First, soundstage is never going to be maximum potential with the Nait. Naim has other fish to fry, the taste of which you know and love. Second, the narrowness of your room precludes full potential of soundstaging characteristics. I'm not familiar with your Ninkas, but, because of the above, you may find that changing speakers doesn't appreciably increase your soundstage enjoyment. That said, I've used ProAc speakers with Naim electronics for many years with wonderful results. There's a used pair of D15s on Audiogon now for $2K, though their footprint may be a mite wide for your specification. The 1sc and Tablette 50 Signature both do a startling disappearing act and, to my ears, are better than the newer Reference Tablettes. Unfortunately, they don't turn up used often. In fact, in the case of the Tab Sigs (truly magical little devils), they virtually never show up.
Which speaker is best with Naim
I have a Naim AV2 pre-pro and a (gain-matched) Naim Nait5i as my electronics and I'm totally sold on them. I'm also ninety percent sold on my Linn Ninkas, which have great agility and can handle jazz as well as a big movie soundtrack. The one thing they could do better is soundstage.
Recently I started asking around about speakers under $2k (new or used) that were good at soundstage, and I got many impressive recommendations, but most of them were tricky loads and wouldn't sound good with my scrappy little Nait. Nevertheless, I seem to have winnowed the field down to a set of five or six finalists to try up against my Ninkas (some of which *are* tricky loads, anyway), and so now I'm looking for the best prospective match with my Naim gear.
The nominees are:
Reference 3A De Capo
Salk Song Tower
Joseph Audio RM7si-mkII or RM-22si
Something by Totem
Something by Meadowlark
...a dark horse is the Audio Physic Virgo-II's, which come very highly recommended, but I am not impressed with the highs from the Spark-IIII's, which makes me gun-shy about getting another pair of A-P's.
The musical range begins with Jazz and stays there for a long time, but the winning speakers should also be able to rock from time to time and will remain part of an eventual 5.1 HT system.
My front end is an Arcam FMJ-CD23, the interconnects are Belden 95259 coax with Cardas plugs, made by Blue Jeans, the speaker wire is cross-connected coaxial made by Element, the room is 8 feet across by 15-6 long, poured concrete and cindar block. The available footprint for each speaker is no bigger than the Ninkas, about seven inches across by twelve or fourteen inches deep.
Any reactions are greatly appreciated.
Recently I started asking around about speakers under $2k (new or used) that were good at soundstage, and I got many impressive recommendations, but most of them were tricky loads and wouldn't sound good with my scrappy little Nait. Nevertheless, I seem to have winnowed the field down to a set of five or six finalists to try up against my Ninkas (some of which *are* tricky loads, anyway), and so now I'm looking for the best prospective match with my Naim gear.
The nominees are:
Reference 3A De Capo
Salk Song Tower
Joseph Audio RM7si-mkII or RM-22si
Something by Totem
Something by Meadowlark
...a dark horse is the Audio Physic Virgo-II's, which come very highly recommended, but I am not impressed with the highs from the Spark-IIII's, which makes me gun-shy about getting another pair of A-P's.
The musical range begins with Jazz and stays there for a long time, but the winning speakers should also be able to rock from time to time and will remain part of an eventual 5.1 HT system.
My front end is an Arcam FMJ-CD23, the interconnects are Belden 95259 coax with Cardas plugs, made by Blue Jeans, the speaker wire is cross-connected coaxial made by Element, the room is 8 feet across by 15-6 long, poured concrete and cindar block. The available footprint for each speaker is no bigger than the Ninkas, about seven inches across by twelve or fourteen inches deep.
Any reactions are greatly appreciated.