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Speakers designed with amps in mind and vice versa

......is dem choices, e.g. ProAc always used to dem their speakers with high-end Audio Research valve amps, but more recently seem to have shifted to Sugden.
but get up to the real high-end and there is huge difference in the amp you’d choose to partner with......

Yes, was acquainted with A.R.C. and ProAc but wasn't aware that they now use s/s class A rather than valves. Agree that synergistic matching demands more research as one climbs the hifi (cost) ladder.

Not exactly relevant, but it was ProAc speakers (R3 to be exact) which the late John Michell used to test-drive the prototype of his Orbe. Mind you, he machined some parts for ProAc, who were just over the yard, as it were, so probably driven by convenience and cost.
 
No amplifier is designed with a specific speaker in mind.... other than maybe older Quad's with ESL's.
Many combinations are based purely on business, ie PMC IIRC import Bryston. In many other cases a designer uses the speakers he happens to own and likes... well colour me shocked 'n all that!
Amps are obviously designed to have a flat response and low output impedance, which means they should be pretty much universally applicable.
I worked with Trevor and Bob of Kudos and NEAT and they had no love of Naim amps in the couple of years or so I saw them 5 days a week... I'll guess they realise that Naim is a very popular brand...
All sorts of amps were used in the development of the Petite. I can recall Sumo, Beard, MF A370 amongst others but the only Naim amp I saw used was a Nait, briefly.
SET's, having high output impedance, need a speaker with a fairly easy load of constant as possible resistance as the speakers impedance curve will cause the amp to somewhat follow the impedance curve of the speaker.


Well, Derek Gilligan of Kudos does indeed design his speakers using Naim amps regardless of whether or not he realised it's a popular brand or he just likes them and uses them at home. Either way, he still uses them.
 
So when you’re making a power amp, Jez, don’t you listen to it through a pair of speakers to make sure it has “the magic”? How do you know that magic is universally applicable?

That being said I’m sure you’re right and nearly all modern speakers are universally applicable, but magic isn’t the same as applicability.

If an amp is a good one it will work great with any suitable speaker.
 
Well, Derek Gilligan of Kudos does indeed design his speakers using Naim amps regardless of whether or not he realised it's a popular brand or he just likes them and uses them at home. Either way, he still uses them.

No he didn't when I worked with him 5 days a week. What he does now is of no interest to me but back then neither he nor Bob were particularly keen on Naim.
 
Well, it might just be me but I've not heard a pair of Neat Momentums sound that good with Naim amps, either at home or at the dealers.
Could be the isobarik system contributing to the bloated sound I heard.
Coming down a bit from the four figure stuff I'm currently enjoying a Yamaha A-S500 driving Rogers LS4a's.
Those two components looked at individually are not earth shattering but as a pairing they shine with magical synergy which defies explanation.
 
No he didn't when I worked with him 5 days a week. What he does now is of no interest to me but back then neither he nor Bob were particularly keen on Naim.
What he did 5 days a week with you back in god knows when is of no interest to me either! He has been using Naim for well over the last 12 years. It's funny how you make statements about something you obviously know nothing about.
 
What he did 5 days a week with you back in god knows when is of no interest to me either! He has been using Naim for well over the last 12 years. It's funny how you make statements about something you obviously know nothing about.

Obviously you know nothing about the hundreds of conversations about hi fi I had with them both over a couple of years and the opinions they expressed to me at the time. I was, along with Trevor's' bro and "Twed", one of the listening panel in the development of the original NEAT Petite in Bob's North Road shop in Darlington, where I rented part of the basement at the time. As neither Trevor nor Bob had any particular love for Naim (my recollection is they neither hated them nor were they fans. They considered them OK-ish but over priced) and were, if anything, rather anti flat earth, (both hated Linn speakers) I can only conclude that they consider it good for business these days to have this alleged association in the same way that Linn speakers with Naim amps had back in the 80's. I would guess that Naim are the top seller by quite a margin in the >£1K UK amplifier market.... 'nough said...
IIRC from when I last visited NEAT's web site they mention having used a wide range of amps in the development of the product and shy away from recommending any amp brand as particularly suitable.
 
