Right now I have 2 NAD 214 power amps (80 watts) bridged and a NAD C160 Preamp. I am a HUGE fan of NAD. I have a pair of Tannoy Saturn S10's. These are huge....an active 10" bass driver and a 10" midrange with a dual concentric tweeter inside of the midrange. The Tannoys are 6 ohms and since the 214's bridge to 240w into 8 ohms, I'm guessing I'm getting about 275ish into 6 ohms. I am running 2 pairs of Audioquest CV-4 DBS in a double bi-wire configuration. One pair running from the amp to the high and low pass on each speaker as monoblocks. When you bridge the 214, you use the 2 inner positive terminals so at the amp end I am having to run spades and banana's into each post.
Ok, now that I have belabored my setup here is my question.
I want to replace these amps although they sound very good. Prior to this I was using a NAD C370 and 1 of the 214's biamping with the C370 integrated driving the low pass and the 214 running the high pass.
I am thinking about getting (2) C272 amps.
Now what you've been waiting for.....do you think a bridged 275ish power is better or worse than a true 150w (unbridged) from each C272's?
For some reason, in the back of my mind I just can't help but think the 214's bridged are overstreched or not as clean or pure as an unbridged amp....BUT this compared to a C272 going down to 150w is a big step down in power....or is it? Oh by the way, this is all in a dedicated 11'x13' acoustically treated listening room.
Thanks in advance for any advise you can shed. Mark
Thanks for joining, Mark, welcome. I am not Nad knowledgeable per se, but here goes. In theory, the power and quality should not be compromised by bridging. The amps are made to do that easily, and will not complain. The 214 has a slew rate of 60v/us which is good, due to the array of power caps that it uses. I did not find the slew rate for the 272. As well, the 272 uses powerdrive. The 272 is rated at 150 @8ohms, but 220 @4 ohms,unbridged without powerdrive engaged(sounds like Star Trek). The rating with this feature turned on is a steady 150w regardless of speaker load, but current is substantially controlled for lots of power indeed.
I would not sweat the wattage much. Of course you know that a doubling of amp power will net only 3db of volume and 3db is not very much. In fact, unless you listen at high levels a lot, and I hope not, in a treated room that small, you are likely using 50w max.
I'll give you the same thought that I got whan asking about mono's, bi-amping, etc. Try one very good amp wired in stereo for a bit. One 100w Bryston amp, or Krell or the like will really make you rethink your listening.
NAD claims that the 272 triples it's power in bridge mode. Listen to one 272 in stereo, then try a pair. There is a difference in sound, not just when you turn it up.