I purchased a Naim CD5x last week, and I can honestly say it sounds far better then my Panasonic DVD S29 @ $140 NZ (funny that!). It was the winner over Arcam, Meridian, Cyrus etc.
My system now is:
Naim CD5x CD Player ($4899 NZ) Harman Kardon 970 Int. Amp ($999 NZ) Paradigm Monitor 7 Floorstanding Speakers ($1799)
The source is clearly better then both the intergrated amp, and the floorstanding speakers. Sayin that, I do think these two punch well above their weight.
The Paradigm speakers are very sensitive (94db) and the HK970 amp was 70watts. So no trouble power wise with this combo. I eventually want to get better speakers, so dont want to have to upgrade amp again after the HK970. The new speakers, few yrs down the track maybe proac, image, mission etc and a bit harder to drive.
I heard the Naim Nait 5i ($2500 nz) and it sounded a decent amount better then my amp with my speakers. Its only 50w though... and the Super Nait is $7000 here! Its 80w and probably would drive most speakers....
Here in NZ Plinius (125w) /Exposure 3010 (110w)/Perreaux 200i (200w) are good amps $2000 to $4000. Arcam/Cyrus wouldnt go well with the Naim im guessing?
I also heard the Flatcap 2x with the Naim CD5x and wow huge improvement again! It was $1799 and vert tempting... huge bass improvement.
Iv also considered new speakers but think the Paradigms are ok for now until get a very good pair. They are rated 130w, but say suitable amp rating 15w to 180w.
Its the newest version, the V4. They have the 5.5 inch cones, the older ones were bigger I beleive. But my ones the V4s have the White bass cone, 2x black cones and the Tweeter (4 way).
Don't get too hung up on the power of the Nait5i. It's very capable indeed. Naim's most powerful amplifier is only 140w/ch and costs an obscene amount of money. Since the Paradigms are easy to drive, the Nait would have little problem filling most rooms with them on the end.
The SuperNait is gobsmackingly good but as you say it's heaploads of wonga by comparison.
Well yes the Nait 5i would drive the Paradigms ok, but in the future I wanna upgrade the Paradigms to better speakers. They may be harder to drive, and dont want to have to upgrade amp again.
As the hardest part of sorting a system is getting the room-speakers balance right, or at least it is to me, why not come at the problem from the other end. Look around at the speakers that you think you would want to finish up with and find out what their real requirements are, and buy accordingly. Proac and spendor do some superb speakers that the Nait could drive to room filling levels without breaking sweat.