Simpli-Fi - A journey towards simplicity

No need to wake the (darke) bear on this occasion, apology accepted!

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That’s interesting Nigel. I’d forgotten ATC still made the 20ASLT. I prefer the ‘classic’ ATC look over the curved cabinet, metal grill models.

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I found this, compared against my 252/250 set up too.

I recall a thread from last year about a very nice hi-end streamer speaker, that look like a very good simple system. But I can’t remember what it was called…

I can’t help but feel that there is a big gap in the Naim range here, a streamer/pre and active Focal range. But maybe it can’t provide that weight and drive we all like?

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The 20 is part of the posh range with U.K. made cabinets with nice veneers. The 19 and 40 are cheaper bulk made overseas outsourced cabinets and just aren’t to the same standard. The 19 and 20 are very similar soundwise by all accounts but to me the 20 just looks classic.

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As forum rules dictate, my first port of call is a dealer demo and ideally home demo at some point, it’s a scratch that wants itching and their active offerings generally appear well received and enjoyed by existing owners, a sweet spot of a “box and speakers” setup that I’m hoping doesn’t leave me longing for a return to a NAIT and ND system, despite loving what it offers but knowing for modest outlay I can get a similar enjoyment level and still have upgrade options to grow in to.

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I’m not so sure about the Focal part, as no Focal I’ve heard would get anywhere near my house. But a streaming preamp, absolutely. That said, an NDX2, Supernait and some nice looking speakers is hardly indiscreet.

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Despite my comment above, if I was starting again, I’d be giving the Linn Klimax and power amps a close look/listen, for all the reasons you mention.

Well, indeed, that would be an issue for me too. It’s early here….

Certainly my Kanta 1 addition was something of an exploratory whim, I’m by no means dissatisfied with what I currently have to be clear, performs as expected and not the most adventurous of systems admittedly, it’s primarily driven by an interest to experience an active based system and to align that with a well consider streaming preamp hence my bias towards the Linn DSM, based in part on the fact I own the Selekt variant already as well as considering how simple I can make the setup before I overstepped the compromise level.

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I’m not speaking with experience, but with all the reading I did from this forum and the many links, if I was to re-think my setup I would try to put some thoughts on room acoustic treatment for sure.
If the situation allows it…. :smiley:

Hi Mr M,
Reading that thread I see that you refer very very often to ATC active. It’s like you have already decided where to go.
So now you can just choose the right streaming pre to go with it. There are not so many choices : Lumin P1 or X1, Auralic ( G1 ?), Meitner MA3, Linn KDSM or DSM, and finally DCS Bartok or Rossini.
You have maybe other active speakers to try, Meridian, Ki three, Beolab, and Manger.
Some years ago I heard the Manger. Not bad at all.


Manger.

When I started looking at downsizing going for active speakers with built-in amps was my first thought. I looked mostly at the Kii Three, the SCM40A and SCM19A. Not even the distributor here had the 20ASLT available and they advised me the price would be close to EUR 11.000 (before final brexit and last years inflation), not expensive compared to the Kii but the Kii at least promised to solve room-interaction.

The Kii was interesting but I never felt comfortable with it, possibly due to their DSP-system, the interaction of all the speakers in the box or just the class-D amplification I dont know. The 40A didnt work for me at low levels and somehow felt oversized despite it being the same size as the 19A. The 19A was the best fit for me, very low distortion and normal interaction with the room. But by then I had second thoughts about having amps inside a vibrating box and the idea of tying amps with speakers in general.

