Thinking of getting a Naim Uniti Atom

Snooker

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I currently have a Denon Ceol N9 with Kef Q150 speakers, and had this type of system for the last six years and am very happy with it
However I have luckily come into a little bit of money and am thinking of upgrading keeping the same speakers to the Naim Unity Atom
Is it really going to be a significant jump in sound quality, and is not having tone controls an issue and what are your views on the Atom ?
 
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I currently have a Denon Ceol N9 with Kef Q150 speakers, and had this type of system for the last six years and am very happy with it
However I have luckily come into a little bit of money and am thinking of upgrading keeping the same speakers to the Nami Unity Atom
Is it really going to be a big jump in sound quality, and is not having tone controls an issue and what are your views on the Atom ?
can you get to audition one?
 
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Snooker

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I have just got an open box naim atom on hold for next week when I get my money for £1899 from £2399 so am happy with that

If you own a naim atom is it really that good ?
 

Stuart.W.D

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I have just got an open box naim atom on hold for next week when I get my money for £1899 from £2399 so am happy with that

If you own a naim atom is it really that good ?

What are you hoping to achieve with the naim atom over the N9? Are you looking for a better feature list or audio performance also? I hear Naim gear can be bright, best to demo as it might not be the best combo with KEF speakers..

The Naim ticks all the boxes regarding the bells and whistles. For the price jump for improvements in audio you could be left dissatisfied, just remember the Q150's are a budget line speaker, and they are designed to go with your N9. How much better will they work with the Naim that remains to be seen..

If I can recommend another option for you
, the two brands that I know work extremely well with KEF are Hegel and Marantz.

The Marantz PM7000N amplifier with built in Heos wireless network streaming retails for £949.00. Which is half the price. 🤑

The Hegel H95 amplifier supports network streaming , UPnP, Spotify connect, and Apple airplay. The Hegel retails for £1,600. You are saving £300 in the process.

The Marantz network amplifier would leave you with enough money to upgrade to the KEF LS50's Meta. Buy from the same dealer and get a combination discount.

if you sell on your Q150's and go with the Hegel H95, you can now grab a pair of original KEF LS50's for £599.00. Which would be an upgrade in audio performance.

KEF LS50's : demo 👇🏻


My advice is a demonstration beats a recommendation and review every time. Best of luck
 
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Snooker

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Stuart.W.D

Thanks for your reply

I have heard that the Kef Q150's are similar to the LS50's sound wise, I just need to keep my Kef Q150's as they are lighter in weight for my shelf and I have them three inches from the wall with bungs in but no boom at all, the LS50's probably need stands and are far harder to drive

I have always said that budget stuff is not too far away from high end stuff as people may think, but am curious to at least try the Naim Atom to satisfy my mind

I am getting an open box product delivered so if I do not want it they can still sell it again as open box for the same reduced price

Good high end stuff will sound better than my system but not twice as good, just a percentage increase, and at some point you hit diminishing returns

My system does actually sound very good so will be interesting to compare with the Atom, and if there is not enough of a significant increase in sound quality will return the Atom and be happy to keep what I have

I am getting the Atom next week so will let you know what I think
 
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rainsoothe

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What are you hoping to achieve with the naim atom over the N9? Are you looking for a better feature list or audio performance also? I hear Naim gear can be bright, best to demo as it might not be the best combo with KEF speakers..

The Naim ticks all the boxes regarding the bells and whistles. For the price jump for improvements in audio you could be left dissatisfied, just remember the Q150's are a budget line speaker, and they are designed to go with your N9. How much better will they work with the Naim that remains to be seen..

If I can recommend another option for you
, the two brands that I know work extremely well with KEF are Hegel and Marantz.

The Marantz PM7000N amplifier with built in Heos wireless network streaming retails for £949.00. Which is half the price. 🤑

The Hegel H95 amplifier supports network streaming , UPnP, Spotify connect, and Apple airplay. The Hegel retails for £1,600. You are saving £300 in the process.

