Never heard of NAD not complying with their warranty. Mostly good reports on their service on this forum.
David everyone has their own preferences with audio gear. My best advice is to talk to a few dealers and tell them what you want the gear to do and do some auditions based on their recommendations.
If you're quite taken with the idea of Focal JmLab, then you should talk to your Focal dealer to see what he suggests to complement them. You should have a demonstration to show you the merits of the system too. But don't get hung up on one brand (or one dealer, short term anyway). It's important to hear the differences you get from different kit. Everyone has a slightly different way of doing things and HiFi design is no different in that respect to any other endeavour.
Still on the look out everywhere I go I find something new.
Now I'm looking at getting a Denon instead mainly due to the fact it will Bi Amp relatively easy. With some B&W speakers.
Even though I wasn't looking at getting a CD player right now I've come across a Bang and Olufsen 9000 (the big six stacker) second hand from a dealer for less than half price.
It's all been checked out and is Ok.
Wasn't planning on getting another B&O, I'm upgrading from an entry level one now. Price is right though and I've always wanted one of those.
Finding it hard to justify spending $AU3200 for essentially a cool looking CD stacker that I will have to juggle remotes to use as it's only a preamp. Freakin thing doesn't even play DVD's.
Sure looks cool though!
Have decided that I probably won't go the Focal's due to the doof doof I listen too. The B&W's look like they will handle it better.
The Denon's way down the track on features also.
Question is though how many times do you use all the features on an Amp really?
Which brings me back to the Bang and Olufsen. As I will need a CD player at some stage and when you price in the cost of a cheap power amp the jump really isn't a long way from the Denon Amp with a matching Denon DVD player.
The B&O 9000 will sell within the next 24 hours I'm sure, and I do have the cash to do it.
Would sure look cool, having 2 B&O's, one in the Lounge room with a smaller version in the Bedroom.
Only problem is I could never justify paying for B&O speakers. I'm fully aware that the majority of money I'd be spending on the B&O would be on Design, rather than function.
I'd essentially be buying a work of art, my kind of art though.
Funny thing is if I buy the B&O I wouldn't be able to afford decent speakers and a Power Amp also. So I wouldn't be able to listen to it for a few months.
My mind says NO clearly on function, price and probably sound but on pure coolness alone my heart says yes.
"BeoSound 9000 is pure poetry in motion. The transparent design lets you watch as the CD mechanism moves quietly and quickly from one disc to another in a graceful example of movement and mechanics."
One of my best friends has that B&O multichanger. It's smooth and sexy to look at. It's great for playing background music. It sucks (as you'd expect from a B&O) at playing involving music.
Also, when you consider how much an iPod costs you and that you can fit around 100 CDs onto an iPod at full lossless quality, what on earth is the point in spending thousands on a work of art that doesn't do its job properly???
Get yourself a nice discreet little system, forget the Denons of this world. Look at (from your part of the world) Plinius or Dynavector (NZ). Have a look at some of the quality brands from Europe or the US like Naim, Cyrus, Arcam, etc. All of them outperform the B&O in music playing ability. None of them look sexy though.
Your current B&O will still look 'cool' in the bedroom and since it's best for background music it'll be right at home...
don't let the $250-$300 price fool you, panasonic SA recievers kick much higher priced butt! they use the same highly acclaimed class D technology as "best in the world" halcro amps and any number of other "giant killing" brands.
mine immediately whalloped the daylights out of both my NAD and onkyo units. it had much more speed and detail than either top to bottom, an especially lush midrange that made female vocals so much more realistic, imaged much more precisely and WIDER than both combined yet with all of it's detail resolution, sounded more relaxed and almost laid back. it was the most extended in the treble, yet sounded less bright than the onkyo.
i bought mine to take the leap to mega bang for the buck magnepan planar speakers as the muffled NAD was out of the question and the onkyo would blow up trying, but it breathed so much life and detail that had been missing into my NHT superzeros that i was finally able to enjoy them without wishing they had more detail.
i'd say get a cheap panny because class D is sooooo much better than class A/B and use all the money you save on better speakers.
magnepan planars are a huge value. they have top to bottom speed that cone speakers several times their price can't match without and boxy resonances (especially of the ported box type)
if you're a bass freak, you might want a sub, but to me, planars kick major bass butt too because NO subwoofer is as fast or detailed. do you want to hear the bass or feel it? that's up to you.
