I have been visiting your forum for a while, and found it really informative. I've now decided to stop lurking and seek for precious suggestions regarding the amp/speaker combination in the subject.
Do you think they would be a good match power-wise? From the PSB website,
I read that the speaker RMS input power is (Recommended) 10-150 Watts and (Program) 100 Watts. The speakers have a nominal impedence of 6 ohm.
The NAD C370 is rated at 120W on 8 ohm. I've stumbled upon several threads describing successful pairing of this amp with other similarly spec'd speakers from PSB, Paradigm, Mission and BW.
Still, I was wondering if this NAD would be a bit too much for these T45? Or, did I get the figures wrong? I would listen to the combination mainly at low/moderate volumes and mainly for classical and jazz.
That should make a very good pairing. I paired T55s with a 320BEE. It probably would have needed more power in a larger room, but it worked very well in my smaller room. The 370 and T45s won't have any issues.
Stu, were you satisfied with the dynamics when using your T55+320bee combo? I've been using my T45 for a while with a British-made Arcam Alpha 8 integrated (also rated at 50w/8ohm), and while I found the sound overall balanced and *very* pleasing, I thought the presentation was a bit "flat" and didn't quite convey that feeling of "growing momentum" (please excuse my English, I'm not a native speaker) during symphonies and the likes.
Also I had to keep the volume throttle on the Arcam around 11/12 o'clock at all times - I definitely felt the amp a bit underpowered for the speakers.
I don't listen to classical, and not much jazz either, so I can't say how that would work out. The stuff I listened to that had some good dynamic peaks did pretty well.
If you liked the Arcam but want more power and dynamics, have you considered their current gear or even a generation old gear. It should be a good amount better while still retaining what Arcam does well. There's some dealers selling some refurbished and some generation old new in box Arcam gear on Audiogon with full warranties. Definitely worth a look IMO. I think that gear will be a definite step up from your current amp and the NAD gear.
Hi, thanks for your advice. Just meant to say I found a used C370 in excellent condition and took the plunge. I could not be more satisfied - I feel this amp makes the PSB towers shine: I had previously had the T45 hooked up to the following amps:
-Harman Kardon H/K 6550 - excellent tri-dimensionality, excellent dynamics for a 50W/8ohm, good lean bass - BUT - splashy, bright highs to the point that listening was tiresome and unpleasant on everything but absolutely perfectly recorded cds.
-Arcam Alpha 8 - more "compact" soundstage compared to the HK, looser, fatter bass (which felt a little bit out of control at times), sweeter highs. Overall I would define it as "warmer/slower". Low volume performance quite poor and uninvolving. Dynamics were detectably worse than the HK. In spite of these shortcomings, the Arcam was definitely more pleasing to listen to than the HK though. Long listening session would not be tiresome and cd whose SQ is not "state-of-the-art" would sound quite right. Still, I felt something was lacking, and I felt that my speaker had more potential and could definitely be more entertaining. I'm sure with different, carefully matched speakers this Arcam is a little jewel.
This C370 basically does what I hoped: fuses the best characteristics of the former two amps I had, in such a way that everything "feels right". Incredible fast, lean bass (those double bass notes on my Jazz records have never sounded better), sweet highs, big dynamic range managed effortlessly, terrific when played at low volumes. Very satisfied and I highly recommend the combination to other newbies like me looking for a balanced first set-up. Thank you all for your comments!