Which speakers for NAD D 3020 amp?

[walvis]

I am planning to build a desktop/ medium sized room HiFi system using an iMac and NAD D 3020 amp as the core elements to replace the current Harman Kardon Soundstick setup w/o dedicated amp or DAC which worked fine for watching movies on the iMac but is limited in terms of music playback and editing bass and e guitar recordings via Logic Pro.

My dilemma is that I am not sure what speakers to choose to complement the setup. My usage will be equally split between the aforementioned activities, so listening to music, editing and monitoring recordings in Logic and watching movies. While I appreciate that recording would ask for monitor type speakers, I find the ones I listened to too analytic and lacking the bass for room filling music and certainly for movies use. So I appreciate that I have to compromise, but the speakers should offer a certain bass saviness as the NAD D 3020 does not offer a Sub out.

Any ideas welcome...

Price range is flexible up to 300-400 GBP for the speakers.

 

[CnoEvil]

How about the Q Acoustics Concept 20?

 

[davedotco]

I am planning to build a desktop/ medium sized room HiFi system using an iMac and NAD D 3020 amp as the core elements to replace the current Harman Kardon Soundstick setup w/o dedicated amp or DAC which worked fine for watching movies on the iMac but is limited in terms of music playback and editing bass and e guitar recordings via Logic Pro.

My dilemma is that I am not sure what speakers to choose to complement the setup. My usage will be equally split between the aforementioned activities, so listening to music, editing and monitoring recordings in Logic and watching movies. While I appreciate that recording would ask for monitor type speakers, I find the ones I listened to too analytic and lacking the bass for room filling music and certainly for movies use. So I appreciate that I have to compromise, but the speakers should offer a certain bass saviness as the NAD D 3020 does not offer a Sub out.

Any ideas welcome...

Price range is flexible up to 300-400 GBP for the speakers.

What speakers did you try, and with what results?

That will help a lot.

 

[CarlDW]

The NAD does have a sub output as far as Iam aware.

I would look at the Dali Zensor 1 or 3.

 

[gasolin]

I have the Boston A26 and they are good

 

[gasolin]

The NAD does have a sub output as far as Iam aware. I would look at the Dali Zensor 1 or 3.

They are a bit to bright

 

[Reijer]

You could try the B&W 686 s2 or it's bigger brother 685 s2. Neutral sound en good bas.

 

[jaxwired]

I am planning to build a desktop/ medium sized room HiFi system using an iMac and NAD D 3020 amp as the core elements to replace the current Harman Kardon Soundstick setup w/o dedicated amp or DAC which worked fine for watching movies on the iMac but is limited in terms of music playback and editing bass and e guitar recordings via Logic Pro.

My dilemma is that I am not sure what speakers to choose to complement the setup. My usage will be equally split between the aforementioned activities, so listening to music, editing and monitoring recordings in Logic and watching movies. While I appreciate that recording would ask for monitor type speakers, I find the ones I listened to too analytic and lacking the bass for room filling music and certainly for movies use. So I appreciate that I have to compromise, but the speakers should offer a certain bass saviness as the NAD D 3020 does not offer a Sub out.

Any ideas welcome...

Price range is flexible up to 300-400 GBP for the speakers.

dyna

Highly recommend dynaudio DM line. Exactly what you are after.

 

[gasolin]

I am planning to build a desktop/ medium sized room HiFi system using an iMac and NAD D 3020 amp as the core elements to replace the current Harman Kardon Soundstick setup w/o dedicated amp or DAC which worked fine for watching movies on the iMac but is limited in terms of music playback and editing bass and e guitar recordings via Logic Pro.

My dilemma is that I am not sure what speakers to choose to complement the setup. My usage will be equally split between the aforementioned activities, so listening to music, editing and monitoring recordings in Logic and watching movies. While I appreciate that recording would ask for monitor type speakers, I find the ones I listened to too analytic and lacking the bass for room filling music and certainly for movies use. So I appreciate that I have to compromise, but the speakers should offer a certain bass saviness as the NAD D 3020 does not offer a Sub out.

Any ideas welcome...

Price range is flexible up to 300-400 GBP for the speakers.

dyna

Highly recommend dynaudio DM line. Exactly what you are after.

Not good enough combination http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/nad-d3020-dynaudio-dm-27 also sensitivity is in the lower end (86db)

 

[Al ears]

You might like to look at the Roth OLi RA2 speakers. Recently reviewed in 'H-iFi World' paired with your amplifier they got an 'outstanding' rating.