finally, if you did go with maggies, you should look into a behringer DCX2496. then you could bypass the weakest point on maggies (their crossovers), biamp them as it's a digital crossover AND also EQ your system to within +- 0.5db of flat!
that's where i was heading before the panny blew my mind and finally let me say "good enough". ahhh... i do so love a realistic cure for upgraditis!
i still plan on getting a DEQ2496 (don't need the crossover model) to tune what i do have for flatness.
i do so love cheap gear that embarrases much more expensive gear. my little super zeros run imaging circles and midrange speed circles around tubby $10k B&Ws with their huge 6 1/2" midranges and big ported woofers! OK... they dig deeper and extend higher with their metal domes and are probably flatter, but they can't ever image like a tiny speaker can.
i bet kids who were dusting corvettes and tricked camaros with their "lowly tweaked VWs" got the same kind of thrill
look at insecure self loathing sven throwing insults like a little boy in a schoolyard.
"me spent this much money on my gear and me gotta make fun at anyone who don't buy $$$ to compensate for their little thingy."
whatever.
i bet you've never listened to a class-d amp in your life and have no clue what you're even talking about. read reviews about flying mole, halcro, & $30 sonic impacts before you go knocking the tech.
i bet it drives you nuts when kids with souped up VWs dust your $$$ import at the stoplight too.
you don't ALWAYS get what you pay for.
BTW... saying someone is retarded REALLY sounds retarded. can't you use any better adjectives even? your comment says more about you than it does me.
buget mind you are not good buddie with amps like jan ving...you write abot panasong amp not form top of line make not so lodest whatts...i read jan ving nd good buddie nuck write cool abot lodest macintish amps and NADS amps and maerants and aiwa spekers all more whatts...panasong amp not so much...art also write that buget mind no good with amps. jan ving and nuck and art with good buddies all of that guys...buget mind not so much..
class-d IS the best amplifier technology in the world. screw panasonic... read reviews for halcro, flying mole and even $30 (yes! $30!!!!!!!!!) sonic impact amps. class D is the biggest bang for your buck and panasonic is the cheapest way into that technology for serious home listening.
i'm SURE there's gear (most likely class D as well) that sounds better than panasonic... but NOT at the $250 price point!!! no freakin' way! not NAD, not denon, not marantz and definately not freakin' sony!
for ME, my panasonic FINALLY cleared up the low level resolution issues which bugged me so much for so long (3-4 years) with NAD that i switched to onkyo and then went looking for SPEAKERS (read magnepan planars) to resolve that once i had it in my system as a stepping stone to MMGs, i FINALLY felt happy enough with my system and decided not to spend the $550 on MMGs that i was planning on.
i'd rather spend $250 on a panasonic and EVERY bit of savings on it towards better speakers. amps just don't sound as dramatically different as speakers do usually.
my SA-XR cleared my systems sound and imaging up on the level of a SPEAKER SWAP. that's impressive enough for a cheap butt reciever in my book.
bear in mind... SOME people that hate budget gear hate it NOT for the way it sounds, but because it's cheaper than THEIR $$$$ gear and they feel threatened. i wish i had the link, but someone else brought that very point up at audio asylum and i jumped out my chair and cheered as i'd never connected the dots before. i don't try to fool myself. more expensive gear definately can sound better than mine (usually in just one or two categories though) but what i have is satisfying enough unless i win the lottery. i ESPECIALLY like it when my cheap gear spanks big $$$ gear though. there's no way a $1k 6 1/2" B&W ported kevlar woofer can punch as fast as my 4 1/2" sealed paper woofers can... no way! i'll give up extension for clarity every time in the bass.
all i know from experience is that my sa-xr (multichannel) beats both NAD (dedicated stereo) and onkyo in every respect or at least matches them (NAD bass) when playing music. neither brand can touch the midrange clarity. no freakin' way!
if someone else came along with a CHEAPER alternative that sounded even better, i would not attack them, i'd try it out myself. i DO find sonic impact amps intriguing, but i don't have high efficiency speakers for a 15wpc amp.
i HATE distortion. forget all those "big impressive" (distortion heavy) things (euphonics) most people find exciting... i gladly give up stomach vibration etc. in favor of gear that disappears.
then again... some people like the big and loud sound of klipsh gear... i hate it.
