And which website might that be (if Richard allows it to be mentioned)
Nintronics. If you buy it I claim my 10%. Or at the very least an ice cream.
A free Cornetto for all if that becomes the “happy ending” of my itchy tale.
As I said the 30k linn is a delightful box with delicious transparency and detail but it is a different presentation of music - best Linn I have heard with the new DAC so maybe worth a listen.
Switching between the two at a home demo my learning was I prefer the Naim sound……
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Well I am well used to the Linn sound as I purchased my first KDS/1 upon its release in 2011 (the KDS/0 was eye opening however the /1 was the real deal). It has stayed with me through a /2 and /3 update until 2 years ago when a dCS Rossini kicked it out of the Fraim rack. It now resides in another room where it fronts my various headphone systems.
I have been on the fence about upgrading one last time to Organik - and a part of me is always juggling numbers considering the Organik upgrade is 5400gbp. One starts to calculate an ex demo price, selling the KDS/3 Katalyst, and then compares that to an attractive demo version.
The wheels just keep on spinning 
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I’ve followed your thread with interest, and respect that you want to do a bit of experimentation with active (either analog or digital crossovers, either class A-B or D amplification) speakers.
The Atom HE is a nice idea, and is reputed to have an improved preamp over the regular Atom… plus potentially even better than the Nova per some posts by Clare (but I’ve seen nothing official to claim that, or any reviews or comments to confirm that).
One other thing that might be worth trying, as an exploration in DSP, is to consider Roon and its deep convolution filter capability. You can do that in parallel with your listening tests, and separate the variables so to speak. Especially if the main reason the Burchart speakers appeal to you is their built-in DSP…
In the future, there is at least some hope that Naim will add greater user-configurable DSP in the new Uniti line. Here’s a very recent post from Stevesky that might be of interest:
Anyway, thanks for this thread and please keep us posted with your thinking, research, and listening session impressions.
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Has anyone here ever heard the Goldmund powered and wireless speakers? Not cheap but damn the sound is amazing! Lots of $$ savings since there’s almost no cables? No power amp, just a good front end.
Had a fun session and free coffee at Ripcaster yesterday. Spent too much time listening to a KDSM3 + Kudos 808’s, sounded lovely, I can see the appeal, shame about the price!
Touched on Linn Actives, only makes sense if you spend 50K best I could tell. Had a look and brief listen to the kii Three, interesting and quite different, I can see them working well in a DAW/nearfield setup and for punchy electronic stuff, ultimately a bit marmite longer term I’d expect. They also have this silly remote control you wire stuff in to and aren’t exactly cheap. Best summed up as niche, and probably best aligned to a studio type setup than a general purpose lounge.
Listened also to a Selekt DSM as a preamp + Klimax twin in to Audiovector R3 (£7kish) quite enjoyed that balanced and quite delicate, not quite the wrap around meatiness we were getting off the 808’s.
I’ve spoken to a few dealers on the viability of the Atom HE specifically as a streaming preamp, the concensus seemed to be, stick with what you have, you’ll regret the change, I can see that makes sense, If I was a daily high end headphone user that might sway things, but certainly there was an air of reluctance to help me explore that option, still going to see if I can actually hear and compare it this coming Friday at Audio Barn.
So to that point, seeing those guys this Friday, mainly to get a deep dive on the ATC actives and compare them against same speakers run passive using integrated front ends and pre/power equivalents, mainly with a focus on the Selekt DSM as a preamp and a mix of Linn or Naim power amps, just for fun, I had pondered if putting a NAP 250 on the Selekt would “work” to that end.
I also spent a bit of time today moving my Kanta’s around a bit to experiment with placement, getting them well out in to the room and moving them closer and further apart and towards/away from the wall, even small distance changes make a difference as I’d expect, but I’ve been lazy and not really experimented with placement nearly enough, they’re better having done that and moved them about a bit anyway.
