Is my Atom a bad match for my R3 Metas?

[Whiskey the Cat]

Some days back I got the KEF R3 Metas (in indigo!) to replace my 13 year old B&W CM1 bookshelf speakers. Needless to say, the KEFs are a big upgrade in neutrality, and without the screechy highlights I had to avoid before on some tracks. My amplifier is the Naim Atom, which I know doesn’t get much love around here, but I especially like the Naim streamer. (I tried the BlueSound Node but didn’t find I liked using it.). I listen to jazz and small group or solo acoustic classical for the most part and the room is quite small at 10ft x 12 ft, with the speakers across the room on the shorter side.

It may be a case of an improvement in one area uncovering weaknesses in another, but I am wondering if the Atom has enough power to properly drive the R3 Metas. From the testing on this site I see that the KEFs have quite low impedance (3-4 Ohms) over significant parts of the spectrum, while the Atom can produce about 58 Watts into 4 Ohms and less at lower frequencies. When I am listening at moderate to loud volume (40% on the dial) I would assume I am using about 2 Watts nominal. (Is that a fair assumption?). Going up 10 dB for ‘normal’ transients would require 20 Watts, and 20 dB for real peaks would require 200 Watts, which I don’t have. My questions: How important is the amplifier max power? Should I look for an external power amp? What would it sound like if the amp is not reaching the peaks – noticeable distortion, or just lack of ‘drive’?

Keep in mind that I would like to keep a Naim streamer (which unfortunately may take up a fair amount of money if I need to make a change), but I don’t care what the rest of the electronics consists of, as long as it does a good job.

Thanks for any answers.

 

[fpitas]

FWIW:

Naim Uniti Atom Review (Streamer & Amp)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Naim Uniti Atom streamer, DAC and integrated amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $3,799. The overall industry design is attractive and has a high-end look to it. Alas, every part of the unit has an ultra sharp edge from...

www.audiosciencereview.com

If you listen loud, it's possible you're clipping peaks.

 

[Ron Texas]

How big is the room?

 

[Whiskey the Cat]

How big is the room?

As I said: 10 ft by 12 ft (with 9 ft ceiling).

 

[Whiskey the Cat]

FWIW:

Naim Uniti Atom Review (Streamer & Amp)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Naim Uniti Atom streamer, DAC and integrated amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $3,799. The overall industry design is attractive and has a high-end look to it. Alas, every part of the unit has an ultra sharp edge from...

www.audiosciencereview.com

If you listen loud, it's possible you're clipping peaks.

Can you say what “clipping peaks” would sound like? Is there a way to tell?

 

[Ron Texas]

As I said: 10 ft by 12 ft (with 9 ft ceiling).

You probably have enough power already for that size room. I suspect what you believe to be a 2W base power usage is probably a lot less.

 

[fpitas]

Can you say what “clipping peaks” would sound like? Is there a way to tell?

There's a thread where they explore that:

Crest factor - how detectable is it?

On this page there are two samples of music, one with a 20dB crest factor and another of the same piece with the crest factor trimmed by 6bB. The author feels that no one should be able to pass a double blind test comparing the two files. On my system at home I feel I can pretty easily identify...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Although there, the peaks are clipped in an orderly fashion.

 

[DJNX]

Use this:

Crown Audio - Professional Power Amplifiers | English (US)

www.crownaudio.com

Go to the "Amplifier Power Required" section.
I assumed a few things for you: listening distance 7 feet, desired volume 75dB.

Even with a headroom of 20dB, you are still using only 25 watts.
And if you add a sub, you would reduce the wattage even more.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Highly unlikely you will clip that amp in that room and even if you get an amp with double its power, you will only gain an extra 3 db of headroom. If you clip, you will know, and given that the sensitivity for that speaker is 87 db @ 2.83v, you won't need much more than 10-20 watts to get them to play at 96 db at a listening position of 2 meters. 96 db is really loud btw. Playing continuously at that level will generate hearing damage and/or an eviction level event.