The Marantz network amplifier would leave you with enough money to upgrade to the KEF LS50's Meta. Buy from the same dealer and get a combination discount.

if you sell on your Q150's and go with the Hegel H95, you can now grab a pair of original KEF LS50's for £599.00. Which would be an upgrade in audio performance.

KEF LS50's : demo 👇🏻


My advice is a demonstration beats a recommendation and review every time. Best of luck
imo the Atom is a completely different beast to the Ceol (and the Marantz for that matter), and it will probably be a system shock. Also, the current Naim offerings are not that bright, and they're very "musical". The biggest issue i see is also not the speakers themselves, but the fact that they're placed on furniture, which is pretty unfortunate.

For the Atom, I'd also look into Witchhat N2 (or even Phantom) speaker cable, or Van Damme if you're on a budgy. I'm not a huge fan of QED with Naim.
 
imo the Atom is a completely different beast to the Ceol (and the Marantz for that matter), and it will probably be a system shock. Also, the current Naim offerings are not that bright, and they're very "musical". The biggest issue i see is also not the speakers themselves, but the fact that they're placed on furniture, which is pretty unfortunate.

For the Atom, I'd also look into Witchhat N2 (or even Phantom) speaker cable, or Van Damme if you're on a budgy. I'm not a huge fan of QED with Naim.
to my mind the speakers, bunged or not, and that closed to the wall makes speaker cable suggestions irrelevant
 
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Stuart.W.D

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imo the Atom is a completely different beast to the Ceol (and the Marantz for that matter),
🖕🏻
I can fully appreciate the better feature list, amplifier function and better build quality of the Atom to the Ceol. No disputing that whatsoever. Beautiful piece of kit.

However I had a lot of experience with the Q150's, my Marantz PM8005 amplifier was connected to the Q150's for a couple of months. My original demonstration with the Q150's was with the budget friendly Marantz PM6006. I can't say the Q's performance was much of an improvement with my €1000 amplifier. I now have a pair of KEF LS50's connected to my Marantz PM8005 and the performance was a step up. Hence why I said replacing the N9 with the Atom could leave the OP dissatisfied with the Q150's limitations. Paying close to 2 grand for the Atom to connect them to a budget speaker could be overkill! Happy to be wrong and I hope the OP gets his money worth. As this hobby has a very bad habit of going to far down the rabbit hole.

If the Atom has any of the Naim's lively and exciting sonic signature ~ connecting KEF speakers would demand a demonstration to rule out fatigue. Marantz and Hegel work extremely well with KEF products
 

jjbomber

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Stuart.W.D

I have always said that budget stuff is not too far away from high end stuff as people may think, but am curious to at least try the Naim Atom to satisfy my mind

I am getting an open box product delivered so if I do not want it they can still sell it again as open box for the same reduced price
You are doing exactly the right thing. If you love it, then keep it. If you don't like it, send it back. My guess is you'll love it, but it's your choice, no one else's.
 
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skinnypuppy71

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Personally I'd like to get as much power through those kefs as possible there ..@ 86 db and 8 ohms...I'd go for a used Superuniti myself if looking at a all in one unit.....then you will see/hear what those kefs can do.....and don't be afraid of buying used Naim gear...they can still service just about anything they have ever made and not a lot goes wrong anyway......usually small bookshelf speakers don't need so much in watts..but they thrive on current from a amplifier....a good beefy power supply is the order of the day for these little boxes of joy....and don't believe for a minute that your kefs price tag makes them not worthy of amplifiers at this end of the market.....quality kit has headroom and that includes source, amp and speakers...you just need to keep it sensible and avoid creating a mullet of a system.....and you really really need to get those speakers off the shelf and onto some decent stands.....please...do not under estimate the actual setup of your standmount speakers..it really can make or break.
 