Obviously you know nothing about the hundreds of conversations about hi fi I had with them both over a couple of years and the opinions they expressed to me at the time. I was, along with Trevor's' bro and "Twed", one of the listening panel in the development of the original NEAT Petite in Bob's North Road shop in Darlington, where I rented part of the basement at the time. As neither Trevor nor Bob had any particular love for Naim (my recollection is they neither hated them nor were they fans. They considered them OK-ish but over priced) and were, if anything, rather anti flat earth, (both hated Linn speakers) I can only conclude that they consider it good for business these days to have this alleged association in the same way that Linn speakers with Naim amps had back in the 80's. I would guess that Naim are the top seller by quite a margin in the >£1K UK amplifier market.... 'nough said...
IIRC from when I last visited NEAT's web site they mention having used a wide range of amps in the development of the product and shy away from recommending any amp brand as particularly suitable.
What has any of that got to do with the fact that Derek has been using Naim amps for the last nearly 15 years to develop his speaker range?
 
What has any of that got to do with the fact that Derek has been using Naim amps for the last nearly 15 years to develop his speaker range?

OOps just realised that as Trevor (who made the cabinets for NEAT) was around nearly as much as Derek back in the day, I got the brothers names the wrong way round! All mentions of Trevor should be read as Derek and when I mentioned Trevors bro... you get the picture... I got their names the wrong way round to their faces plenty of times as well!:D

Ok I'll humour you... Whether or not he uses Naim exclusively these days (I'm not saying he doesn't... it must be 12 years since I last saw him) is likely to have more to do with commercial pressures than anything else. ie could be good for business to make an association between your speaker range and the leading brand of amplifiers in the price range likely to be used with them. It is of course not impossible that Derek had some epiphany re Naim amps, but during the time I worked with Derek and Bob, up to around when the NEAT Mystique came out IIRC (yes over 25 years ago) neither of them were fans of Naim and whatever up market amps were in the shop (NEAT was also a second hand hi fi shop back then) were used in developing the speakers. I know cos I was there.
As I said, the only time I saw a Naim amp used was a Nait, for a couple of hours, and we were mainly comparing it to a Rotal RA-820BX using a set of Petites.
Hence my conjecture that as he never used to be a fan of them when I was working with him then if he uses them exclusively these days then it is likely for commercial reasons.
 
What has any of that got to do with the fact that Derek has been using Naim amps for the last nearly 15 years to develop his speaker range?

Based on comments above and below I'd say "nothing", other than as an excuse for a pop at Naim by the looks of it.
 
OOps just realised that as Trevor (who made the cabinets for NEAT) was around nearly as much as Derek back in the day, I got the brothers names the wrong way round! All mentions of Trevor should be read as Derek and when I mentioned Trevors bro... you get the picture... I got their names the wrong way round to their faces plenty of times as well!:D

Ok I'll humour you... Whether or not he uses Naim exclusively these days (I'm not saying he doesn't... it must be 12 years since I last saw him) is likely to have more to do with commercial pressures than anything else. ie could be good for business to make an association between your speaker range and the leading brand of amplifiers in the price range likely to be used with them. It is of course not impossible that Derek had some epiphany re Naim amps, but during the time I worked with Derek and Bob, up to around when the NEAT Mystique came out IIRC (yes over 25 years ago) neither of them were fans of Naim and whatever up market amps were in the shop (NEAT was also a second hand hi fi shop back then) were used in developing the speakers. I know cos I was there.
As I said, the only time I saw a Naim amp used was a Nait, for a couple of hours, and we were mainly comparing it to a Rotal RA-820BX using a set of Petites.
Hence my conjecture that as he never used to be a fan of them when I was working with him then if he uses them exclusively these days then it is likely for commercial reasons.

Ok, i know Derek, not well but well enough over the years. I have friends in the industry who own Naim and Kudos dealerships, who know Derek rather well. I have been involved in and been present in events run by both Naim, Kudos as well as the dealerships too. On all these occasions Derek has always discussed his use of Naim amps to develop his speakers, and he openly discusses his use of Naim at home. No big deal really, i could care less what he uses, but Naim he has used for the last 15 years. You probably also know that Derek and another dealer were instrumental in getting Naim to develop an active crossover for his Titan range, which has been in production for a couple of years.
 
