Naim Uniti - Which Speaker??

[admin_exported]

Hi Guys,

I live overseas where it is very hard to get/test decent hifi equipment.

Anything I buy I will have to get shipped out, so I think for practical reasons I have decided on the Naim Uniti as it has had decent reviews and most of my music is played through my laptop these days..

As I can only go by reviews I am thinking of the following speakers to pair with it:

Proac Studio 140 MK2

Proac Response D18

Spendor A5/A6

Wilson Bensesch Square Two

Am I in the right area with these speakers or should I go with something totally different? My music tastes are across the board. I may get a Naim Nac 200 if these speakers are too big for the Uniti.. Any advice or pointers very much appreciated!!

Cheers,

James

 

[chebby]

From my experience, PMC GB1i.

Sounded incredible.

 

[Andrew Everard]

From personal experience, I'd go with PMC GB1is or Neat Motive 2s

 

[True Blue]

from experience at demo PMC GB1i or DB1i should do the trick.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. I had also thought about the PMCs. Have you heard it with any of the other speakers I mentioned as well? Do you think it's worth getting the power amp to go with it?

 

[noogle]

I started off with a Uniti and Spendor A5s, which I preferred to the GB1is (smoother and less fatiguing to my ears). You'll only need an external power amp if you listen at party-level volumes for a long period.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Noogle.

I see you now have Ovator S400s. How do they compare with the A5s through your Uniti? I looked at those and thought that it may be a waste of money spending more on speakers than the source/amp combined..

 

[plastic penguin]

Hi Guys,

I live overseas where it is very hard to get/test decent hifi equipment.

Anything I buy I will have to get shipped out, so I think for practical reasons I have decided on the Naim Uniti as it has had decent reviews and most of my music is played through my laptop these days..

As I can only go by reviews I am thinking of the following speakers to pair with it:

Proac Studio 140 MK2

Proac Response D18

Spendor A5/A6

Wilson Bensesch Square Two

Am I in the right area with these speakers or should I go with something totally different? My music tastes are across the board. I may get a Naim Nac 200 if these speakers are too big for the Uniti.. Any advice or pointers very much appreciated!!

Cheers,

James

All the suggestions by the other posters are spot-on. Also, as an incredible alternative, I would seriously look at MonoPulse. I was priviliged to have a good listen at the combo (Nait 5i amp and cdp) and they sounded amazing.

 

[noogle]

Have never tried the Ovators with just the Uniti - only through the NAP250 power amp. I bought the NAP250 because I sometimes like to listen at high (party-level!) volumes and found the Uniti's thermal trip would go.

Hard to describe the Ovators as they have a completely different voicing to any other speaker I've heard (and some people don't like it). You'd be crazy to buy them without a long (preferably home) audition. I find them completely "seamless" with no sense of having separate drive units. Massively better separation and detail compared to the A5s. Also what seems to me a very neutral and uncoloured presentation. I hear all kinds of things from my CDs that I've never heard before. Overall I just find mysef enjoying the music more. Bear in mind the Ovators are significantly bigger than the A5s and very physically imposing.

 

[Anonymous]

I have heard good things about Monopulse, but I just can't get past the looks I'm afraid. From what is posted so far It's looking like the Spendor A5 or the PMC GB1i. Would the Spendor A6 not be a good alternative to the A5?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks again, Noogle, a lot of food for thought!

 

[Bodfish]

I'm leaning towards a set of PMC fact8's to go with mine. Naim with PMC, Neat, Spendor and Harbeth seem to be pretty regular occurrences.

 

[plastic penguin]

I have heard good things about Monopulse, but I just can't get past the looks I'm afraid. From what is posted so far It's looking like the Spendor A5 or the PMC GB1i. Would the Spendor A6 not be a good alternative to the A5?

I've heard the Naim XS with Spendor A5 and it sounded pretty good, albeit a short dem. From what I've been told about the Uniti it has the basic gizzards of the Nait 5i, therefore I would be looking at either PMC or Neat.

