The Atom is Amazing

so you say that 84 db in 4 ohm can be easy drive speakers, more than 100 db in 8 ohm? i have never heard that FZ. Are you sure ?

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I think the Atom is a very clever design equally at home as a lifestyle product and a serious audio product . I would perhaps go for the Kef R3 rather the L50.

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FZ is absolutely right.

As I said earlier…

The sensitivity figure just indicates how loud the sound will be at one single frequency (by convention it’s measured at 1kHz).

That’s really nicely explained. My little UQ2 drives my Neat Iotas very happily despite them being 84dB sensitivity, which if you looked at the pure specs you might not expect.

i had always thought, till now, than higher the db , in 8 ohm, and easier the speakers to drive.
But in my example of Audionote AN E speakers, 100 db in 8 ohm, they are driven easily by an audionote power amp of 8 watts.
Horn speakers need generally not many watts to be driven, not?

Maybe the Sopras No1 can be a little excessive for the Atom, and I also see it more with LS50, P3ESR, Tablette 10 and the like, which already have a quality beyond doubt, but I think the combination can work very well and, with a little awareness, become definitive; but Naim, on its website, recommends the Sopra range with SN2; whereas with the NAC252 and NAP300 it suggests the Utopia range, nothing less than the III!

The truth is that, despite my nick, at this point I do not understand this empenation of some by recommending super amplifications with some speakers that, in every light, and even at the discretion of the same manufacturer, can work, and work, very well with much more reasonable things.

The best test I have is the combination of my main system:

In the first instance, and since the attribution of the confidence by the newcomer, some of the comments on the thread left me quite sloping, so much so that if I had been a rookie or a pawn, I would have gone down the path of the super-update without hesitation, when everything is much more simple to balance a system and it doesn’t take as much money or million-pound-euro-dollar amplifications to satisfy the need to listen to recorded music with a more than reasonable and even superlative quality.

Basically similar in the case of the user-member Rojo, who opened a post with the tribulations of his system in Dubai, in which he was recommended almost gold and more, and subsequently achieved the balance he was looking for with a few simple balls of squash cut in half:

It’s frustrating, while at the same time and on the other hand we open threads on climate change, the political crisis, or the already more than inturated mismatch of our way of proceeding with the undemocratic rules of Nature.

Of course, a system must be composed with a minimum balance, but I wonder if much of the “wisdom” is of hearing or mere posture, and I do not know if at some point you have considered that you may be doing a disservice.

Finally, it is not richer who has the most, but who least desires.

It’s my reflare, for free.

Cheers.

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Hi FR,

FZ’s explanation is entirely correct.

The flip side of this is from amplifiers. The capability of a power amp isn’t entirely defined by the power output. A SN2 is 80W, a 250 DR is also 80W and a 300DR is just 10W more, but the 250DR and 300DR are much more capable amps than the SN2.

Some high sensitivity speaker are an easy load, but in that case they suffer with poor bass performance and/or usually have big boxes to help compensate. They also very often have uneven frequency response curves. On the other hand some high sensitivity designs have flatter frequency response curves but very uneven impedance curves so they trade gains frequency response against being a difficult load for the amplifier. It’s all an engineering compromise to deal with resonances in the components used to make the speakers.

I think you are conflating cause with correlation. It is true that many easy to drive speaker have higher impedence and sensitivity. However they are not easy to drive because of high impedence and sensitivity. And assuming this has been a common and expensive mistake by many a valve amp owner. There are loads of 100db speakers that are a real bitch to drive.

ok, it’s seems more complicated than i thought…however, as you said, most high impedance and sensitivity speakers are easy to drive. But not a generality as i thought.

It would be more accurate to say most easy to drive speakers just happen to have high sensitity, but most speakers with high sensitivity are not easy to drive.

Therefore, if you have a <30w amp: Beware! Dragons be here.
Hope that helps.

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well, i didn’t know that most high sensitivity speakers are not easy to drive.

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Then, how do we determine a speaker is easy to drive or not. What specs do we look at or is there something else, experience, etc? @Xanthe @feeling_zen

Brilliant question.

You need an impedence and phase angle graph. Since almost no manufacturers publish that, the experience of a good dealer who has done much trial and error testing is key.

Like so many things, the spec sheets for hifi tell you nothing reliable about the compatibility of any two components. Buying on spec is roulette.

Makers publish the specs that punters think they want, not the specs they need (but generally don’t want).

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Can I buy the one with the right angle and reterminated it? It looks like resoldering may be required?

Yes, just cut off the old ones and solder on the Atom plugs. They are a bit of a faff to solder, so you could always find someone to do it for you if necessary.

I have expirience with Kef R3 on Atom, good matches.

Bravo newcomer for text, I enjoyed reading it!

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They are a real pain in the neck to solder and get in the casing. I swore a lot putting mine together.

I might just get these that have banana plugs on both ends. It’s not as elegant as the one piece Naim plug, but I don’t want to solder cables. The Atom is suppose to be a lifestyle product. :grinning:

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I don’t see the problem – just ask your dealer to solder the speaker plugs. Won’t compromise your life style and keeps the economy going… :wink:

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Banana plugs tend to have a tendency to work the way out on their own with NACA5 . Its incredibly stiff and does not bend easily. I constantly have to keep checking the ends in my speakers. Before I put on the Atom plugs did the same on the Atom to now it does not move.