I was planning on selling my NAD equipment to get something else but after trying a whole slew load of gear, I realized I was not far off what most believe is "audiophile quality". I decided on gettin a second 272 and the NAD Pre-Amp to drive my Wharfedale 9.6 speakers with the CD NAD 542. I have everything in bridge mode and I have not yet heard better at this price and even 3 times more!
I tried really hard to like the fancy stuff and I do (NAIM and YBA are the only ones that impressed me) however, you would have to pay a ton more. NAD seems to give me the smooth sound I like. Of course not all would agree with me and that is only normal but we should all pay atention to our ears and not always the price tag. I listened to stuff that was a total of 40000$ that did not impress me at all! I thought I had a hearing problem but it was only good for classical or soft music.
Danman, All I can say is that I have almost the same NAD set up as you do only with different speakers but man, I am so pleased with the sound it produces.
I do not have the money to buy more expensive gear and I am not sure that I would like to do it anyway.
That's why I've always stuck with NAD. They sound better than anything anywhere near their price. The only higher end stuff I would consider would be Bryston or McIntosh. You can't argue with a 20 year transeffable warantee that Bryston has. You also can't argue with the build quality and family heirloom quality that McIntosh has. I'd love to have that kind of money to play around with, but until that day, nothing but NAD
Stu Pitt (entertaining name!) believe me, the reason why Bryston is expensive is partly because of the 20 year warantee.....nothing is free!
Bugs....my question to you is how do you have all of those speakers hooked up to 2 amps in bridge mode? I would like to see your wiring diagram. Would this not put the amp in overload since you would be under 8 ohms? Maybe I misread your equipment bio.
By the way.........those looking for a great new speaker, try the new Wharfedale 9.6. Very impressive for the price. Replaced Axiom M60's with these and was happy to since I found them tiring after 15 minutes and the build quality was not what the website and forum partners led me to believe. They are good but there is better for the same price.
I know it is a little confusing. I actually stole the idea from Art Kyle, He also has a very nice set up, here is what he wrote:
Use the SR5400 (In my case the P.E. 53) as yet another source component hooked up to the video or aux on your pre and to power the center and rears. Leave the SR5400 off completely when listening to 2 channel. I go from the L/R front pre outs on the SR5400 to the video in on my NAD C162 pre. The C162 pre has 2 sets of pre outs. I use 1 set to go to the power amps and the other to go to the sub so that I have use of the sub for both 2 channel and home theater. I have to set the pre amp volume control to a set mark when I calibrate the home theater and return it to that setting every time I listen to it. It's key to remember to turn it back down before returning to 2 channel use or you can blow your fronts. It's a bit of pain but well worth it to me for better 2 channel music performance.
Hope this explains better how I have my speakers hooked up.
ok..........now that is different! My question is are you bridging one speaker for each channel like me? I think this is called vertical bridging. I was told this was the best way to achieve excellent sound.
Man, I have never heard that term, but yes, I am running one amp for each speaker (Fronts only of course). My Front speakers have two sets of binding posts so I am bi-wiring them using the "A" and "B" terminals from the amps. So, is it the same thing?
BTW....I got crazy and got my self a turntable (Vintage Technics SL D2) ....I played an old 45 vinyl and to my surprise it sounded wonderful! I mean a $70.00 turntable and a $2.99 vinyl ! yet, the sound was so good...unreal !
Now, all the vinyls are coming out of the closet !