modern Nait and the combination with the nSats close to the wall was great. Pity they don’t make them anymore.
UQ1 with Iotas here. As you can see they’re very far from optimally placed, but still sound good, even if the bass could do with a bit more reinforcement being so far from a rear wall (hard to see, but probably 80 cm away). Put on stands in my main system, compared to Motive SX3s, they did not disgrace themselves.
…I know they’re almost a default suggestion for bookshelf speakers, but they are good
Hi @Oxbow
I use Wilmslow Audio LS3 on my desk with my Atom on some very small stands.
My office is 4M by 2M
The laws of physics decree that I will not get thundering deep Ibiza nightclub bass.
But play Madona’s Frozen CD and there is toe tapping base IMHO.
Regards.
Roger.
Try Trenner and Friedl Art 2, I ran those with my Atom and they sounded superb. On paper it is a slight mis match as the arts are 85db sensitivity but the Atom has enough to drive them. Incredible speed and timing and a beautiful tone, a perfect match for Naim.
Tony
I am also looking for new speakers for my Atom. My current speakers are B&W 685 - yellow Kevlar with the bullet. These are great but definitely in the budget range (circa. £400 from memory)
I’m wondering how much headroom the Atom has for improvement with speakers up to £1500. I think spending more is probably not worth it, for my ears or wallet… Unless upgrading the Atom some point in the near future, however somebody will stop me from doing this.
My criteria is similar - small room and place on stands close to a wall. Also British 
My short list is:
- B&W 706 SE
- Neat Iota
- Spendor A1
B&W has a rear port - I’m not sure if this is necessarily a negative. My 685s have a foam insert to damp any excessive bass, although this is forward facing. This Forbes Review mentions testing on a bookshelf with no negative effects. It has screw mounting to connect to stands which is a positive. Solid reviews, and for me coming from a B&W product I think sound should not be massively different in terms of tonality, albeit a significant step up in SQ.
Neat Iota seems to be a favourite in this forum and has great reviews. The flexibility in positioning is a positive. Ribbon tweeters and meant to be superior. Bass is a little concern, I don’t list to much music which really focusses on bass, but I don’t want the system to be out of its depth listing to ‘The xx’, for example or left wanting if I move to a slightly larger apartment. Also wondering if the reviews are so positive because of the relative size to SQ ratio.
Spendor A1 is the wildcard. Sealed cabinets and thinner, damped construction. This should give flexibility in positions I think. Completely different beast, and has some mixed reviews.
My conclusion is that I would probably be very happy with any of these speakers. I need to get out a listen to them and that of course is always the recommended way to make a decision. I live in Munich, so it’s hard to find a place to test Spendor products. B&Ws are least risky for me if I can’t get out for a test, based on my current setup.
Consider the Spendor S3/5R or S3/5R2 which are closed cabinet and fairly easy to position. Also, Spendor Classic 4/5 which will be at a premium as they are fairly new. I have run the S3/5R2s with a Nait 1 no problems and the 4/5s are currently being driven by my Nait 2. Lovely detailed speakers and no lack of bass from either (I did not find this the case with the Iotas however).
Well worth a listen or punt (buy secondhand and sell on if not happy).
Those 4/5s look lovely. I like the way the grille fits flush with the edge of the cabinet. The grilles on my ProAcs always look a bit ‘stuck on’.
Magnetic Nigel. These work better than the ProAc Tabs in my situation (not so power hungry but you don’t necessarily get that from the specs).
A very lucky bargain at £960.
They look really good, and not having four little holes is a definite bonus. The edge of the cabinet is what makes them look classic and it works so well with the walnut. I’m quite envious! There is something very nice about this size of speaker.
and no dual binding posts either! I’m very interested in these too and will try and sort an audition at some stage, they get great reviews, I’d be interested in how they stack against the tabs if you were ever tempted to check them out on a home demo.
I’ll leave that pleasure to you! I once owned a pair of Spendor A5s and they were truly terrible. So unspeakably bad that no Spendor will cross our threshold again. My ProAcs are wonderful and I’ll cope with their grilles; it’s hardly an issue. I had Mk 1 Linn Kans for years and they had flush grilles and so now I feel that’s how grilles should be.
Neat Iotas and SX3s at least have magnetic grilles. Not flush fitting, but when not in place there are no holes.
Not an earth shattering revelation, just thought I’d mention it in the context
Dynaudio Evoke10 should be on your list I’d have said Evoke20 but they are probably a bit big for a desktop.
Dynaudio bookshelf speakers will always deliver stronger and tighter bass than most other brands but which ever you do chose get them isolated from the desk itself somehow.
Thanks @Bobthebuilder - it looks like the Evoke 10’s are rear ported, which kind of rules them out for me as they’re going to be placed close to the wall.
Thanks @anon27418182, those Classic 4/5s do look really nice and they are also fit the brief perfectly. Adding them to my list…
Thanks everyone for sharing their own set-ups, experiences and ideas - really helpful and it’s highlighted some good options that I hadn’t considered.
It’s become obvious that there is a correlation between speaker size and bass production, so I’ve split my audition list into two size categories: compact sized (ie small enough to comfortably fit on a desk) and mid-sized (ie getting on the large size for a desk, but fine for a bookshelf). Ideally I’d like to find a compact sized speaker, but I’m willing to compromise and go for a mid-sized speaker if the sound quality outweighs the inconvenience of the larger size. I’ve not included any rear ported speakers as my experience is they don’t work well in a confined space, close to a wall.
So here’s my short list for audition with the Atom:
I’m hoping to demo these over the next few weeks, so will report back with my findings and final decision. Happy to take any additional recommendations or thoughts on the above in the meantime.
Thanks for everyone’s help so far. I’m loving this forum - so many helpful, passionate people.
You might want to consider the Iota Alphas if you can accommodate tiny floorstanders. They were developed by Neat to address the bass issue and pair nicely with an Atom.
Roger