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Appreciate your thoughts and sharing them on this topic. My decision to make changes is not committed by any means today, it’s as much an excuse to do some Hi-Fi window shopping than anything else and to explore further a curiosity regards the potential for active speakers, smart or not.
I’m UK based so the brands bias will lean towards mostly UK manufacturers, hence referring back to ATC not least it’s easy to demo and priced better being UK based.
I’m going to demo the kii Three tomorrow, just to set a point of reference, I’m still curious what the Buchardt offers, they have a direct sales model to reduce distribution overheads, they appear to be well reviewed and offer a no fuss return policy after a 60 day home trial period.
I’ll also benchmark against Linn Exakt based speakers as well along side the kii and driven by a range of different DSM’s.
Beyond that I want to hear the Kef LS60 and the Dynaudio Focus 30, I’m not expecting them to be a choice I’d make but want to see how they compare fundamentally.
The conclusion may be that what I already have is what I need and doesn’t need changing of course, but there is a certain appeal to having a box + speakers system, if only for the fact it’s a new system direction to explore, the capability of these products evolves continuously and having lived with both Linn and Naim systems for extended periods of time don’t have an issue going one direction or another.
I should be able to listen to Auralic and Lumin as well tomorrow at a local dealer. I’ll certainly feed back what I find and what conclusions I reach, if only to share some insight for others interested in this topic.

The local dealer I’ll be visiting tomorrow stocks kii as well as Lumin and Auralic. Main interest I explained to him being a DSM comparison and how they work with either Linn active / Ekaxt vs kii Three. If I get a chance I’ll look and listen to the Lumin and Auralic options for sure.

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Gave this some thought, a ClearAudio Concept Active, a £2k plus turntable including built in phono stage , plus a £4 k Uniti Star, plus, something like Graham /Falcon/Rogers LS3/5A , some decent stands, Powerline , Witch Hat Phantoms

Without a decent rack , that is still a £10 k system with , turntable , CD, streamer and amplification with one box, turntable plus speakers.

I do appreciate there are one box plus speakers systems , but I still like ownership of the physical media,

Whatever suits your needs of course Ian is what’s best for you. I already have simpler setups vs what I’ve had historically, SN3 + NDX2, Atom and in wall speakers, Selekt DSM with power amp modules as well as even a Sonos amp on top my kitchen cupboards.
The main focus here is the SN3 system which is already optimised best it can be (Full Fraim, Hi-Line, Powerline), my interest is taking a slightly different approach with a system based on a streaming preamp and active speakers as an alternative. One aspect here is that I don’t use that specific system often so considered if I could replace it completely and liquidate some funds whilst not loosing much in terms of performance/enjoyment.
Sounds like you’ve got a great system there as well.

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It’s the system I’m edging towards , it may be that I may be downsizing in property terms and I would most likely significantly downsize the hifi as well.

I have cataract , body knees so simplifying the amount of connections would be a priority

The only fly in that ointment is that the streaming preamps and active speakers you are considering may well cost considerably more than the second hand value of your existing stuff. Still, there is no harm whatsoever in experimenting, and if you decide that you are better sticking with what you’ve got then that is a result in itself. I must say that having sold the SL2s, which were fantastic of course, and moving to the very small ProAcs, everything fits the room so much better. As it’s the sitting room and the only hifi in the house, I feel it’s important that it fits into our life, rather than our life having to fit around the hifi.

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Not even got to a point of pricing any options up but will do at some point. You’re right though that it could be an exercise that proves costly and still won’t enable any more listening time. I definately want to at least explore with my own ears these options and see what I conclude. There’s likely less costly and potentally more beneficial steps to explore in parallel like room treatment, the room interactions was where my curiosity in what Buchardt offered came from, how tunable they are is hard to evaluate unless I had a pair here of course, the other options are easier to drive 30 minutes away to at least take a look and listen to.

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Indeed! Accepting compromises is one of the reasons I’ve chosen Naim. I’ve had reliability issues with other great sounding brands I’ve had in the past, but, because the manufacturer is based in another territory, I never got satisfactory service. I’ve only had minor issues with Naim, but they’ve always been resolved very quickly. I love how my Naim sounds, although I readily admit there are probably things out there that would sound better to me. In the end, I can accommodate 4 boxes, so four boxes stay. There’s more than enough neurosis in this hobby already, it can get in the way of enjoying music, if you let it. Nevertheless, the possibility of simplifying without compromising always feels attractive.

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