Hello everyone, recently I changed my speakers to focal 800v (816v front, 806v rear, velo dd10 sub) and I already have a denon AVR3806. Since quality of stereo amps are much better than surrond ones, I'm thinking of adding one stereo amp to my system, there are two points those I need help with:
1.Which one do you think is better matched with my system and speakers? NAD C272,NAD C372,Rotel RB1070,Arcam FMJ A32
2.Since I want to use my denon's preamp port,some sales people told me I'd better use that own brand's preamp since it's matched with the stereo amp of the same brand, what do you think? is it really worth?
I think the sales man is trying to sell you a pre-amp. Power amps are just that, nothing more. What ever is put into them comes out just the same, just at a higher output. There are some differences in design, which mostly deals with durability and efficiency. And yes you can find slight difference on the spec sheets. But for the most part it's, "What's the distortion factor at it's max RMS output". I'm old school, I can't think of any system that I ever had that matched. Teac and Akai tape decks, Pioneer and Sansui for pre/control amps with Marantz for the finals. Sounded good to me. And nothing ever blew--up or sounded bad because it was mismatched equipment.
How are you going to hook your speakors to the AVR and the stereo amp at the same time? You'll have to have two sets of speaker wires, and also you'll have to plug in the source to the stereo amp too. The NAD 272 is a power amp and the 372 is an intergrated amp.