What’s the most exotic speaker I could use with a Nova?

As per title.

Assuming you’re in the UK? Something fashioned from a coconut.

You did say exotic…

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Exotic can mean different things to different people.
You don’t define - mine is price - beyond reasonable = exotic.

Acapella Poseydon Speakers

or even

Gryphon
Kodo Master Referenz Lautsprechersystem.

~ both might fit the bill - a very hefty one !!!

Realistically, just what are you trying to achieve?

The Nova is an excellent one box system from Naim, which will excel with, it must be said, “sensible pairing”, not anything exotic. Search the forum, lots of previous posts. Choice will depend on your music preferences.
Spendor, Kudos, Proac and also PMC are popular with Naim, for your first short list.
Best to go for realism rather than exotic imho; ymmv.

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Personally, spendor a7 or something similar.

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To clarify, I’m downsizing to a one box unit, however I really don’t want to change my speakers, currently have B&W 805 D4. Anything less wouldn’t really interest me.

What about some Wilson Benesch? They don’t seem to be very popular on this forum but match Naim very well. I can’t comment on the Nova in combination Wilson Benesch.

I still dont know what “exotic” means in this context.

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Not poor quality, revealing of source, not sure what is difficult to understand.

Clayton Shaw’s new Calladan (Clayton Shaw Audio Labs) as Darko mentioned he’ll be shipping internationally.

I heard amazing things from a pair of Sonus Faber Maxima Amators a few months back. These honestly made me rethink my priorities around ‘source first’ ( and eating tinned beans for the next 2 years…). They are physically some of the most beautiful speakers I’ve ever seen, and the sound they create with good gear is absolutely sublime. The other speakers I really enjoyed were the Totem Element Metal floor standers, for around the same price and with equivalent (albeit different) sound quality, and with vastly different aesthetics. Both exotic IMO, but for totally different reasons: the S-F’s were stunning pieces of furniture creating sound that was reach-out-and-touch lovely; the Totem’s by contrast are ultra modern looking, and deliver absolutely incredible slam and detail, but are more clinical than the Maxima Amators.

Honestly, I think the diminishing returns much above $20-25K CAD is getting mighty steep, plus you’re going to need a lot of space for big speakers to really breathe. My advice would be to get speakers you love for a reasonable price, then go after your room acoustics to dial everything in. Once you get to this level of performance, it’s so much a matter of taste, and none of it ‘bad’ !

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Agree with Bert. You use a word that has many meanings so maybe some of these words fit what you mean, or?:thinking:

strikingly? excitingly? different? unusual?

We’ve got a Nova powering a pair of Minima Amators in a “second system”. I’ve been listening more and more to that, and starting to wonder if it’s time to sell the Kanta 2s to make room for the SF a big brothers.

Maybe it’s a native language issue? “Exotic” is not synonymous with any of those words in my dictionary.

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To narrow it down, is a Nova good enough for my B&W 805’s as I really don’t want to change speakers?

A different question - realistically only you can answer that.
However good as the Nova is, it may not be the best driver for your speakers.
Consider a NSC222 + NC250 as an alternative - great combo and quite away above the Nova imho, despite the greater cost.
Audition the combo with your speakers is best advice - yep two boxes, but if you wish to keep the speakers, worth the listen!

edit - if you get a Nova, bear in mind, there is real difference of opinion about adding a NAP, imho it is not effective, ymmv. Try Nova and the two box options in audition.

If you are decided on the Nova, the obvious answer is to get it, use it with your speakers, and then see how you like the sound. On paper the 808D4 shouldn’t be hard to drive, being 88dB and 8 Ohms, but paper and real life are often different. While they are a pretty high end speaker and wouldn’t normally be used with ‘just’ a Nova, they might be ok. If you feel that you have lost the drive and dynamics that you get now, you could try some alternatives against your B&Ws. A well driven lesser speaker can sound better than an underdriven but greater speaker. There is little worse than underdriven speakers, as they have the dynamics of a wet lettuce.

I have found that speaker matching is really important with the Nova, more so than with some other Naim amplifiers. I didn’t like the combination with ProAc Tablette 10 Signatures, but with my PMC twenty5.21is it is excellent. When you get the Nova it may be worth trying the PMCs against your B&Ws. They are cheaper, but may be better. It’s all about matching and until you’ve tried it you won’t really know.

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I tried my Nova with Naim SBL and they worked very well, that was a fairly exotic speaker in its time. I tried with NBL as well, still very good but I preferred the SBL.

The SBL was a £2k+ speaker about 20 years ago so likely a speaker like the Kudos Titan 505 which some have heard on a Nova would be a good pairing. Most exotic probably a Titan 808. If the Nova performs well with the 505 then the 808 would class as exotic and likely work well :grin::grin:

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I once heard an Atom playing through Shahinian Forests, OK it wasn’t playing loud but it wasn’t sounding as out of its depth as might be expected. Would be interesting to hear what a Nova could do.

At the other extreme we had a member using and liking Volti Rivals at 100dB/W sensitivity, though the upgrade bug got the better of him in the end.

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At the Bristol show several years back Nova + Titan 707s were thought by many to be sound of the show. Heard them with 606s = good.

Sure, a Nova can drive your B&W 805 and it will certainly sound okay, but if you want to get the best out of your speakers, you need a better level of electronics.

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