As the room where the hi-fi is our living room, then compromises have to be made.
None of my speakers have been rear ported; Ruark Icons (front), PMC Tweny 23s (front), Kudos Titan 606s (isobaric).
Consequently, they don’t protrude too much into the living area, keeping everyone happy.
DG…
DG, from what I understand there’s not enough demand to justify the purchase of necessary parts. Consider that some of these such as the chassis or the boards have to made in a batch of a minimum quantity. If that quantity is say 50 or 100 units and you reckon you’ll only sell a handful of units over the next year, you quickly realise it doesn’t make any sense.
Farthings Cat. No purchase is risk free!
Dealer expertise is essential with loudspeakers, just like turntable set-up IMHO.
KR
Peter
A bottle of milk or some cheese is probably ok.
If I’d bought blind, I would own kudos super 20a speakers as I saw a good deal. I hesitated, listened to them at a dealers, and bought proacs.
There is no way for you or anyone to predict how a speaker will sound on the end of your system in your room. It’s not about convention, it’s about potentially wasting money.
On the plus side, if you know your room is comparatively benign it could be that you can do a lot with positioning and room treatment - assuming you have to. But it’s still a lottery. I don’t envy you and I do wish you luck.
I have 505s that I run through Aavik I-280 now. Originally had them with Naim 250DR and 282 Hicap. I think the 505s are just about the perfect speaker, at least for me. Sound is dead on in my home where I prefer the living area not to be dominated by speakers and defined seating areas. The 505s are very balanced, detailed, organic with great bass for their size and have a beautiful wide and high soundstage. They were excellent with the Naim equipment. I don’t think you would be disappointed with them. I think it’s OK if I say this, I do live in the US and have a great dealer that carries both Naim and Kudos if you’re interested contact me offline. I believe Richard can pass on my email.
Exactly the point I was making!
Before you sell your amps, it may be worth taking a look at the Exposure VXN active crossover.
With Naim no longer selling active crossovers, I don’t think this is now a competitive product.
Best regards, BF
Richard
Thanks for the update, much appreciated. Can fully understand that.
DG…
You don’t need SNAXO to go active with Naim. Another active crossover can be used.
Consider this: in a passive setup, you have a non Naim crossiver in the signal path. If you go a non Naim route for active, you also have a non Naim crossover in the signal path. Before the power amps or after, it doesn’t matter. It won’t make it any less Naim sounding.
Exactly. Active options are out there for use with Naim amps and other brands and I hope more loudspeaker manufacturers will make it possible for we music lovers to go active in the future if we wish!
After pushing for so long for the SNAXO for Kudos to be made, I’m very saddened it’s discontinued but there will be life after the SNAXO for sure 
KR,
Peter
Long live the Snaxo 
Thank you everyone, and thanks to Peter at Cymbiosis who was kind enough to call me back to try to help while I was doing my due-diligence a few weeks ago. The issue with home audition here is that my local dealers have a limited range of available speakers from brands that I’m drawn to to let out on home loan. It’s really not like the UK. The other issue is that I would have to rule out the Titans if I insisted on an audition (home or otherwise), as they are 100% unavailable to audition before I pull the trigger at my preferred dealer, and that would leave me with a significant nagging concern that I had passed up the best speaker for my setup by choosing only what I was able to hear. I appreciate that I can’t have my cake and eat it. I would imagine if I hated the 505s, I could move them on fairly easily here. There’s loyal dedicated following for Naim/Kudos in the US in spite of the fact that Kudos aren’t the easiest speakers to source from the US distributor/dealer network. I’m not sold on staying active but moving outside of the Naim ecosystem to do it. I’m not sure I could sample that before going down that route, plus I’ve already bought the 300, so aside from going wonky-active (as I think it’s called 
) I think I’m already on the road to passive.
Thanks again for all the feedback
Hearing high-end British speakers in the USA is a huge challenge. Purchased my Kudos Titan’s without a demo…Enjoyed them but you don’t know what’s missing until you know. Purchased a pair of ProAc K6 Signatures (again without a demo) and could not be happier. You’ve got a great system, find a dealer willing to take a risk with you. The late Stewart Tyler was a genius speaker designer. I’d describe my K6’s as a modern speaker with all the attributes of classic British sound: Big, detailed, tuneful, emotional and a perfect match for Naim amplification. Highly recommended.
Good call.
Update. So the Kudos distribution situation here is pretty dire, so I nixed that plan and listened to some Neat Ultimatum XL10s in my space. Ex-Dem and a massive bargain, especially given the home audition by The Audio Shoppe in Hingham MA (a 300 mile round trip). They sound (and look) incredible and right now they’re sitting on the end of my Atom and NAP100, so goodness knows how they’ll sound on the back of the Sondek/552DR/300DR once the main rig is back up and running. So a happy ending - thanks for all the input and help guys, I appreciate it.
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