…nothing can really be established about amp / speaker interactions (unless the full electrical / electronic design specs are available for both, and companies never release the full specs!)
With an Atom, if I was in the market for a speaker up-grade, I would be very much tempted to try Neat’s SX3 and ProAc’s Tablette 10 (regular and Signature version).
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I don’t think it’s a mullet.
While the Wilson Sabrina could perfectly assume better and greater amplification, and shine even more with it, I am convinced that the Nova’s 80 Naim’s W in a well-adjusted room and system should make them shine as to not to think much more.
Why do I think so…? Because the well-adjusted SN2, in my well-adjusted room, makes the ProAc K6 shine, to the point of a realism that amazes everyone who has the privilege of listening to the system. Seriously, for all those hard math disbelievers, if you pay me a ticket, 
, you can come when you want to listen to them and judge for yourselves, but not with the math, but with your ears and honesty.
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I don’t know Neat SX3, but when I set up the system for our bedroom, finally with ProAc Tablette 10 SE and Marantz HD AMP-1 (35 W / 8 Ohms nominal, although almost 75 W / 8 Ohms real), I was demoing the Atom, with Tablette 10 SE, Harbet P3ESR and Kef LS50.
To my liking, it was too bright with the three monitors, duller with the Harbeth and lower with the Kef, and the more balanced with the ProAc, although, as I point out, also to the bright side. Finally I opted for the Tablettes for their balance and, above all, their ease of placement being sealed type (infinite bafle - also the P3ESR, but I found them less balanced); and for the HD AMP-1 because to my ears its sound is very “valvular”, and the synergy with the Tablettes is fantastic.
So, with the Atom, if you like it in combination with the LS50s, I don’t see a too substantial improvement to the Tablette 10s, not even the SEs, less if you can locate the monitors more than 30 cm aside from walls and corners.
Cheers.
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The £19k Sabrina with the £4k Atom. Not a mullet. Really?
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You are comparing prices again. Price is a reflection of supply and demand, not what is inside!
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There are plenty of other speakers that will work really well with the Nova that will give just as good a sound and cost a lot less than £19k. Some of these are in the £3k to £6k region, thus making the Sabrinas a waste of £13k to £16k when used on the end of a Nova!
Similarly there plenty of speakers that will sound as good as the Sopra No 1s when driven by an Atom, thus making the Sopras a waste of £3k to £4.5k when driven by an Atom.
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And that is relative.
A 0.50 Eur wall mounted electric shuko jack sounds 99.9% exactly the same as a 200Eur Hi-Tech Furutech, but I still bought a Furutech.
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Elac speaker designer, Andrew Jones has written some good stuff on speaker sensitivity. Best to Google it.
Essentially low impedance speakers can give rise to higher sensitivity figures, because for a given driving voltage input they draw more current and produce more power than a higher impedance speaker. This doesn’t make a sensitive speaker easier to drive, indeed many middle of the road amplifiers would find a low impedance, (high sensitivity) speaker harder to drive.
The reverse is equally true, a high impedance speaker will draw less current, which makes it at a disadvantage when creating sound levels, so an ‘easier to drive’ high impedance speaker may make for a lower sound levels for a given voltage input.
Speaker ‘Efficiency’ is another matter. Better read one of Andrews articles, he is better at explaining than me!
It is popular at the moment for these high end expensive speaker brands to bring out cheaper versions of their most praised items.
The focal Diablo and the Sopra 1. Wilson Sasha and Sabrina!
I believe the idea is that considerating how demanding and system critical something like the Diablo is to sound as it should, the Sopra 1 has been conceived and voiced to sound great in whatever context it’s used.
Sure the Atom will only use 80% of its potential. Run it with a 500 based system and you might get another 15% - but it will still sound like a Sopra 1 rather than the 500 system in front of it. In which case the Diablo would suit better in revealing exactly the systems strengths.
So you could argue that the cost difference between an Atom and a full 500 system for 15% gain is Mullet offset in the context of using the Sopra 1. 
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I was thinking getting the Star to pair with the Sopra. My family loves how the LS50 sounds with the Atom. I was going to move this setup to the common area. Leave Star with Sopra in my office. My 3 year old likes how Wheels on the Bus sounds with the LS50. 
The Star should drive the Sopra better than the Atom. I just want one box solution after years of stacking boxes.
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I think it is not precisely a question of prices, but rather of fit and synergy.
The €20K ProAc K6 with the €4’5K SN2 (market price here in Spain)? Far from what you might think from afar, it is no mullet, I can assure you honestly and without the intention of confusing anyone; spectacular SQ once reasonably configured.
Actually, but that’s something little different, and it doesn’t mean that neither Atom nor Nova can work perfectly with the superiors, making them shine and burying someone who may no longer need any more amplification nor other speakers.
Look it’s ultimately up to each person how they spend their cash. And sure, comparing by price should be wrong.
On the other hand if matching a 4k source/amp with 16k speakers is the best match then I’d assume one item is massively underpriced or the other massively overpriced.
In any case, I heard the outcome of “downgrade to upgrade” to many times to not know the truth of it. A highly capable and revealing component in a system often gets trounced by a cheaper component that works better in the context. Usually that downgrade to upgrade scenario involves swapping out expensive speakers for a lesser pair.
I’d be willing to bet with very high confidence you could get better results the other way around: a 16k source/amp and 4k speakers.
I very much believe in choosing speakers first as the most important character keystone of a system, but prioritising the quality of the source first and allocating budget accordingly.
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Can you please explain gain of the amp - if amp has 30db gain, is that somhow related to sensitivity of the speaker such as: 87dB at 8 ohms with 30dB gain of amp gives 127dB or I got it wrong something? Not clear about what actually gain means and how that relates to speakers…
This is excellent advice and I can attest to its merit.
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This is where it gets sticky for a novice Naim user !
Do I allocate my hard earned earnings on a power supply for the source to make it work properly, or put it towards those nice shiny new speakers that’s been getting everyone’s attention??
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Yeah it is hard. And I’ll be first to admit, like all hifi building principles, you can’t follow it all of the time. And you’re not always buying a new system from scratch. I’ve built two of my systems around choosing speakers first but allocating most funds to the source. But I built the third around a UQ2 and looked for speakers to match. I knew the Uniti was the right box for the office so that was that.
I did take my own advice though and let a well trusted dealer guide me.
This is way out of my area of knowledge, sorry. I won’t even guess.
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In total EUR 24.5k
I don’t know if is mullet or not, but consider for aprox the same money:
252 GBP 7k
250 GBP 4k
ndx2 GBP 5k
pmc 25.24 GBP 5k
total GBP 21k
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