Questions about Naim gear (speaker gear)

Hi everyone,

I am going to my Naim dealer tomorrow to audition the following gear:

CDX2, NAP250/300, NAC282/252, ProAc D38.

I was just wondering what I can expect and also whether the NAP300 would provide a significant sound improvement. More importantly, is the NAC282 a good enough front-end for the NAP300 or would it be better to upgrade the front-end to a NAC252? My budget only allows for one upgrade. Does the NAC282 come with the HiCap of NAPSC?

Last question: Has anyone tried using Naim gear with Focal JMLab speakers? I have a particularly liking for the Diva Utopia Be. Will the NAP250 be powerful enough?

Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Jonathan

Thanks for your input.

Preamp even before CD player?

After the audition, I think I'm going to settle for a different rig altogether:

Esoteric X-03, Chord CPA3200 Pre-amp, SPM1200E Power-amp, JMLab Diva Utopia Be

The synergy of this system is so good it's almost untrue. Large orchestra works are reproduced faithfully with a very wide soundstage and with great attention to detail and dynamics.

During yesterday's audition, I also got a chance to try Naim's newest CD player, the CD555. Boy was it good. I mean, I have never experienced such high end audio and this really came as a shock (a good one) to me! I never new CD players could change the sound by that much.

Speaker-wise, I also tried the ProAc D80, which had the deepest bass and widest soundstage out of almost any speaker I had ever tried. Even with its retail price of $13k, it is still worth it. I think that it has a great potential. Unfortunately, they sounded congested during busy passages in the 1812 Overture. I didn't like this congestion. Detail was phenomenal, but the congestion was a no-go. I might attribute this congestion to my relatively short listening distance to the speakers and the relatively small size of the room. The room itself was also home to a dozen other speakers and gear. Hence, the room was not perfect for listening to such a large pair of speakers. My listening environment will be more suitable for the D80, but I'm not comfortable with purchasing a pair of speakers that I cannot be absolutely sure of its performance.