I’ve recently bought myself an Atom but it is still wrapped up as I’m struggling with speaker selection. My budget is around £2000 and I’m after floorstanders. The room is a bedroom around 5x3m, carpet and soft furnishings. So far I’ve listened to Audiovector QR3, Qacoustics 3050i, KEF R5, Dali Oberon 7, spendor a2 and a4, Fyne 501 (I think), focal aria.
None have wowed me yet, but think the nicest that have me and the good ladies approval have been the R5 followed by the A4.
Next week I am going to listen to the Wharfedale evo 4.4 and Dali opticon 6 at RS and then the neat iota alpha and motive sx2 at another dealer.
I’m getting impatient as I want my system set up, but realise it’s a lot of money to buy on a whim!
Any other recommendations? I’m finding it difficult to get speakers that can get the best out of the atom without going for something that are too good. Although it would be nice to have a little in reserve in case I upgrade the atom going forward! So hard!!
Music taste wise is quite diverse… I loved the spendors for vocal and laid back tracks, but they seemed boomy on heavier tracks (maybe that’s the Atom not having a grip maybe?)
Neat Iota Alphas, I had them running with an Atom and they are still serving me well as I upgrade. I did move to Neat Motive SX1’s but subsequently moved back to the Alpha’s as I my much preferred the sound. Very discrete speakers but they deliver with a superb sound throughout the spectrum. Obviously like all speakers they are room dependant so get a home demo,
I suppose you have heard speakers at dealers since the streamer is not in use. If you have heard speakers intthe room I would look at a too much dampened room as a likely explanation for borring speakers.
Claus
We listened to a few of the ones on your list plus Sonus Faber Illumina 3. All very different sounding so it would probably depend entirely on your taste and room.
Splendor were definitely a bit boomy we also discounted A7 for same reason (plus they were very much “point sources”, the music didn’t hang free of speakers).
Speakers all sound so very different, even well above your budget, meaning that it is very personal as to what suits you and your taste in how music sounds - and in that regard you are already doing the right thing auditioning. Aside from that I suggest considering secondhand or at least ex-demo to maximise buying power of your limited budget.
Beyond that all I can do is offer the fact that to me transmission line bass sound better than anything else I have heard, so I would suggest hearing PMCs - and the higher up the ladder the better. Other transmission lines manufacturers include Kerr Acoustics and Castle are other current transmission line manufacturers, though I haven’t heard any of theirs so no idea what they are like other than the opinion of reviewers.
Try all hifi shops within travelling distance - they don’t have to stock the Atom as you can always take it with you. No hifi shop worth its salt would bat an eyelid (but do pre-arrange demos). I regard the entirety of the UK mainland as travelling distance - for which I have to first take a ferry. Last time I bought speakers I took my amp, source, and speakers (to give a reference point) and travelled to the South Coast, Humberside and Tyne & Wear in a single road trip, auditioning 5 different speakers, one at a a private house and the others dealers, all secondhand or ex-demo.
I’ve used to own a Uniti Atom with Neat Motive SX2’s a couple of years back. I still have good memories about this combination; provided me with hours of fun!
More important: the SX2 are a ported design with the port firing downwards, this makes them very easy to place in your room …
A home demo of Spendors will show how they work in your room. They seemed revealing speakers with A7 best of bunch and good all rounders but we found the bass just a bit loose and the imaging/projection wasn’t to our liking as much as other speakers we listened to. Your room/ears might disagree!
Because of the bass weight and the rear ported design we were also a bit worried about positioning.
This is the main thing with the Spendor A-series. They need careful placement or they can sound boomy or out of focus. At least about 40-50cm from walls and toed-in about 15deg will give best results.
When properly positioned they won’t sound boomy at all!
Hi Ant,
I’ve got a Naim xs2 driving Neat Motive sx2s. Naim and Neat really do have symbiosis to my ears. Whatever I play they perform brilliantly. They fall into your budget with enough left over for some Naim cables.
They’re easy to set up, not a fussy speaker, play anything and everything and are relatively unobtrusive.
Do add them to your list.
Thanks, I demod the sx2 and alphas and actually preferred the iotas to my ears. Shame as visually prefer the sx2 and the mrs said the iota looked like a bin!
Last night I picked up a set of A4 spenders from my local dealer for a week long home trial. I liked their clarity but want to see how the bass is in my room. I’m setting up after work today so I’ll report back on how it goes! Thanks all, really appreciate the advice