System advice

FOCAL speakers and NAIM electronics are the same company now .

https://www.focalpoweredbynaim.com

No small wonder that your buddy suggested the pairing out of one or more of possible reasons:

-possible EZPZ convenience? Dunno

- possible limited audio brand experience …dunno again…,

, or just plain considerable personal bias simply cuz he likes them! but in total who cares now ?

But to carve out 50% of that bespoke synergy match he enjoys, and arbitrarily stapling it to your speakers and then selling it to you blindly was a gross disservice to you.

TAKEAWAY

Resulting fix = a partial or full system replacement for you that is not insignificant to your wallet drain.

Yes, FOCAL with NAIM make a decent enough pairing IMO,….. but regardless, that duo combo never has and still does not stir my drink FWIW.This hobby is very personal journey with a “like” or “dislike” outcome that no post in this forum can predict for you,

Monitor Audio speakers are fairly dry, analytical, definitely not sweet or warm. (From what I had and heard)

https://speakerchoices.com/

I've owned several speakers(several Wilson Audio, Aerial Acoustics, Dynaudio Devore Audio, Revel, Artemis EOS, and a couple more). I currently own Monitor Audio PL500 II speakers. They are like most decent speakers and can sound dry, analytical, sweet, or warm. It depends on the ancillary components and room acoustics. I tried a DCS Rossini APEX and the sound was unbearably analytical, but with other DACs the sound is sweet or on the slightly warm side. The recording is another variable that has just as much impact on the tonality of my system, as the components..

Thanks to ALL of you for your kind and helpful replies!

Truth be told, for last 2 years I almost stopped listening to the music because of lack of understanding what happened wrong and how to change it. You encouraged me enough to try again. :)

I finally decided to get rid of Naim amp & preamp and come back for a while to an old Arcam amp & preamp. Let's see how it sounds now to my ears. There's another question to ask as I've been thinking about a tubed DAC like Lampizator Baltic, but I have no idea if it will be a good match up with Monitor Audio + Arcam, but I also don't know if Arcam will be replaced with something else... Should I buy Lampi and then try to match up a amp to it or the other way around?

@akg_ca thanks, I'll definitely try some of the amps you mentioned.

@zlone specs of my speakers - https://www.monitoraudio.com/en/support/past-products/platinum-ii/platinum-pl100-ii/#specs

@larryi honestly I didn't know before that many people don't like Naim amps. my problem was I asked for suggestions on.. Naim forum. What possibly could go wrong? :-)

@erik_squires yeah, definitely going off was a mistake. I'm not sure though if Arcam and Monitor Audio are extremely neutral - honestly, it's not what I remember from the past, but XLO cables are considered to be fast and detailed so maybe that made a nice combo? 

@knotscott it's too bright and too cold, even bass sounds harsh. It lacks of sweetness and warmth. Speaker placement is not an issue, I moved to another house and nothing changed :)

Go back to your old system. It was foolish to listen to that salesman's advice! What he wanted you to buy was a waste of your money! He was a predator looking to earn a commission by selling you that more expensive Naim system.