Totem arro + Naim Nait 5i, is it a good match?

 

Bronze Member
Username: Flats

Post Number: 35
Registered: Sep-07
Hi guys

I've seen very good comments everywhere about Nait 5i plus totem arros, including here, in this forum.

I decided to upgrade my speakers and 2 days ago I demoded my Nait 5i with a pair of Totem arros. That Demo was made during an hour with a Audionet ART v2 cd player, Nait 5i Amp, Chord Cobra interconnects, Nac A5 speaker cable and Totem Arro as speakers. After that I was very surprised because the results about this combination weren't good as I expected. It sounded articulated, melodic, transparent but harsh with voices and treble.

Did I miss something in that situation? Should I do this demo at home and wait at least a day with everything connected playing music? I must say, I was trully desappointed with that setup.

Any opinions about this subject are welcome.

Thanks in advance


Regards

James
 

Gold Member
Username: Frank_abela

Berkshire UK

Post Number: 3428
Registered: Sep-04
James,

Usually it's a very good match. However, the Arro can be a touch bright and if you were straining the system (volume knob around the 12 o'clock position), then I suggest what you heard was the amp straining to put enough juice through the speakers. The Arros are not the easiest speaker to drive, but generally they're a very good match to the Nait5i.

The Audionet is a very smooth sounding player. It could be that you were compensating for the smoothness by turning it up more? Just a thought. The Cobra3 interconnect is a very good match for the Naim, and of course the speaker cable was perfect, so I can't see why else you were disappointed with the match, other than the tendency of the Arro to a touch of brightness. This can be helped by placing Totem Beaks on the Arros (2 per speaker is best) which attenuates the speaker's output by 0.5db and therefore reduces the brightness, but most people don't really like the look to be fair.

If you were playing music at the sort oflevel you normally play it at, and the Audionet is your CD player too, then I doubt that the Arros are for you. If you can stretch to Sttafs their warmer presentation may suit you more.
 

Platinum Member
Username: Nuck

Post Number: 11218
Registered: Dec-04
When I heard the Audionet player in a shop in Atlanta, they were in desperation in the shop trying to make it fit in.

Coincidence?
 

Bronze Member
Username: Flats

Post Number: 36
Registered: Sep-07
Hi guys, Thanks for your inputs.

In that demo we also used another amp but the results were the same. That amp used was an Primare A30.1 which is considerable more powerfull than a Nait 5i(at least theorically, 100 watts at 8hms )


Frank, in that demo we the setup reproduced music with volume control between 9 and 10 o'clock, most of time.


Nuck, did you realized the same problems with that cd player in Atlanta?
 

Platinum Member
Username: Nuck

Post Number: 11225
Registered: Dec-04
james, the guys in the shop there were trying to make it sound right with a couple of different setups. I wasn't in on the trials, but nobody was happy with what it was doing, for whatever reason
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