I’ll check back after the ATC listening session anyway, good excuse to hear some nice kit and drink coffee in good company if nothing else!
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I understand the attraction of active speakers but often all that’s required to make speakers “active”, well crazy happy active in my case, is only a tiny beautiful box that would make any room look cool 
4 boxes all in all, including the speakers.
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Very nice too!
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If i were you i’d sell the Kantas and look for miles cheaper speakers…
I get on ok with the Kanta’s, I’ve got other speakers here both in use and spare I can swap in if I get bored as well.
I’m likely to leave the main system as is, my wife uses it more than I do on a regular basis and she’s been quite content with my lack of “new boxes” arriving lately if nothing else!
The Selekt however I may well experiment with further as a streaming pre and add some active ATC’s to for fun, see what that brings.
Nice thing with that is I can run both internal power amp modules and XLR pre out modules alongside each other so could even swap back and forth between them if I really had the time to.
There seems to be hints they’ll do an Organik DAC for it at some point as well which is relatively easy to swop in to replace the Katalyst one, the roundabout keeps spinning regardless.
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I’ll be interested in your thoughts after your trip to The Audiobarn, especially how you find running the Linn directly into the Naim amps compared to the other options. Out of interest, what amps were used in your Ripcaster demo with the 808s ?
KDSM/3 + 808’s was driven by a SimAudio Moon, was either the 888 or 860A, think they had AQ power IEC’s on it and Linn IC’s?
It had a very addictive and effortless presentation, I cranked it up a bit once I had control of the iPad and it kept on giving more of the same good stuff.
It’s a very long open space as well in their showroom, full of kit and not treated at all but with a fairly low ceiling (it’s a very old building)
I may have to go back just to sit with that under my control for a few hours, I would like to see how it compares using Klimax twin or even a pair of solos, lacked the time this visit.
The Selekt + Klimax Twin driving the Audiovector floorstanders I enjoyed a lot, have no previous opinion on those speakers (closest I have is probably my Dali’s) but worth a listen for those that can, nice looking too, not overly modern nor oldskool, somewhere between SF and Dynaudio perhaps?
Another interesting aspect is you can upgrade the drivers across different quality tiers for just the price differential, an odd concept (to me st least) but one they manage to pull off by all accounts. I’d like to hear their smaller standmounts in the same system as/when I pop up there again.
Not everyone is a fan. I once spent a couple of hours comparing active ATC19s with the passive version driven by a 250DR. For me the actives won easily, but someone sitting next to me throughout reckoned he couldn’t have lived with them and strongly preferred the passive setup. Chacun à son goût and all that.
Roger
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well, yes and if/once you like how the speakers sound all that story of matching amp to speakers is resolved!
On the speaker front It just occurred to me that I hadn’t been out and done much listening lately and that I’m actually very spoilt locally with a number of dealers stocking a range of very capable brands, some familiar, some less so. The Audiovector speakers I heard on Monday as an example, they were nice.
Exploring active speakers is more a curiosity than anything else, many years back I had a pair of PMC DB1’s active with Flying Mole amps strapped to the back of them which I used for nearfield and production purposes, wish I’d kept them now.
Certainly of the dealers I’ve been talking to lately it does sound like a lot of their recurrent and new business is for simple but capable systems as opposed to a merry go round of upgrading and box multiplication, I had expected that to be the case but their comments affirmed that trend.
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Just as a note. ATC is not typical in the active business. They have real amps (class AB) in their speakers and a dedicated amp-designer.
And what you gain by going active with ATC more or less makes up the difference to a top-notch Naim amp driving a passive ATC.
And there is another lesson speaker makers could learn from Naim SBL:s. Put the passive crossover in a small box on the back of the speaker so it could be fully decoupled from the speaker box. Clearly more audible than board-pulling your 52 at the time!!
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« Chacun son goût « . The exact expression. I couldn’t resist, sorry.
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I’ve heard many variations on this phrase which may be more appropriate in Hi-Fi circles 
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