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Stuart.W.D

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Personally I'd like to get as much power through those kefs as possible there ..@ 86 db and 8 ohms...I'd go for a used Superuniti myself if looking at a all in one unit.....then you will see/hear what those kefs can do.....and don't be afraid of buying used Naim gear...they can still service just about anything they have ever made and not a lot goes wrong anyway......usually small bookshelf speakers don't need so much in watts..but they thrive on current from a amplifier....a good beefy power supply is the order of the day for these little boxes of joy...

This was my point from day dot from my own experience with the Q150's. I felt a more beefy power supply was getting a subtle result to the budget amplifier from the demo room. My PM8005 has a large double shielded toroidal transformer, and is equipped with multiple high current power , providing a very high amount of dynamic headroom, along with compatibility with lower impedance loudspeakers. The Q150's 8ohms are easy enough to drive. Once I upgraded to the LS50's @85dB with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms with a 3.2-ohm minimum. I got a step up in performance with the speaker change.

I wanted to chime in with my own experience with these speakers. Again I hope the OP gets what he wants in terms of audio improvements. As I have no doubt he will be extremely happy with the build quality, feature list and the look of the Atom inside his home.

@Snooker Best of luck
 
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webb204

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I currently have a Denon Ceol N9 with Kef Q150 speakers, and had this type of system for the last six years and am very happy with it
However I have luckily come into a little bit of money and am thinking of upgrading keeping the same speakers to the Naim Unity Atom
Is it really going to be a significant jump in sound quality, and is not having tone controls an issue and what are your views on the Atom ?
Funnily enough I,m moving to the atom and coming from a marantz mcr 612 , the atom will be here on today all being well , paid £1800 for a brand new sealed unit , ill post my thoughts next week
 
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Edbostan

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I currently have a Denon Ceol N9 with Kef Q150 speakers, and had this type of system for the last six years and am very happy with it
However I have luckily come into a little bit of money and am thinking of upgrading keeping the same speakers to the Naim Unity Atom
Is it really going to be a significant jump in sound quality, and is not having tone controls an issue and what are your views on the Atom ?
If you are happy then why change it? We are constantly chasing our tails for a perception which we may never achieve. I have accepted that my setup, although not the most expensive or esoteric, provides pleasurable listening pleasure.
 
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Snooker

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If you are happy then why change it? We are constantly chasing our tails for a perception which we may never achieve. I have accepted that my setup, although not the most expensive or esoteric, provides pleasurable listening pleasure.

That's a good point and I could not agree more
It's just I have the money and will send it back if there is not a good significant increase in sound quality, and then be more than happy to keep what I have knowing I am not missing out on anything

Again got the money why not try and return if required nothing to lose, just finally answers that what if, and I will not be trying any other units
 
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That's a good point and I could not agree more
It's just I have the money and will send it back if there is not a good significant increase in sound quality, and then be more than happy to keep what I have knowing I am not missing out on anything

Again got the money why not try and return if required nothing to lose, just finally answers that what if, and I will not be trying any other units
it's no wonder dealers are going out of business.....
 

Snooker

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it's no wonder dealers are going out of business.....

The unit I am getting is open box so if I return they can sell again for the same price, anyway in this day and age with the internet this is normal for people to try goods and return if required, these loses in profit should be baked into a companies overall strategy of profit and loses, its probably a small percentage of people who actually return items in any case
 
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The unit I am getting is open box so if I return they can sell again for the same price, anyway in this day and age with the internet this is normal for people to try goods and return if required, these loses in profit should be baked into a companies overall strategy of profit and loses, its probably a small percentage of people who actually return items in any case
I guess online dealers would have to do that and their mark-up price probably reflects that
 

Edbostan

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That's a good point and I could not agree more
It's just I have the money and will send it back if there is not a good significant increase in sound quality, and then be more than happy to keep what I have knowing I am not missing out on anything

Again got the money why not try and return if required nothing to lose, just finally answers that what if, and I will not be trying any other units
I have the Kef iq10s which are the equivalent of the 150s but two generations back. I run them with an Onyko 9010 and find them fine.
 

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