Hello guys,
I’m new to the forum and I haven’t seen if there is a topic for my case, as there are so many … I have recently Unity Atom, I’m very happy with the purchase, I wanted to own something from Naim for a long time … the sound is very warm and natural….but unfortunately I find a lack of a little bit more clarity and details at the high frequency compared to my old Arkam Solo Mini system … I guess it’s because there are no frequency adjustments, which is the rule for all Naim products … but can you advise me…is it possible to improve the high frequencies with speakers with higher sensitivity (now I use Definitive Technology Demand 7) speakers with 85 dB at 8 ohms ?... or to recommend me suitable bookshelf speakers for Atom … my room is small … 18 sq meters and don’t have space for a stand floor speakers.
Thank you in advance and sorry if there is already such a topic and I have not seen it…
Are you using NAIM NACA5 speaker cable? - while this is designed to pair well with Naim stuff, speaker cables can affect tonal characteristics, and the Uniti series are supposedly less fussy than the NAP power amps. A change of speaker cable might be cheaper than changing speakers. Did your Arcam Solo Mini system have its own speakers or did you use the same ones you have now with it?
While room characteristics are difficult to match, your best bet would be to approach your Naim delaer if you have one close by and to take your Atom, cable and speakers along and test against some other speakers/cables compared to what you use now.
I found some Audioquest cable gave better high frequency reproduction/detail via my Nova than NACA5, but I later reverted to the Naim cable which overall works better for me in a somewhat non-standard system.
Another consideration - how long have you had your Atom?
Naim equipment can take a little time to ‘run in’ and the sound isn’t always representative early on so if it’s relatively fresh out of the box it may be worth waiting a couple of weeks to let it bed in before spending any more money.
Thanks for the prompt answer …
I don’t use Naim cables, I’m from Bulgaria and here we don’t have access to many products of the brand, but I can buy it from eBay UK if there is a noticeable difference in sound … my cables are french : Real Cable - HD-TDC
Obviously I need to pay more attention to the cables, although mine are not cheap either.
About the speakers … the original speakers for Solo mini are a joke… …
for the last 6 months I have been using Solo mini with D7, before that with Dali Opticon 1 … and even
earlier … with Monitor Audio Bronze 2…
I agree with you about the dealer test, but in these special showrooms everything sounds great … and when you get home … you understand the sad reality…:)) 60% of my room is “build” from windows…although this affects to the bass quality not to the treble…and the reason I have written here is precisely the lack of clear high frequencies…
Thanks once again for your answer!
Best Regards,
Not FR and I don’t have experience with them. However, I looked them up. They don’t publish specs (sigh) but based on picture and description it’s yet another case of unsuitable cables: litz type, braided.
Welcome to the forum desned, forgot to say that earlier!
Naim speaker cable has been traditionally recommended with Naim kit, and the NAC A5 is the entry level with very expensive Superlumina above it which would be overkill for the Atom and potentially more expensive than the Atom itself!
Naim power amps have traditionally required speaker cable with certain electrical characteristics to avoid stressing the power amp circuitry with a minimum 3.5 meter run per speaker, others can probably elaborate better than me on the detail, but the Uniti series are potentially a bit more forgiving being ‘all-in-one’ devices.
I’ve never used e-bay myself and if buying new Naim cable would try to source via a Naim dealer who could export if necessary.
That said whether or not the Naim cable would give you what you want is hard to say without you actually trying it at home, but it’s fair to say that different speaker cables and interconnects can really change the sound for better or worse.
There’s obviously showroom vs home room differences but I suspect simply in terms of tonal quality you’d see the change at a dealership even if it didn;t sound exactly the same at home - if a certain speaker cable or speaker gave better detail/ high frequency response than another combination at the dealership that would probably be true at home, it’s just that the overall sound might differ.
Could your dealer maybe loan you some alternative cables or speakers to try at home over a weekend for example? This is quite common practice in the UK and very valuable to end users.
As noted do give your Atom a bit of time to run in if it’s brand new as the sound can fluctuate early on - not what you might expect but happens to many.
Regarding the HD-TDC cables, this part of the FAQ is most relevant:
alternative speaker cables cannot be recommended by Naim, however, should you still wish to try them then you should ensure that the cable is low capacitance and of moderate inductance. High capacitance &/or very low inductance cables are to be avoided at all costs and may result in damage to your amplifier.
As mentioned I couldn’t find the specs on the Real Cable website (it’s a disease) but braided and litz types always do the opposite of this
Thank you for the welcoming but most of all thanks for the comprehensive information, I appreciate that…but I need some time to make sense of it…
So the conclusion is that the cables are essential ( I knew it but I didn’t expect them to be so crucial for the sound quality) and it is good to start replacing them first before I decide to replace the speakers …?
It makes sense, but only if the cables are cheaper than the speakers…
I wouldn’t say essential just that they can make a difference for better or worse - if you’re after more high-end detail I can’t say with certainty NACA5 will do that for you but it’s hard to know for certain as I’ve never heard the cable you actually have which may be excellent in its own right but not necessarily in the context of overall system synergy.
If the Arcam (admittedly perhaps with tone tweaks?) gave you a more enjoyable high frequency sound through the same speakers then the speakers can clearly reproduce the frequencies/tonality you prefer. It may be the Atom is a bit more subdued/accurate at those frequencies and I think this is potentially where a speaker cable tweak could be cheaper than a speaker upgrade. Items that are great ‘on paper’ don’t always work synergistically together, and room characteristics can also affect this quite significantly.
Hi, I don’t have enough space for a sub and my issue is not with the fullness of the bass or a sound stage but with clarity and details in high frequencies in which the subwoofer has no influence…but thanks for the proposal anyway!
While I love deep bass and a rich full sound, I also love high frequency details and clarity - at my age I sometimes wonder if my hearing is not what it was and I simply don’t perceive high frequency as I used to in my teens/20s - this may be partially true but I have found certain upgrades over the years which just bring those things into focus again like flicking a light switch. They don’t have to be expensive however and can simply be cables with different characteristics.
It’s quite possible the Atom is just a bit subdued sonically for you in higher frequencies despite being overall I hope an improvement over the Arcam system.
That may not be helpful, but I often find I can really enjoy music via the car stereo or cheaper lifestyle speakers when it doesn’t work as well on hi-fi - odd but must be the mastering and listening context.
I don’t have them to hand, but I think it was Audioquest Type IV which seems to have been discontinued in favour of Type V which looks a lot more expensive:
The Rocket series is available in several different configurations, of which some are definitely not suitable, like the single-bi-wire version. Audioquest Netherlands warns against using the Rocket 33 and 44 standard configuration with Naim:
Other AQ cables may work but who knows. I really would not make my life harder than it needs to be
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