Speaker recommendations for NAP300DR

I have a 300DR in a small room with Harbeth SHL5 Plus. Awaiting a new pair of Tannoy Eaton Legacy for a trial.

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I auditioned a ton of speakers before settling with Focal Sopra 1s to use with my NAP300. After several years’ use I’m still over the moon with them.

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Nice room…could be out of a Focal Brochure…

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300 is moving from a much larger room that has been overrun by other family members

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My wisdom and experience suggest you find a dealer who will at the very least let you try speakers at home with the cost of carriage if you don’t buy. To paraphrase Bill Clinton “it’s the room, stupid”.
And every dealer knows this.

.sjb

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Whilst my 500 power amp was away to be DRd my dealer loaned me their demo 300DR. At that time I had B & W 802D2s and there was no problem in driving them.
Off to your dealer with a short list and a home demo if possible.

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You say small room - what are the dimensions (everyone has a different concept of what is a small room).

Interesting choice of 272 to replace Hugo/2go. I presume you auditioned and preferred the Naim sound? (Quite a few people prefer the Chord sound).

Also curious that you rule out floorstanders for ‘dominating the room’, when standmounts can take up more or less the same footprint and be the same height. Had you considered very slim floorstanders like PMC Fact 12, which are full range (with bass tailorable to the room), and should work very well with the 300, yet are very unimposing when viewed from the front? It’s a speaker I’d certainly consider if I had to move to a small room.

ProAc D2R is going to be too much for that sized room. ProAc Tablette 10 Signature would be ideal!

IB, have you heard the Fact 12’s in a small room?
I am very surprised by this as I have only ever heard the 12’s need a lot of breathing space and are a very challenging speaker to get sounding right in a room, let alone a small one. I am sure @PeterR can vouch for this.

Popeye

Other family don’t like your music or little children or WAF ?
Some bookshelves speakers need power, as Sonus Faber. Or Harbeth. So the 300 dr can be still useful.

12 m2 and Fact 12…umh, uhm :face_with_monocle:

Yes indeed, I can’t say Fact12s are easy to accommodate as in my case a room at 3.5x6 mtrs. In my experience from 2 rooms now, I feel you will only get the best from them sound stage wise in a room 5 mtrs wide and beyond. They also like to be well away from the front wall. I am playing them 1.6 mtrs. away from front wall. They simply like to be well away from corners, but can be made to work depending ‘how deep your love is’. :hugs:
Whether a 300 will drive and control them properly will in my view be questionable, guessing here but haven’t tried a 300. The 500DR has the headroom to play them loud with their low 84DB sensitivity. Funny enough I was discussing exactly that with Bluesfan yesterday, as it is my intention to try the IB2SEs ( a nice little stand mount) now my room is getting very much out of the way and allowing the music to flow. ATB Peter

Hi PeterR,
An interesting and enthusiastic vote of confidence by @Innocent_Bystander for Fact12s driven by a NAP300 in a small room. IB is a long time admirer of PMC speakers and so am I.

However, I have only ever heard a NAP300 fail dismally when driving Fact12 speakers - fat, bloated, slow, uncontrolled deep bass, combined with thin, sucked out upper bass. The consequential impact on singers’ voices was somewhat alarming. Our NAP135s were far more capable of driving the Fact12s in that dealer demonstration, though even they were marginal. Fact12s need a NAP500 to really come on song.

As for Fact12s in a small room. Good luck. It would take a far braver person than I to try that one. I have heard Fact12s in 4 rooms, all with top end Naim or PMC electronics. As @PeterR says, they need room to breathe. A lot of room.

I still like big PMC speakers (IB2, MB2) though. Tremendous.

Best regards, BF

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I don’t think you’ll need an amp with the heft of a 300DR with the Tannoys. I used to own a pair of Ceviots back in the day and they were really happy with a NAP 110. The bass was trouser flapping.

I have a 4m x 4m room and the D2Rs are excellent. Helped by the forward facing port.

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My room is 5m long and 3.6m wide, with the speakers firing across. If your walls are solid you may want to consider SL2s if you can find a pair - and that’s a big ‘if’ of course. The fronts are about 40cm from the back wall. If you take the Neat XLS that you mentioned, the speaker itself is about 50cm deep and you’ll need at least 30cm behind it, ideally more. So that’s quite a big intrusion into the room. Wall hugging floorstanders can actually occupy less space than standmounts, so I wouldn’t rule them out. Hopefully you’ll be able to get a good long home demo of whatever you ultimately choose.

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Neat XLS are 37cm deep - I have a pair

Noting @Bluesfan‘s and @PeterR’s observations, my suggestion of Fact 12 might not be ideal.

When I heard them, on two separate occasions, they were powered by Bryston 4Bsst2 amp, which certainly has greater power capability than the 300, and I suspect significantly lower output impedance, though people do talk about the 300 as having good grip.

I had missed the OP’s inclusion of room dimensions in one of the later posts: now noted.

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Thank you everyone for your comments, I really appreciate the expertise of the people on this forum. I have tried to keep engaged and acknowledge all responses, but I have had to sleep and work in the last 24 hours…

based on the feedback and availability of product in this part of the world I am off to track down NEAT and ProAc. Neat was on my original list, but ProAc wasn’t so I think that is a win! Will let you know how I go! Thanks again all…

Hi MrP,

Is the 272 a definite BUY, or a ‘compare’ with teh Chord front end?

I’ll be interested in your thoughts in due course.

I absolutely agree with sjb above, the room/speaker interface is key. Well worth paying the postage to try in your room.

I’ll be interested in all your feedback.

ATB,

M