Save yourself a few quid because these cost less than £150 🙂

 

[walvis]

Thanks for all the replies. I indeed overlooked the sub out which makes things easier. I am currently trending towards the concept 20s as the size also fits the room. I love the look of the 686 s2 but the whathifi 3 star review scared me a bit off - although it seems to be for the predecessor model but I could not find a review for the s2 issue. The 685 are beautiful but slightly too expensive and maybe a bit on the large size. So far I tested a pair of Monitor Audio BX2 which I use in my Yamaha driven living room setup where they really work well - so I was surprised they lacked bass and sounded hard (keep in mind they are run in) in my carpeted loft where I expected better bass performance. Others included old Yamahas from the 90s where I cannot even find the model number. In the meantime I haven't spend much time investigating Boston and Dynaudio, so will do that next ...

 

[Cypher]

I would go for these speakers ;

Q Acoustics Concept 20

Q Acoustics 2020i (not as good as the concept 20 but still very good)

Dali Zensor 3

 

[walvis]

Just to confuse to confuse things further a friend recommended using active speakers such as the KEF X300A or the Quad 9AS - however the Quads lack any Bluetooth or AirPlay connectivity and the KEF have to some extend limited compatibility. The most important thing though - how would the sound compare to an NAD D 3020 plus Concept 20 (or comparable) setup? If not significantly better - the higher flexibility in terms of connectivity would probably draw me to the latter setup. Anything wrong with that logic?

 

[gasolin]

You might like to look at the Roth OLi RA2 speakers. Recently reviewed in 'H-iFi World' paired with your amplifier they got an 'outstanding' rating.

Save yourself a few quid because these cost less than £150 🙂

WHY?

http://www.whathifi.com/review/roth-oli-ra2
AGAINSTOverlooks chunks of detailDistracting hardness to the trebleDisjointed, undefined bass[/list]

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/nad-d-3020-question (#2)

By the way, I originally used this amp with Concept 20s. In my opinion the sound quality from this combo was really good but for me was a bit too smooth sounding overall. The sound while very clear, detailed and full just wasn't exciting enough for my tatstes. Every genre of music I listened to kind of sounded the same, everything being given the same smoothing over

 

[Al ears]

You might like to look at the Roth OLi RA2 speakers. Recently reviewed in 'H-iFi World' paired with your amplifier they got an 'outstanding' rating.

Save yourself a few quid because these cost less than £150 🙂

WHY?

http://www.whathifi.com/review/roth-oli-ra2
AGAINSTOverlooks chunks of detailDistracting hardness to the trebleDisjointed, undefined bass[/list]

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/nad-d-3020-question (#2)

By the way, I originally used this amp with Concept 20s. In my opinion the sound quality from this combo was really good but for me was a bit too smooth sounding overall. The sound while very clear, detailed and full just wasn't exciting enough for my tatstes. Every genre of music I listened to kind of sounded the same, everything being given the same smoothing over

Because if you researched them and did not believe everything that is written in WHFSAV you might find that many other revewiers gave them top marks, that's why.

Each to there own.

 

[gasolin]

You might like to look at the Roth OLi RA2 speakers. Recently reviewed in 'H-iFi World' paired with your amplifier they got an 'outstanding' rating.

Save yourself a few quid because these cost less than £150 🙂

WHY?

http://www.whathifi.com/review/roth-oli-ra2
AGAINSTOverlooks chunks of detailDistracting hardness to the trebleDisjointed, undefined bass[/list]

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/nad-d-3020-question (#2)

By the way, I originally used this amp with Concept 20s. In my opinion the sound quality from this combo was really good but for me was a bit too smooth sounding overall. The sound while very clear, detailed and full just wasn't exciting enough for my tatstes. Every genre of music I listened to kind of sounded the same, everything being given the same smoothing over

Because if you researched them and did not believe everything that is written in WHFSAV you might find that many other revewiers gave them top marks, that's why.

Each to there own.

Stille wouldn't recommend then because of the low sensitivity of only 84 db

Why not Q Acoustics 2010i or the Bostaons a25/26 (no fattigue with from the boston and the A26 has no brigth thin sound) and mabye the insanely cheap polk subwoofer if theres a need for deeper and louder bass http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-10-Inch-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B0002KVQBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401914788&sr=8-1&keywords=polk

 

[nopiano]

Take comfort that you are probably choosing from the best value range of hifi made - modestly priced stand-mounting speakers. There are many great designs, including Roth, Acoustic Energy, Boston and others that are less in vogue than QA and Dali, so worth heading to a Richer or Sevenoaks store to hear a handful, unless you are lucky enough to have a local specialist.

And as others have said, don't think it must have five stars to be any good!

 

[walvis]

Again, thanks for all the input - having spoken to some dealers I have now settled on the Zensor 3s and will order today. They also attracted me as I would also really like to try them in my living room setup instead of the bx2s - just interested to see how significant their characteristics are. I will let you know of course!

 

[gasolin]

Again, thanks for all the input - having spoken to some dealers I have now settled on the Zensor 3s and will order today. They also attracted me as I would also really like to try them in my living room setup instead of the bx2s - just interested to see how significant their characteristics are. I will let you know of course!

Don't angle they or they might be to bright, even if they have a bit more bass then the zensor 3