If you are keeping the Kabers, there is no possible use for the IXO. With passive biamping you connect both 250s to your Hicap, ideally to sockets 2 and 3.
You can always use a configurable active crossover if you know the cutoffs and curves. Bryston, Accuphase, a few others do them.
An active Kaber is a beautiful thing. Truly a wow moment when I first heard them. But there are modern speakers of similar dimensions that perform better even passive. Iād suggest that unless you can get the right active crossover and another 250 second hand at a really (really) good price, a modern speaker with just one 250 might be the way to go.
Should work fine, I have a friend who uses a Linn digital active set up with Naim amps.
Please be aware that the original Linn separate XO box, with the soldered resistors for setting, was nowhere near as good as the later boards (within amplifiers). In any case, I was never able to get good bass from my Kabers, others might have found differently though.
Thanks @feeling_zen. Are there any speakers of similar dimensions and not outlandish looks that you might suggest? No problem if you donāt wish o reply on that one.
Not having your ears iI really find it difficult to say what you might like. I can only speak from my own experience.
Since the mid 90s, an Aktiv Kaber system was my holy grail system. Iād heard one many times and had countless hours listening to passive Kabers. That was my reference point for a desired system. When I finally had funds twenty years later, Kabers no longer existed. I sat down and listened to a demonstration with PMC Twenty.23s on the end of Naim and was blown away. I now have the Twenty5.23 which are, adjusted for inflation, still a bit less than the Kabers were in their day. But to me they outperformed them.
That said, itās a personal experience and other things exist on the market that a person might prefer.
Hi @jlewis , the Kabers are very smooth and for me it is a matter not fixing unless broken. However, what you say might encourage me to investigate some alternatives. I should acquaint myself with what the rest of world is listening to, loudspeaker wise, that is.
@jlewis I hope you donāt mind me asking but, what is your musical taste? Mine is mainly chamber music and some orchestral. I know that different speakers and audio systems are better suited to a certain genre of music. I just wondered if we were seeking the same sort of sound.
I agree. Smooth. I never got on with Naim speakers like SBLs. They always sounded dry and papery and two dimensional to me. The Kabers were like water in comparison and very three dimensional.
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Instead, is a NAC52 and SC with a NAP250 into your wonderful Kabers out of the question?
@Christopher_M do you think it would make a big difference. I am considering the new nsc 222 as I could do with a better streamer as well.
My dealer tends to say that there arenāt too many Naim questions to which a NAC52 is not the answer.
I loved Kabers when I head them passive in 1991. No reason to me why they should not respond incredibly well to a better source. So yes, better streamer (as you are considering) and better preamp. Perhaps thereās no need to fret too much about going active, when these two things are addressed. Good luck.
ā¦happy to tell you: VERY broad based. I did like the Kabers, particularly with the later kustone bases and updated tweeters. Could never get that last octave of bass though. Good lookers too@
You seem to be at something of a crossroads. You certainly need a better streamer if you are to balance the system. In the days when the 72/250 was current, the front end of choice was almost always the Linn LP12, and it is something I owned for years. For a current matching streamer you are probably looking at the NDX2.
What you do depends partly on your budget, and partly on whether you want to stay in the Olive era or come up to date.
If I were you Iād get along to a Naim dealer and try some things out. Iād keep an open mind about the Kabers. Sometimes itās hard to let go when youāve had something so long, but there are some terrific speakers out there.
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