Not only that, the 152/200 is totally out of place with the complex £26,000 Sonus Fabers. It’s simply not possible to get a feeling as to how Naim amplification would sound when using such a mismatched setup. The McIntosh is a 350 watts per channel amp, which can drive the speakers with consummate ease, whereas the poor 152/200 can only struggle.
This is a pointless demo of Naim amplification.
£26500 speakers, with an nd555 front end!
To the original poster; I get that you like the atom he and so want to try Naim amps, but they’ve given you totally the wrong equipment to trial given the context of the rest of your system.
Doesn’t sound like the best advice does it!!!
I’ve just looked at the speakers, I know I sometimes think we overstate this front only stuff but strikes me we are at least in 282/250 or above territory.
The speakers are 4-ohmers, and I would venture you are in min 500 territory with them – perhaps even more.
So here is the deal: Disconnect Sonus Faber, ask your dealer for speakers fitting the Naim combi, and discover the entry sound of Naim audio 
Never listen from the middle of the room, put your speakers away from the back and side walls unsymmetrically and select the golden ratio positioning. Courage
ceiling height is regular height, the speakers are around 2.2 meters apart, about 40 cm away with the side wall and the back wall, and my listing spot is about 3.5 meter away from the speakers.
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yes the transparent opus will work well with most other systems, but not naim, if I go with all naim I will use naim cables.
you are right, they sold most of their demos and nothing much on the floor for over a year and half or more.
Exactly, but unfortunately that’s all they got.
It can’t sound good. You need at minimum 252/300 with such system.
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I understand, but they are not available for demo.
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I have some empathy with the inability to demo desired Naim amplification. It’s a real issue outside the UK. Although ideal to demo, the reality is that once you have decided you like the Naim presentation, if you are looking at the classic range and up, you often have to buy without demo.
The ideal outcome would be for the OP to buy on a “return if not satisfied” basis. We had that option in NZ before the change in dealers. Alas, now, we are pretty much stuck with buy and hope for the best with new Naim gear here now. Sad, but that is way it seems to be going.
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That’s not going to happened here. They will definitely not give me a return for sure.
The part that I’m worried about the most is fatigue. I want a system that I can listen to it for over 10 hours a day without fatiguing.
Beautiful speakers. I bet they sound sensational with the Mac stuff. Never heard Sonus sound good with Naim but only heard the lower echelons. ND555 is a great source and I bet it works superbly with the Mac. Good luck
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Purely from the point of view of impedance, given that it is a bridged design, is the 500 best? Bridged amps commonly have greater limitation on low impedance than single-ended amps. 500, 300 and 250 specs all say minimum 2 ohms.
Power wise, my guess would have been at least 300 and 500 probably best, though I say that without direct experience of them.
I have no idea of what height is ‘regular’ where you live. In UK modern homes most commonly are 2.4m, before that 2.7 or even 3m was not uncommon, and before that maybe 2-2.2m.
40cm from side walls is very close and is likely to have significant early reflections mixed with the main sound if not very absorbant or diffusing. Similarly if you are close to the wall behind you that is another source of significant early reflections.
This indeed is important - a fatiguing system is not a good system. The limitation should be your wish to listen, not heaving too much of it.
Given that you have predominantly hard surfaces I still think you need to look to the room, whether or not you change anything else. An overly reflective room with its confusion of early reflections is likely to be tiring on the brain - as well as making the sound less clear which you identified as your primary problem.
Given the cost of your system, if it were me I wouldn’t spend more on it without at least checking the rooms - and being prepared to spend maybe the equivalent of £2-£3k on treating it. Peanuts compared to the rest of the system. I suggest download REW software (which is free), buy a measuring microphone for the equivalent of about £100 or less secondhand (and recoverable on sale if not wanted further), do some measurements at the listening position, and submit to an expert in room treatment (in Uk some suppliers, e.g. GIK, provide a free service and can accept and interpret REW files, or post on the forum where a few people have experience and may be able to make suggestions.
Have a look at this thread:
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Yeah, this is not great. The customer service for new Naim outside the UK is certainly falling away sadly. I think you are probably best staying with the Macintosh personally. I would forget about Naim if they can’t/won’t demo.
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Thank you, they sound very musical together , very smooth, warm, never fatigued. But not as detailed as naim.
For me it’s not just about the opportunity to demo the kit. Traditionally Naim expected their dealers to instal it, and they are your main point of contact for future servicing, advice and repairs. I don’t think a dealer who only sells lower level stuff is going to be the best place to support you with a full 500 series system, and I would want to buy from a dealer who had a commitment to this.
Of course it’s difficult to see which dealers have a long term commitment to Naim while supply chain issues persist, and for that reason I think I would postpone any purchase until things have settled down.
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