The Naim kit mentioned above will do very nicely, but let me offer a suggestion based on an experience I had quite early in the life of my business.
Neat was the very first brand I took on when I moved my business from selling secondhand Naim equipment to selling brand new equipment from a variety of manufacturers. Not long after that I became an
Exposure retailer.
When my initial order of demo stock arrived from Exposure, I set about trying out all of the different amplifiers in their various possible combinations. I tried a few different speakers, but amongst them were a pair of Neat Ultimatum XLS and a pair of Ultimatum XL10s. Also in the demo room at the time was a three box Naim pre/power set comprising a NAC 282, HiCap DR and NAP 250 DR. I used this as a sort of reference to compare with other equipment coming through the door.
At that time, the top Exposure amplifier after the limited run MCX system was a three box set comprising the 3010S2D preamp and a pair of 3010S2 mono power amps. When it came to comparing them side-by-side with the Naim set, I was very impressed. Although they sounded somewhat different from one another, I found it hard to pick a preference between them, despite the much higher price tag of the Naim set. That was until I plugged them both into the XL10s, when the Exposure set seemed to leave the Naim set behind.
I am not sure how to account for the difference. The XL10 is a rather unusual design with nine drivers per side, which probably adds up to a rather complex impedance curve. Perhaps it was the power advantage of the Exposure set or perhaps there was some other factor in play.
If I was to repeat this experiment today, I would use the
5010 preamp and
5010 mono power amps, and I would expect the gap to be even wider. You might like to consider adding these and the
3510 preamp and
3510 mono power amps (successors to the 3010S2D and 3010S2) to your audition list.
