Speaker options in the world of covid

Hi

Recently purchased a naim nova after doing a lot of online reviewing and absolutely no auditioning with current restrictions. The next challenge is floorstander speaker pairing. The room I will be using these in isn’t big c. 3.3 by 4m. I have 2 shops close enough to me. One seemed to have little interest and and recommended B&W 804D speakers. The second shop suggested either dynaudio evoke 50 or jmr cantabile jubilee. They strongly recommend the latter based on room size suggesting the dynaudio would be too much for the room. I can find very little in terms of reviews of the evoke 50s and practically nothing on the JMRs. Anyone have any experience of either speaker but especially the latter?

Neither shop is open for auditioning so any advice appreciated.

My room is about 50 cm larger and I ended up with PMC twenty5.23i’s. I listened to most speakers between 2k and 4k in price. All had good points, I chose the PMC’s because they were the best balance for me. ProAc seem to match Naim gear very well and are popular. Focal are the Naim partner of choice, so they must be ok. A lack of interest from a dealer is not a good starting point. I travel an hour to my dealer of choice, although there are a number of ‘interested’ dealers within an hour. You really should hear something before stumping up a shoe box full of money.

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…you may want to take a look at a pair of ProAc D20R speakers they will pair with your Nova and room size.

Naim and ProAc are a wonderful match and you can find a lot of threads if you use the search function and type in ProAc D20R speakers.

I wish I could comment on the dealer’s two specific model suggestions, but it would be unintelligible at best. Also not certain I’d listen too closely to a dealer that isn’t at least feigning interest in my situation. I do, however, agree with the ProAc recommendations (especially ones with the ‘R’ designation). When I was looking recently for a change from my Harbeths, I narrowed it down to three and two of them were ProAcs: the D20R or the D30R. I mostly did this from having some experience with ProAc speakers. They do a lot right, pair wonderfully with Naim boxes and image like mad. I also think that they would also play nice within your given space; at least compared to many floorstanders out there. The 804Ds are nice (I’ve heard them), but I cannot shake the feeling that your long-term enjoyment would highly favor the ProAc sound. Their dome tweeters are great, but how they integrate ribbons is special (especially the 30R).

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I wouldn’t buy new speakers until you can audition them. You could be setting yourself up for a world of pain. :grimacing:

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@Eos Having just spent the last 2 months choosing speakers I strongly advise you choose a dealer who will allow home demo. I listened to some excellent speakers that perfectly suited the rest of my system and wallet but just didn’t work in my room. In the end it’s only your ears that will count but the community will guide you. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Strongly agree on home demo. Rooms are so different and tastes, particularly in speakers, so personal that before sizeable expenditure on new speakers I consider a home audition at least desirable, particularly in a smallish room. Of course this may present problems at the moment with restrictions on movement between areas in different tiers (assuming the OP is in the UK).

Another possibility would be to buy used in the hope that they could be moved on if they don’t work in the listening room.

Roger

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Thanks all. They are going to allow me demo both at home which is great. Will let you know how it goes.

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