Jag - I've registered and changed my name. The more I thought about it, NADMAN sounded a little perverse, kind of like ASSMAN on Seinfeld.
I don't have any real experience with B&W's other than hearing them in stores. All of the B&W's I have heard sound very good, but that is a matter of taste.
A few questions - How big is your room? How high are the ceilings? What speakers are you running now?
Looking up the specs on the speakers, the only real issue may be sensitivity (how loud they can play at a given amplifier power output) They are rated at 88db, which is neither very efficient nor inefficient. If they are going into a "normal" sized room or small room, then they should be fine. If they are going into a larger room (vaulted ceilings, huge open space, etc) then you may need more power, more efficient speakers, or may consider adding a powered sub woofer if and/or when your budget allows. If your planning on making the paint peel off the walls in an auditorium, you're gonna need more power and bigger speakers. If you want to listen at moderate to louder levels in a normal to smaller room, than you should be fine. The best way to see if they are a good match is to take the 304 to the store where you're buying from (if you're buying from a store). Most reputable dealers won't have any problem with this.
I tried a lot of different speakers on my amp while in college. Any of my friends who were buying speakers used my 304 as a reference to see how good the speakers could sound when they got a litte more money down the road to put toward a better reciever, amp, etc. I've tried bookshelves and towers. Nothing very high end - we were in college - but speakers like Klipsch, Polk, Acoustic Research and JBL (and a few others) all sounded good and the 304 never had any problems. Even inefficient speakers did fine as long as the room wasn't too big, or they weren't asked to play at insane levels. I even used a pair of White Van Speakers for a semester until I had enough money to buy my PSB's. If amp can drive White Van speakers and not blow up in the process, than it can handle just about anything!!!
Jag1021
Unregistered guest
Posted on
again,thanks for the feedback. i truly appreciate the inputs from you. as a newbie, i hate to fall to trap of trying to "keep up with the Joneses". glad that i can rely on you guys for hahaha comfort and stability! cheers!
Power will be higher at 4 ohms. I don't know how much, but enough to say so. Keep in mind that the 35 @ 8 ohms are very under rated. In college my roommate had a 100 watts Kenwood receiver, and my 304 was about 95% as loud as his was before they clipped. The difference was that his went louder after it clipped than mine did. Proof that different companies rate their power output differently.
The 304 should drive the dream makers without any problems. I haven't tried them on mine though, so I can't say first hand. The Totems would probably sound better with a higher powered amp than the 304, but what speaker wouldn't sound just a little bit better with a little more power?
If you need specific specs on the 304, check out nadelectronics.com. In the support section, they have an area of spec sheets for current and most older stuff.
have upgraded already to B&W 600 s3 speakers and they sound very warm and the soundstage is very good. the NAD performed very well to expectations. but got bitten by HT bug and looking to upgrade (again!!!) to a Marantz 4300 receiver.