Arcam, ATC, Audio Technica, Creek, Chord Company, Eichmann, Dynavector, Epos, Focal / JM Labs, Grado headphones, Harbeth,

Isoblue (and special branch), Kudos Audio, Lyngdorf, Lyra, Michell Engineering, Naim Audio, Neat Acoustics, Nordost, Origin Live, Ortofon, Nottingham Analogue, Partington, Primare, Rega, Roksan, Sim2, Graham Slee, Shahinian, Something Solid, Stands Unique, Stax Earspeakers, Sumiko, Trichord, Wireworld, Wyrewizard

Funny things, Naim loudspeakers. We hardly ever make a fuss about them yet they are often the winner in the search for the right transducer for specific customers. The range lacks a consistent visual identity and, whilst there are 'house' technologies applied to several of them, they are each stand-alone products. As has always been the case with Naim, product delelopment is painstaiking and slow, so there are several 'generations' of product within the same range. Yet there are some consistencies too. The bass performance is always clean and boom free. They have an honest, uncluttered quality and the three most serious models can be converted very easily to active operation.

All the loudspeakers on this page are in stock on demonstration. We can access the mighty DBL's should you be tempted! Here is our rough guide:

allae

OK, I admit it. We have really hated these speakers! Me, more than my colleague, Andy, but they can seem very odd. In fact I am not sure that they really get along with our main music dem room even now, but we have finally 'twigged' they they can do very clever things in the right room.

And the "right" room could easily be one where more conventional loudspeakers struggle to work at all.

The Allae (pronounced "ally") uses Naim's separate box principal. The bass driver sits in a small enclosure vented into a larger cabinet via a sort of de-coupled interface. It looks odd, but works. As with all their designs, the Allae is generally best used very close to the wall. This type of placement has some very real advantages compared to free space positioning in that the bass quality becomes far more consistent throughout the room, without the disruptive impact of the reflected energy interfering with it.

But didn't I start by saying I'd hated them? Indeed. Part of this change of heart is related to our final acceptance of Naim's own wiring strategy (see breaking the code) and part of it is understanding that no speaker will suit every location. With the Allaes, there is some potential to use them in free space. Should they sound overblown in the bass, the natural reaction is to give them even more space. Ironically, positioning them closer to the wall will often tighten things up. We have had stunning results in some truly awkward rooms and with them hard up against the wall.

The Allae can be used in either active or passive configuration.

n - sat

As the name suggests, this compact, sealed (i.e. not ported) loudspeaker is primarily a satellite unit, intended to partner the n-sub active sub-woofer. In small rooms, it can make an excellent stereo monitor without the help of the sub, although for most uses, they can be a little too light and dry in balance to be used unaided.

It is extremely pretty, comes in a wide variety of finishes (both veneer and lacquer) and there are some very attractive floor stands and wall brackets.

As a satellite, it is very open and clean, it can be used very close to walls and it can form part of a spectacular multi-channel system which can work extremely well with other brands of electronics. As a full range unit, it is quite limited in absolute loudness.

n - sat / n-sub / n-cent package

Add the n-cent centre speaker, the n-sub to a couple of pairs of n-sats and you have a first rate home cinema / multi channel music system. It really is top notch stuff.

The sub has a variety of inputs, remote control and the ability to have a variety of crossover and gain settings available to the various components with which it can be used. This allows for no compromise music and film set-up. The subs can even be 'daisy-chained' together for multi sub systems.

We have found the clean open nature of the n-sat to be quite a shock next to the comparitively murky sound that some, supposedly high tech, rear / side home theatre speakers produce.

There is nothing to beat a bit of straightforward honesty in a cinema system!

SL-2

The next level up, and it is a very significant step, both in financial outlay and sonic ability. The SL-2 is the closest to the much loved SBL but it is considerably more refined and transparent. Lighter in tonal balance than the Allae (it can come over as a little bleached in some settings), it is also much more refined, resolving of all aspects of musical information and phenomenally fast and agile. Emphatically a boundary design (hard up against solid walls), we have heard these sound utterly magical in some very improbable spaces (and, yes, bloody awful in some others).

They are fairly easy to drive and can sound pretty good on the NAP 200 but really start to come into their own with the NAC282 / NAP 250 and above.

On our top-of-the-tree naim 555 / 552 / 500 system the SL-2s are pretty remarkable. In common with the Allae, they have the capacity to convey the emotion of a musical performance. The intent. It is hard to explain but whilst a piece of music might sound fairly unremarkable at the beginning, it is very hard not to become immersed in it as it unfolds. To some extent this is also a characteristic of Naim's electronics too, so it is good to find the 'house' style being maintained.

The SL-2s are not for every room or for every person but, if you connect with them, there is nothing else quite like them.

to the fraim >

site map