Hi everyone,
I have a hard time understanding the love for the Naim Atom matched with the Kef LS50 meta. I own the Atom myself and I have heard it paired with the Kef LS50 meta. My first impression was that the Atom was not powerful enough to drive the Kef. I then researched the Kef online. Looked up the impedance graph and found out they are indeed hard to drive speakers.
At the same time I own the Focal kanta 1. I find these great paired with the Atom in my small room. I love the Atom and tried a lot of speakers with it, from Revel m22/f206 to PMC twenty22, tried with a sub, with a power amp etc. All this to end up with the Focal Kanta 1 and Atom. Nothing less nothing more. Now I feel I have the most enjoyable sound I ever had. (Off course a Nova would probably get more out of the Kanta, but thats another future topic).
My point is do others also feel the Kef LS50 meta is not a good match with the Atom?
And a second question, are there more people like me who have a seemingly unbalanced hifi setup like me, but enjoy it very much and would like to share what that setup is?
Nothing unconventional about having high level speakers in a hi-fi system, even if they are way above the other equipment feeding them. It may offend the âsource firstâ brigade, but not everybody subscribes to that doctrine. All that matters is that it sounds great to your ears - yes, a better amp may make the speaker sound even better, and a better source may bring greater clarity, detail etc., but that does not make what you have bad. However, the Focal Kanta 1 isnât that high end a speaker, so maybd you should move up to the Grand Utopia?
I use the atom too and I have also tried different speakers like Sonus Faber, B&W and others. I ended with Vienna Acoustics Hadyn, which are more inside the price range of the Atom. But I also have heard Atom and Nova with Marten Oscar Duo and they sounded amazing, much better than the Viennas, but they have an other price. And the Martens will open very much more with better electronics like New Classic 222/250. At the end, the differences between speakers are bigger than the differences in electronics. But we can discuss whatâs the best combination will be in relation to the costs / budget of a complete system. I think some upgrades with electronics will further improve the sound of the Kantaâs. But the hobby is, to do one step after the other and enjoy the music with what we have. And I have a different approach at the moment. I have installed a dedicated listening room with dedicated mains, good (but not too expansive) cables, with a good switch and some room treatment. And the difference in sound quality is a very big step up with the same system, which is on entry level. Enjoy your system and the Kantaâs.
Indeed. I recently read somewhere that one of the best sounds at a recent show came from a Nova driving a pair of Wilson Sabrina X speakers!
IIRC the âsource firstâ approach was initiated by Linn Products in the 70âs as part of an advertising/sales campaign to promote the LP12. It was very quickly and widely adopted by the hi-fi community - reviewers, dealers and customers, as being the Holy Grail of system building.
The concept has merit, but IMO has been mis-interpreted as âthe source is more important than anything else and so you should spend most of your available budget on itâ.
The truth is that of course you need an adequate and capable source. But once you have this then the sky is the limit as far as amps and speakers go. I havenât heard it but in principle I see nothing wrong with a CD5si and Nait driving a pair of ÂŁ75K JBL Everest speakers. I bet that would produce a sound to die for. Yes it will be even better with a better source and amp, but so what?
Absolutely! Of course, for someone whose idea of music heaven is heavily curtailed bass with no real bottom end speakers can be much smaller and cheaper, and perhaps there source first is more meaningful.
My Atom drives a pair of PMC Twenty5 23i speakers. I auditioned the Atom with a number of less expensive speakers from Dynaudio and Sonus Faber but the PMCâs really boogied well with the Atom.
Definitely an 80âs mullet happening at chez Cerobo.
An Atom was my re-entry back into HiFi matched with a pair of Quad speakers. I went to the dealers to audition speakers and the plan changed somewhat. I ran a pair of Kudos Titan 606s of my Atom for a short while. Sounded great. Do I win the ultimate mullet award?
Hi
I have an Atom , bought it last year.
I listened to a few speakers, Sonus Faber lumina 2, monitor Audio silver 200 floor standers
I went for the ex demo PMC Twenty 5 .21 stand mounts .
They sound great ( to my ears at any rate) connected to the atom with Chord Clearway cables.
I bought atacama stands and filled them with their Atabites ( improvement )
I am really pleased with the sound.
I do think the atom is good enough to highlight a bad recording .
I have switched from Apple Music to Tidal and settled on Qbuz , it is really good.
I originally was considering a Muso 2 because I wanted to improve my tv sound.
I heard the atom and the PMCâs
Went over budget !!
Happy !!!
I have an additional question. You mentioned, you have tested PMC 5.22i with the Atom but you decided for the Focals. What was your impression about the 5.22i? I ask, why they are not so common in the Forum (most use 5.21i or 5.23i). The 5.22i seem to be easy to drive (senitivity 89 db, impedanz minimum 5 Ohm), easier than other PMC speakers from the twenty5 series. But its transmissionline that needs some power (damping factor) anyway. Was the Atom able to drive them well?
Yes without the sub. I had the kef kc62 for a while but somehow could not integrate them in my setup. When the Kanta 1 came it was even whorse. So I sold them and donât miss it really. I have Gaia feet under the Kanta and that does clean up the bass and makes it go a little bit lower even. Almost seems full range with most songs. Off course the atom is not flawless but in general I feel I have a full range system in my small room
I had PMC twenty22 for over a year. Thatâs the older bigger brother of the 5,21i. It lacked bass, and sometimes had weird bass, maybe underpowered, I donât know. I guess some reviewers called it âtunefulâ bass but I did not like it. Also the PMC are super bright on the top end. It was an entertaining but fatiguing speaker. The focal has the fun factor of the PMC with added bass and no fatigue to my ears. I would call the Kanta 1 a more allround speaker compared to PMC twenty22
I forgot t tell thatâs I also auditioned the Focal Kanta 1 with SuperNait 3 and nd5xs2. It did not sound better then my system with the Atom/Kanta at home. It was probably a bad dealer with a terrible room and no Gaia feet. Also with power conditioning, which does not improve the sound in my opinion. This taught me that the room and the positioning/isolating of the speakers are game changers. It made me love my unbalanced setup even more
