They do seem a very interesting speaker, i’ve never heard the Guru’s but have read great things about them.
I’ve heard many, many speakers at dealers, shows and at my friends and family, so know what i like. Incidentally with my “boogie” remark with n-SATs, it’s the synergy here that i’m experiencing with my set-up as a ‘complete’ whole. Every component working in harmony with each other to create an emotional and foot tapping experience. It doesn’t matter what genre of music it is. I’ve not had this before with past set-ups, so am really excited at the moment.
I think you’ve just been lucky Stephen in that you’ve achieved really good synergy between your system, speakers and room. I agree though that there is something magical about a smaller stand mount when you get it all working well together
I’m a big fan of n-Sats. Get them just set up just right and they can make you forget about others speakers. I remember when we had to use a pair in place of some SL2s that had been damaged on the way to the Milan Top Audio show. Fed with a CD555, NAC552, NAP500 and a Klimo Turntable (carrying the longest tonearm I’ve ever seen) with Klimo phono stage, the sound we got from those n-Sats had everyone in the room entranced - with the diet of smaller scale classical works and vocal pieces that many demanded at the Top Audio show, they performed as well as anything you could think of.
I have considered an n-SUB when i was at first getting used to n-SATs and toying around with set-up in my small/medium sized room. Now i have them set-up as best i can - close (4cm) to a rear solid wall, firing dead straight with no toe in, just over 2 metres apart, away from side walls and on a solid concrete floor. Totally level with no rocking. 2x10 metres of NAC A5 loosely hanging and draped from immaculately terminated SA8 plugs - now that idea of an n-SUB has completely vanished - i think it would spoil them.
Yes it’s more luck than judgement Hollow as you say. I just purchased a pre-loved pair on a total whim (never hearing a pair before) and didn’t expect much to be honest. I took on Richard’s great advice regarding set-up on another thread quite a while ago and away i went…
If things hadn’t of worked out then i would’ve been looking for something else by now and handed them down to my son to enjoy on his 5Si combo. I still have my other speakers (Credos, Motive SX2, Q Acoustics 2020i & 3030i) to hand here and not once have i thought to swap them in for a comparison. Says it all really.
Crikey. That is close, I don’t know much about them. Being part of an AV system I’m assuming they were always meant to be that close to front&rear walls?
They are sealed boxes and work fine close to the wall. When I had mine I used them about 10cm from the wall, which gave a more open sound but with a bit less bass. I’ve heard them on the wall brackets, where they sit really close to the wall and I thought they sounded shut in and congested. I was only truly happy with mine once I’d added an nSub. They are certainly incredibly communicative and score highly on the boogie like a bastard stakes. Having owned Sats and now owning the ProAc Tablette 10 Signature I’d say that the latter are a far, far better speaker in terms of a natural sound.
Cheers for that. I kinda thought most speakers, even those designed for near wall placement, needed a bit more than a few cm. Do I recall that your Proacs are also of the order of 10cm or so out into the room?
I’ve tried a few distances and settled on them being very close to a solid rear wall in my room. I don’t find them constrained at all as n-SATs project the music right far out into the room. I think the n-STANDs really do help here, as the speakers can breathe from below as well. Genius design.
Naim’s advice was between 5 and 60cm from the rear wall with no toe-in. Obviously you’ll get more bass when they are closer to the wall, which may well sound preferable. After all they were designed as satellite speakers for AV use.
I found then to sound best at about 30cm out. Just seemed a bit more natural, and the soundstage was improved. Obviously if you add an N-Sub the extra bass you get from putting them very close to the wall isn’t really needed, but every room and system is different.
Sorry for slightly borrowing the thread @Stephen_Tate Having a few thoughts about trying some different speakers before I do something silly with Jantzen Audio/Troels Gravesen!
Actually not the best in the world but really really the best in their class and above, including other Naim designs.
They really like a wide solid wall behind. Mine are placed along a 10m+ concrete solid wall in a basement room on their own nStands.
With the recent introduction of 202/200, this system is so enjoyable that sometimes i prefer to use it than the 500 one with S600 and the other one with S400.
If it were not for the hassle, i’d like to connect the 500 system to them.
My future project is to try the Guru Q10 in the other basement room or this one, I was wondering why over the last few years these little monitors seem to be pretty neglected
Thats entirely a different story, nSats were developed before 2004, I believe in the happy days of surround.
Maybe trying to make a Linn Kan follower/killer.
The majority of domestic speakers seem to be designed for use away from walls, however there are those designed for on-wall or even in-wall mounting. In-wall has major advantages if the speaker’s response is suitably designed, as it completely eliminates comb-filtering. That is why it is extremely common in recording and mixing studios, where it is often called soffit-mounting.
For some reason I’ve always hankered after a pair of S-400s, I think it’s their looks more than anything. They’re a rather good looking speaker I think. I wonder how they compare with their world beating smaller siblings n-SATs? The major turn off for me being an open boundary design. Space here is tight. No port holes and single pair sockets are plus points for a floor-stander though…
Just to clear any confusion here on my part, l got the tape out and measured them rather than just guess from a flippant glance - the gap from the rear of speakers to wall is 9cm away. The base of the stands are around 4cm away - this allows for the NAC A5 to drape comfortably down without touching the stand bases or wall.
nSat seem more open in the mid/high with more "out of the box"presentation, S400 is a little darker & grey. In my case, however their respective rooms are totally different, nSats live in a basement room with really really good acoustics. S400 in a attic room with sloping roof, one day i will swap them for a final judgmet. Btw S400 is a real bargain today, it’s a good looking, welll engineeres, sealed box, pretty efficient loudspeaker so it would be unfair complaining too much about them.
nSat formely lived in the 500 room where i have the S600 now which is the smallest one. The passage in the basement really transformed them.
Having a few thoughts about trying some different speakers before I do something silly with Jantzen Audio/Troels Gravesen!