Nait 5i or Sonneteer Campion for KEF R500

[redbull666]

Hello all, my first post here, but a long time lurker.Having recently moved into a new house I have replaced my A/V receiver with a Denon X4200w. The Denon is a 7.2 receiver but has 9.2 pre-outs. As I want to move to 5.1.4 Atmos in the future, the logical choice seems to me to take the plunge and buy my first ever power amplifier for my front R500 speakers. Have spent much time reading these and other forums, and have now found great (2nd hand) deals on both the Nait 5i and the Sonneteer Campion. I will not be able to listen to them in combination with my R500's beforehand, however. Thus I am looking for some advice/experiences. Other than which one will sound best, I am concerned with whether the Campion is powerful enough to drive the R500? It's rated at 34W, the Nait is at 60W. My listening space is about 9x5 meters (main living room). Any thoughts and suggestions would be very welcome!

 

[redbull666]

Well that's some bad formatting, I tried using line breaks using <BR> tags but the forum is not having it...

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi Redbull and welcome to the forum.

Forums are a useful source of info, but they are no substitute for listening...also buying blind on a good price, is also risky.

Naim is a marmite brand, that divides opinion. I have read good things about Soneteer, but never heard one.

The R500s are excellent speakers, but need an amp with a vice like grip, or they can sound boomy. If it was me, I'd be looking at brands like Hegel, Creek, Arcam and Rega.

 

[redbull666]

Thank you for your feedback. I will be able to listen to the amplifiers, but not on my own speakers, not so useful I suppose...

I also have the option of an Arcam FMJ A19, to complicate matters.

 

[CnoEvil]

IMO. You should put off buying an amp until you can get the likes of Arcam A39, Rega Elicit R and Hegel H80.

The R500s are not that fussy about which amp they are paired with, as long it can control them. That takes a decent power supply, which costs a bit more.