I'd acquired Naim Nait5i and I need a pair of floortanding 3-ways speakers. My Budget is 3500-4000USD. I have listen to totem hawk speaker...but bass a bit light for a big room. But not with the nait5i amp set-up though. I also audiotioned Jmlab Electra speakers ($8000). I like the sound produced by Jmlab speakers, warm, precise and clean! Since this pair of Jmlab electra is out of my reach. I'd problably go with with the lower class like new Jmlab Chorus 836V I haven't hear it yet. Jmlab Chorus will be arriving to canada on the first week of september/2006. Can nait5i drives 8ohms speakers loud enough for a big room? There're plenty of 4ohm speakers out there but to much money, like ProAc response, Neat motive 1. I heard 4ohms speakers work better with nait5i (double the power to 100W).
OK, so how big is your room? And where are you placing the speakers, on the long or short wall? Also, are they close to or away from the wall behind them?
Don't get hung up on configurations - 2-way, 3-way, florrstanding, standmount. They're all differfent solutions to the same problem and no one design is necessarily better than another given price limitations. They're all a compromise in my experience.
Our demo room is about 23ft x 15ft. I fill that room easily with Totem Arros when placed on the long wall. It would be more difficult to do on the short wall.
8 ohms are generally easier to drive than 4 ohms, you need just half the current. Having said that, the Nait5i is quite a powerful little amp and it seems to cope with many 4 ohm speakers. For example, it's very good with Dynaudio speakers. Have a listen to Dynaudio's Audience range up to the 72 and their FOCUS 110s.
The Focal JmLabs are relatively easy to drive too. Have a listen to their Profile range. The floorstanders should work well, although I haven't tried that combination myself. Profile is a good bit better than Chorus.
What else? Oh - of course there's Naim's own speakers. There's the Ariva and the Allae. The Ariva can sit in the room away from the back wall. The Allae uses the back wall for reinforcement. Naim speakers are an acquired taste, but if you like what they do, they may be just the ticket.
Just purchased Neat Motive 2 speakers to partner with my Nait 5i & CD5i and absolutely love them. They are quite a bit better than the Totem Sttafs they replaced in my room thanks to their open midrange and excellent tweeter. Very smooth, dynamic yet detailed without beig harsh.
For the record, my room measures 15' x 16' with 19' ceilings so its quite a bit of space to fill and the Nait 5i has zero problems doing so with these speakers.