Speakers

[Kev1]

Am after some advice on matching some speakers to my naim xs 3.
Listened to some proac responce dt8 in the shop and they did sound very nice but at £2300 can I get better value for my money, am looking for floor standing

[LindsayM]

How much are the Neat Iota floorstanders?

[trickydickie]

Just under £1700 for the Iota Alpha. They seem interesting speakers, I keep wondering about them for our conservatory, I like that they are short.

I was wondering about a pair of Kudos X2’s for the OP. They seem a bargain on the used market and on paper would pair nicely in a Naim XS system.

Speakers are hard to buy blind though but best value is on the used market.

[Stephen_Tate]

Neat Motive SX2 speakers match really well with a NAIT XS 3.

[PerF]

Agree
look at Motive SX2 or Kudos X2/X3 if you have the room, they need to be away from rear wall and furniture.
Not expensive

[Innocent_Bystander]

Best value for money comes with secondhand, or possibly ex-demo. Good speakers just a few years old have a lifetime ahead of them, and your £ buys you more - the only way I would buy with a limited budget.

This is what I posted in a recent similar thread with a fairly similar budget (though different amp) - the rest of the thread is probably worth a read.

Speaker selection

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 PMC…

[anon96879789]

My experience the other way 'round: I used to have a pair of Ovator S-400s in my largish, T-shaped living room and they were placed, by necessity, on one of the shorter T’s horizontal walls about 3,8 mt wide, facing circa 7 mt.
I was never happy with them using my trusted SuperNait, which had always made the n-Sats sound big and open. For a number of reason I lately moved to ND5 XS2 and Nait XS2, and I finally heard the S-400 at their best - leaner, homogeneous, coherent and very listenable without the usual HiFi artefacts I often find in celebrated floor standers.
Just to say that with a Nait XS - a great little amp, in my view, I realise today - a pair of S-400s, which can be found second hand for very reasonable sums, are still a good choice, an ‘important’ speaker system with much technology inside and looks that blend unsuspectedly well into any furnishing style.

m.