 

[John Duncan]

How do you propose to play music through your laptop? Use it as a server and control with the uniti or use the laptop as the controller? Important distinction usability-wise...

 

[plastic penguin]

I have heard good things about Monopulse, but I just can't get past the looks I'm afraid. From what is posted so far It's looking like the Spendor A5 or the PMC GB1i. Would the Spendor A6 not be a good alternative to the A5?

Yes, they are distinctive looking and with that funny cloth covering means they aren't child or pet friendly, hence why I didn't buy them. Pure SQ-wise, they are cracking.

TBH, I think you'll need a dem to discover which ones will really sound the biz. My only real reservation with Spendor is they can be hard to drive - if the Uniti is the same as the Nait (power-wise) it won't be a problem - worth checking though.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice!

Obviously I will try and demo first. After reading all the advice and various forums my thinking is now this:

If I am going to have to ship the speakers out here anyway (I live in Vietnam) why not spend the extra cash and get something like the OB1i's or Fact8's (or similar)? It's not like I can upgrade speakers easily, so I may as well get speakers that I can upgrade around as getting CD/Amps here is much easier.

My obvious concern now is can the Uniti drive these speakers (I can add a power amp), and will the extra spend on them be wasted on the Uniti?

If anyone has thoughts on this or has already demoed a similar setup I would love to know what they think.

Cheers!

James

PS - John Duncan - I intend to use the laptop as the controller..

 

[noogle]

I'm sure the Fact 8s and OB1is would work, but my gut feel would be to go for a different system balance with (say) GB1is driven by a Uniti and NAP200/250.

 

[John Duncan]

PS - John Duncan - I intend to use the laptop as the controller..

In which case you need to be aware that you'll need a software or hardware solution to beam to the Uniti (as opposed to using the Uniti to access files on the laptop). For example, JamCast features a virtual sound card that means anything played on the laptop can be picked up by the Uniti's UPnP clent, or you can use an Airport Express to transmit from laptop (or iPhone or iPad) into one of the Uniti's digital inputs.

You could, of course, just have the laptop running and use the Uniti's n-Stream iPod/iPhone app to control if you have one. Performance of that app is somewhat dependent on which UPnP server you have running on your laptop though, I've found.

As for speakers, I'm afraid I have no experience of the floorstanders you're looking at, though you'll see from my sig that I favour PMC. I've also heard Neat's Petite SX on the end of it to remarkable effect, so Andrew's suggestions of the bigger PMCs and Neats appear to be the way to go. PMC's smaller floorstanders are some of my favourite speakers ever (in a different system).

 

[Andrew Everard]

Performance of that app is somewhat dependent on which UPnP server you have running on your laptop though, I've found.

Indeed, performance of various UPNP servers seems to vary, affecting not just the Naim app but other streaming devices, too. Hence this blog...

 

[Anonymous]

I take the point about the smaller speakers being better suited for the system. You are probably right, but now I'm getting myself excited about some serious speakers to go with the Uniti so I may just get them anyway (after demo)! It also gives the option to upgrade the Uniti to some dedicated separates in the future.

Thanks again for the feedback, guys. I'll certainly look into the UPnP servers etc. When I have finally made a decision and have it set up I'll let you know how it sounds.

James

 

[John Duncan]

Do let us know, yes - plenty of experience on here of the vagiaries of Uniti/UPnP setup...!

 

[Anonymous]

James,

Please dont buy any speakers until you try the Art Emotion Monitor. They dont get a lot of press and arent reviewed here, but i just went through an audition process to get some new speakers of a Nait 5i-2, and they are astounding.

If you can find somewhere where you can audition them i'm sure you wont be disapointed.

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed, performance of various UPNP servers seems to vary, affecting not just the Naim app but other streaming devices, too. Hence this blog...

TBH, Andrew, it's terribly unfair to decry the state of UPnP in general because of your experience with one single device. Especially since the upnp part (connectivity) was working fine. It only failed to recognize (or supply) the tags in the files.

Moreover, the device was made by D-Link fcol. That's the type of brand that you get for free with a box of cereals. Would you similarly decry the state of HiFi based on these charms?