Ok, i know Derek, not well but well enough over the years. I have friends in the industry who own Naim and Kudos dealerships, who know Derek rather well. I have been involved in and been present in events run by both Naim, Kudos as well as the dealerships too. On all these occasions Derek has always discussed his use of Naim amps to develop his speakers, and he openly discusses his use of Naim at home. No big deal really, i could care less what he uses, but Naim he has used for the last 15 years. You probably also know that Derek and another dealer were instrumental in getting Naim to develop an active crossover for his Titan range, which has been in production for a couple of years.

I also, ultimately, couldn't care less. My point is that during the 2 years+ I worked with him 5 days a week he expressed no particular love of Naim that I can recall and was anti Linn speakers and flat earth stuff generally.
If when he started Kudos a commercial opportunity from the UK's best selling brand of expensive amps presented itself to a then start up/new-ish NE speaker maker I'm sure he likely would grasp it! last time I saw him (and Twed. I assume he still works with/for Derek and that his bro Trevor is still involved but you may know more than me on that) was at The Farmyard motorbike rally somewhere around 12-15 years ago. We went off for a few beers at the local village Helmsley. He was telling me about the success he'd had with a speaker stand he'd been manufacturing and said he had recently started making speakers and things were going well... The last time I'd seen him before this (Heathrow show about 3 years earlier) he was still working for Bob at Neat so I was gob smacked that he had set up a rival brand! He didn't wish to discuss what had gone on between them when I asked...
I'm also saying that, NEAT and Kudos being generally regarded as similar and related for obvious reasons, NEAT did not use Naim amps at the time of the Petite that made their name, and on their web site they refuse to recommend any specific brand of amplifier in an FAQ section.
 
I also, ultimately, couldn't care less. My point is that during the 2 years+ I worked with him 5 days a week he expressed no particular love of Naim that I can recall and was anti Linn speakers and flat earth stuff generally.
If when he started Kudos a commercial opportunity from the UK's best selling brand of expensive amps presented itself to a then start up/new-ish NE speaker maker I'm sure he likely would grasp it! last time I saw him (and Twed. I assume he still works with/for Derek and that his bro Trevor is still involved but you may know more than me on that) was at The Farmyard motorbike rally somewhere around 12-15 years ago. We went off for a few beers at the local village Helmsley. He was telling me about the success he'd had with a speaker stand he'd been manufacturing and said he had recently started making speakers and things were going well... The last time I'd seen him before this (Heathrow show about 3 years earlier) he was still working for Bob at Neat so I was gob smacked that he had set up a rival brand! He didn't wish to discuss what had gone on between them when I asked...
I'm also saying that, NEAT and Kudos being generally regarded as similar and related for obvious reasons, NEAT did not use Naim amps at the time of the Petite that made their name, and on their web site they refuse to recommend any specific brand of amplifier in an FAQ section.
From the start i stated he uses Naim amps, which was the question posed and the point of the whole thread. You seem to be determined to rattle on about what you guys did 20 years ago, which has nothing to do with the thread, and is not relevant in any way. You also seem to have assumed that Derek uses Naim purely for commercial reasons, yet i think he would have enough money to use what he wants, yet chooses to use Naim at home as well as for work.
 
From the start i stated he uses Naim amps, which was the question posed and the point of the whole thread. You seem to be determined to rattle on about what you guys did 20 years ago, which has nothing to do with the thread, and is not relevant in any way. You also seem to have assumed that Derek uses Naim purely for commercial reasons, yet i think he would have enough money to use what he wants, yet chooses to use Naim at home as well as for work.

Whatever.... I disagree on the likelihood of this but lifes too short to pedantically argue over someone else's opinion of Naim and whether it changed or not all night.
 
Back to topic. How about the kudos Titan 505 and Exposure mono blocks with active crossovers. Read a couple of reviews and watched a video on YouTube. Look to be a very good pairing, not sure if they would have been designed with one another in mind though?
 
Back to topic. How about the kudos Titan 505 and Exposure mono blocks with active crossovers. Read a couple of reviews and watched a video on YouTube. Look to be a very good pairing, not sure if they would have been designed with one another in mind though?

I wonder if any significant amount of amplifiers has been designer with a speaker in mind and vice-versa. You can probaly count them with fingers of a single hand...
 
I wonder if any significant amount of amplifiers has been designer with a speaker in mind and vice-versa. You can probaly count them with fingers of a single hand...

I doubt many will have been designed with a speaker in mind, and how relevant it is that a particular speaker was used in testing etc. is questionable anyway - for a whole variety of reasons.
 


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