Even the briefest listen will tell you that the Nel Signature is capable of remarkable temporal coherence. Which helps explain why they respond so clearly to precise set up. In order to maximise performance, positioning these speakers involves both placing them in the room and placing them relative to each other. Having placed both speakers, you’ll be rewarded by listening (preferably in mono) to one and then the other. You’ll likely find that one is more comfortable, more energetic and projects better than the other: don’t worry, few rooms are sufficiently symmetrical to achieve identical response. Switch back to stereo on both speakers and work on the position of the lesser sounding one, nudging it very slightly forwards, backwards, in and out. Listen and you’ll hear the sound lock in as the two speakers mesh. Transients will have clarity and snap to leading edges, an added sense of substance behind them. The space within the soundstage and the location of instruments will firm up as the picture gains focus. Most importantly of all, the music will gain a sense of purpose and concentrated energy, presence, immediacy and directness. Finally, check rake angle and attitude all over again and you are good to go. That might seem like a lot of effort to expend on an affordable speaker (at least relatively speaking), but assuming you bought the Nels for a reason, you’ll want to get ALL of the performance you’ve paid for…
That also raises the question of matching amplification. I tried the Nel Signatures with a range of different amps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their modest internal volume and associated low sensitivity, the speakers liked nice, clean power – and plenty of it. That’s not as simple as saying grab the nearest 200W solid-state amp and you are sorted. The character of the amp is as important as the quality. So the speed, clarity and linearity of the 80W, hybrid (solid-state input/tube output) TEAD Linear B mono-blocs was preferred to the ready warmth and weight of the VTL S-200 or the similarly powerful Levinson 585. Likewise, the (admittedly unlikely) combination with the CH Precision A1.5 proved spectacular. When it comes to selecting a matching amp, the emphasis here is on speed, clarity and neutrality – probably in that order.
‘The Width Of A Circle’
When I said that these speakers disappear, I wasn’t exaggerating. I got possibly the clearest and best result that I’ve ever achieved on the LEDR set up tracks, which reflects the Nel’s even dispersion and the absence of diffraction or cross-over related effects. Both height and lateral spread were excellent, confirmed by switching to music. Acoustic boundaries might have been lacking (you need a lot more bandwidth than the Nel can generate in order to reproduce those) but instrumental placement on the soundstage and the extent of the stage itself were both explicitly rendered. Indeed, as soon as you start listening to music in earnest, you appreciate that none of the effort you expended on set up is going to waste.
