Weaker pre/power combo vs. more powerful AV receiver

Maher Ahdab New member Username: Flame_rose Post Number: 1 Registered: Sep-07	Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 18:53 GMT Hi guys. This is my first post here and I'm looking forward to it I have a somewhat theoretical question that will influence my next purchase. My current front speakers are 200 watts at 4 Ohms (90 dB/W) being driven by NAD T753 AV receiver rated at 90 watts into 8 ohms in stereo. Question: Would a Naim pre/power combo rated at 50 watts into 8 Ohms that is 4 ohm stable (100 watts) sound weaker/thinner than the NAD? Will it produce lower volume levels? Any thoughts and advice would be welcome... BTW my cd player is a Naim CD5i
Stu Pitt Gold Member Username: Stu_pitt Irvington, New York USA Post Number: 2089 Registered: May-05	Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 19:11 GMT Maher, That 200 watts @ 4 ohms spec is pretty much meaningless. At 90 dB/watt they're on the efficient side of things. Naim will handle lower impedences and longer durations of them a lot better than NAD will. But that doesn't necessarally mean that the Naim gear will sound better than the NAD gear. If your room is too large and/or you're looking for insanely high sound levels, the NAD may actually sound better (although I doubt it). What Naim gear are you looking into? 122x and 150x? What speakers do you have? Do they list a minimum impedence?
Jan Vigne Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigne Dallas, TX Post Number: 11269 Registered: May-04	Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 20:01 GMT . It may sound needless, but you need to define "weaker and thinner". I assume you have been listening to the NAD run these speakers for some time now. So what do you want to change or improve upon? Is this change for change sake? You seem interested in levels; do you require high volume level? I hope you're not trying to match the watts of your amplifier to the watts of your speakers. Those speaker watts are nonexistent and therefore meaningless. You can safely ignore such specifications and concentrate on getting the best sound possible rather than anything related to watts. So, what don't you like about the NAD? If you say, you like it, I'll be very disappointed that you asked about changing it. That would be chasing your own tail if you alrady like what you own. Maybe you just thought something might sound better. That too would be circular logic of you don't recognize what you don't have in order to go out and find what you want. You must not like something about it or else you woudn't ask about changing it? Right? We need to know what you want, not brand or model, but what type of sound you want that you don't hear now. Not just, "I want good bass and clear highs." Get specific. If it's just more volume that you want, the amplifier is probably not the place to get that. But you knew that aleady, didn't you? .
Maher Ahdab New member Username: Flame_rose Post Number: 2 Registered: Sep-07	Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 20:48 GMT Stu: i'm looking at the 122x/150x. 4ohms is the minimum impedence and they are Jamo D590s (also known as the 7.7s). Jan: You are right, as I've had this speaker/receiver combo for a year now. What I don't like about the sound I'm getting right now is that the bass doesn't have much drive and whenever the volume is turned up a bit the bass looses control. The mids can use a little bit more projection as vocals within a thick musical content sound uninvolving and sometimes harsh.. Nicely recorded albums like Norah Jones, Kenny G and pretty much any "mature" music sounds very nice, but beat driven music lacks energy. I auditioned the same pair I have in my house with an Onkyo stereo integrated amp at the dealer with an onkyo DVD player running a CD and the sound I had heard was much more palpable. That is what I hope to acheive with the proposed upgrade. The reason I am looking at Naim amplifiers is because they are a good match to my naim CD player and because hi-fi products in my area are rather rare. My options are literaly limited to NAD, Onkyo, Naim, Meridean and Cambridge. That is all that is available around me. ThanX
Jan Vigne Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigne Dallas, TX Post Number: 11271 Registered: May-04	Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 23:08 GMT . Have you tried tweaking the system in any way? Specifically, have you tried a particular speaker placement guide? If not, try something like this; http://www.tnt-audio.com/casse/waspe.html Are the speakers sitting on carpet without any spikes? Any room treatments? Anything going on with the amp and CD player as far as stands and isolation components? I suspect the dealer had a better set up than yours at home also. .
Maher Ahdab New member Username: Flame_rose Post Number: 3 Registered: Sep-07	Posted on Saturday, September 15, 2007 - 05:32 GMT I did optimise the placemet of the speakers. For the time being, all components are lying in shelves in a book case, but a dedicated rack shelve is on the way. I'm using Chord interconnects and speaker cables. Speakers are on "capped" spikes. The dealer that carried the jamo speakers isn't of audiophile grade and he had everything just lying around randomly. Speakers were randomly place in the showroom (not a demo room) and the electronics were sitting atop cheap display shelves. Yet, it sounded better! Lol. Thanks for the link.. I'll read it. see if there is anything i can do and I'll let u know.

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