Had a super day listening to a variety of speakers at the HiFi Lounge. Source was Naim NDX2 into a bare Supernait 3. Thanks to Paul for the demos!
PMC twenty five.24i - midrange and vocals a little thin, treble quite present, forward sound. Bass sounded a bit disconnected at times but very controlled. Not particularly engaging and left me cold.
Spendor A7. Big sound, wide soundstage, deep too. Bass was powerful but not over blown. Rich but natural midrange, very detailed and atmospheric, but not analytical like the PMCs. Made me want to listen to them all afternoon and loud! Fun!
Spendor D7.2. Similar to A7 but more forward midrange and treble, less punchy and dare I say a little dull?! Enjoyable but wanted to go back to the A7s! Reminded me of the PMC twenty 24s.
Fyne Audio F501SP. Lovely looking speaker with a very controlled bottom end which was nice and punchy, midrange sounded a little nasely after the D7.2s. Soundstage not as broad or deep, separation of complex music not quite there for me, sounded muddled at times.
Sonus Faber Sonetto V. Maybe a little too large for my lounge but great sounding speakers. Realistic, engaging, great detail without being over analytical. Slightly smaller and narrower soundstage. Speakers didn’t vanish like the A7s did initially but after a couple more tracks, I wanted to keep listening due in part to a similar presentation to the A7s.
PMC twentyfive 23i. Different animal to the 24 and I suspect the amp better controlled them. Very enjoyable, detailed with a lovely midrange but at the loss of some low end grunt and scale which I did miss. I thought to myself, wouldn’t these be nice with more low end… so we added a small REL sub in the mix. 25.23i plus sub was really nice!
PMC Twenty 22i plus sub. Similar to the 23s but more snap and warmth in the mid range. Really enjoyable set up!
Next steps - go back with fresh ears and play with the PMCs plus sub and the A7s whilst I sort out some more demos for the following -
ProAc D20s and D30s
Neat Ekstra.
Some Audio Physics higher up the range (classic 22s)
Anything else worth checking out? Speakers need to be able to sit relatively close to a wall and a good match for a SN2/3 to power. Not interested in going through pre/power route. Thanks in advance!