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Quick Poll: Which of the following systems sounds best with Vandersteen 2C's?

Quick poll here. Which system do you think would sound better (mate better) with Vandersteen 2c’s? Which would you choose and why? Room size is approx 12x14, not including a 5x5 "dormer" but ceiling is still 8ft and not tapered. I have the Vandy’s positioned perfectly in the room per Vandersteen’s geometry guide on their website and they sound really good. Previous integrateds were Creek 5350SE and 4330SE. Here are the two systems:

System #1:
Naim Nait 5i (non italic) integrated
Naim CD3.5 cd player
NACA5 speaker cable
Chord Company Cobra 1 DIN to RCA interconnects -OR- Naim DIN to DIN interconnect (gray/lavender color)

System #2:
Sim Audio Moon i-1 integrated
Naim CD3.5 cd player
Mogami W3082 speaker cable -OR- DH Labs Q-10 speaker cable
Chord Company Cobra 1 DIN to RCA interconnects -OR- DH Labs custom DIN to RCA Air Matrix interconnects.
jsbach1685

Showing 2 responses by auxinput

auxinput
2,920 posts
 
oh jeez.  Nevermind on my comments about the DH Labs Q-10.  They are silver-coated copper wires.  Go with the NAIM NACA5.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I don't have experience with either choices.  However, that being said, I have noticed:

Sim Audio I-I = really huge transformer, smaller power supply capacitance

Naim 5i = smaller transformer, larger amount of power supply capacitance

The huge transformer on the Sim Audio will compensate somewhat for the lesser capacitance.  However, your Vandersteen 2C speakers are really easy to drive, there's only one dip down to about 6.7 ohms in the bass region -- mostly it's actually 7-8 ohms or higher.  Both amps are 50 watts.  All this together, I would lean towards the Naim having more power supply capacitance.  In my experience, this always leads to better/smoother sound.  You don't need a huge amount of brute force power here.

I read somewhere that Naim speaker wire must be used with any Naim amps for compatability and matching capacitance.  Others might want to speak here, but this statement doesn't make sense to me.  The Naim NACA5 is just 11.5 awg stranded copper.  In your speaker wire choices, I would choose the DH Labs Q-10 speaker cable over everything else.

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