So I find myself temporarily speakerless. Running a Nac152/nap155xs combo. Budget is $5000nzd (so about 2000 pounds equivalent.
Dealers locally stock fyne, Totem, spendor, Rega, MA, Dynaudio etc but no chance of neat or EPOS such.
My initial thought or Spendor A2, Rega rx, or Image which is a local brand to NZ based off morel Drivers (basically dynaudio)…
Lookin for recommends - ‘ave at it
I’d go listen to regas and totems, you can’t go wrong with either with Naim but you need to listen and decide. If buying without listening you would end up with an amp / speaker happy union. But depends on what you hear. I have both rega and totem and recommend both.
It’s worth saying what your sources are, as you need to keep things balanced. The 155 is not massively powerful so you want something that’s easy to drive, otherwise you’ll get a gutless sound.
I can vouch for Naim Allaes if you are not in too small a room. They were recommended to me by a friend on the forum who said that could easily live with a CD5x, FC2x, NAC122x, NAP150x and Allaes for a very long time.
You and I have the later but essentially similar version of that amp in the NAC152XS, NAP155XS. I took him at his word and was not disappointed.
But you may not want used, and in any case, Allaes may be thin on the ground in NZ.
In which case, as HH says, you want something easy to drive to make the most of the NAP155XS’s power. For me this means an impedance not dipping below 6Ω. I have just chosen some small ATCs. Again, I don’t know ATCs are available in NZ but they talk quite a bit of the importance of making their own drivers and crossovers in such a way that the speakers are an easy load.
Enjoy the journey. Keep us posted please. It is astonishing how good NAC152XS, FCXS, NAP155XS can be with the right source and speakers. Makes me question going any further.
Rega RX3 are nice in the Prat dept. easy driven - fine match to your amp and work close to rear wall, but some find them dry and expensive,
While Spendor are polite polite +
Neat Motive are superb, pity not available for you.
Fyne are fine
Source & setup are important factor so… mains, rack, separate preamp psu…etc…
Sources are a Rega P6/ania/stageline and digital duty is a Bluesound Node 2i
Yeah I’ve been back and forth between a nac152 and a NAC202 as the pre and to be honest the difference is minuscule considering the massive price difference
I can demo all my options so no worries there… just curious as to other people’s experiences…
If digital is a major part of your listening you’d be well advised to get a better streamer, something like the ND5XS2, even if it means more modest speakers.
Rega Rx3’s on demo from the dealer at the moment, sounding pretty good so far, lots of detail and great Vocals. Maybe a little lightweight but to be expected from such a small box and my previous images were very bass-heavy - too much so for the space really. Got some Totem Skytowers to play with next week from the same dealer.
How do you have them placed? I think they’re designed to be up against a wall, certainly that’s true with the older equivalent model R3 which is what I have. I forgive the slight lack of deep end for all the positives they bring. Having said that, I had them setup one evening in a village hall in free space (must have been about a metre from the elevated stage) with my then nait xs and they filled that room and didn’t care what we were playing.
Ok so a wee update on this. Had the Rega RX3’s In the system for about 3 or 4 days now and I have to say they are very nice overall. Definitely not bass heavy but they are articulate and detailed and beautiful in the mids. Imaging is also great though you have to be in the sweet spot or they sound a bit ‘in the box’. The nap155 isn’t even breaking a sweat at any volume and they fill my 40m2 room well.
Considering what a small box they are I’m really impressed. They look great too - not at all overbearing in the room. Even the missus commented and she’s usually allergic to hifi…
They go back to the dealer tomorrow where I’m swapping them for some Totem Hawks. The totems are twice the price so we’ll see how they compare. I’ll report back.
All sounding positive. Now for the totems …
So it’s not really a fair fight. The Hawks are better in every way other than how they look. Massive soundstage and just complete control over the music. Vocals especially. I was expecting them to be bright with the metal tweeter but they are really smooth and rich sounding. Given they are $3000 more expensive though I’d expect this. Next stop on the audition train is a pair spendor A4’s or A7’s depending on stock availability here in NZ…
With the blind that I guess is also a screen, shouldn’t everything be shifted to the right a bit?
Yeah there is a door just off screen to the right of the speaker the screen is just a window
Yeah, clearly an issue with getting optimized placement there, no wonder the RX3 won’t have a chance.
And certainly not if massive soundstage is high on wish list.
Love those Totem, not many in our part of the world.
With my trusty Nait XS/HC DR i drive with ease Ovator S400 in an attic room 40 sq metre circa.
Regards
Roberto
So just to close this topic off I decided to keep the Totems, though I got a new set (the dealers demo set was from 2010). Just in the process of running in now… so far so good!
Final system ended up being
Rega P6/Ania/stageline
Bluesound Node 2i
NAC202/NAPSC
NAC155xs
Totem Hawk
Gonna have to give the wallet a rest now though….
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