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New member Username: 60hertzPost Number: 1 Registered: Feb-19 | Hello ecoustics! Long time reader and previous poster, back after a long break from audio. I'm wondering if anyone has any real-world experience experience with the C 388? The power output seems adequate, but it's hard to judge DAC performance when I can't audition one locally. Along the same lines, what about the Peachtree Nova? They would seem to be pretty close amps both spec and price wise. I currently run Totem Hawks as my main speakers, but I'm also restoring and re-capping some PSB Stratus Minis. Both are known to be notoriously tough to drive speakers, and my Marantz integrated just can't extract the full potential of either speaker. I'd heard very good things about the Blue Circle DAR as well, but it looks like that company is now gone. If there's any other integrated I should audition around $2000 CAD with similar power numbers, feel free to throw in your two cents! |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 18657 Registered: May-04 | . This forum is no longer able to make comparisons between specific products. The membership is down dramatically by comparison to past years. A few members have sadly passed away. Many have given up on the idea of constantly throwing money at hi-fi only to find they still have no idea what they really want from a music reproduction system or how to achieve those ends. Are you intent on using the Totems? Or, the PSB's? (Why are you "re-capping" a recent speaker like the PSB? Surely, the caps cannot be defective in a few short years.) I haven't been able to find a realistic measurement of the Totems. The factory specs them at 6 Ohms nominal. Nominal specs tell you nothing for any audio component but a "six Ohm load" is not a difficult load for any amp. The speakers are a moderately high sensitivity. Do you play your music at high SPL's? What, other than being "notorious", makes you think the Totems are difficult to drive? What problems are you having with the Marantz? Which model amp do you own? . |
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New member Username: 60hertzPost Number: 2 Registered: Feb-19 | I'll try and answer all your questions... I'm intent on using the Totems, they are my main speakers. The PSB's are a side project, I bought them used and got a new pair of tweeters sent out to replace the lightly damaged original units. The Stratus are pushing 20 years old now, so the electrolytic caps are showing a bit of swelling on the tweeter XO board. Personally, I don't like NPE's at all, and use them only as a cost saving measure in cheap DIY projects. The Hawks don't look that difficult to drive (on paper), but they crave power to precisely control the little Revelator woofers. They are quite nice sounding with a modest amp, but once you hear them driven by an amp with some real power/current on tap, you realize what you've been missing (in my case, a Devialet amplifier). Both the Totem and the PSB speakers were rated at 86dB sensitivity, but I believe Totem now lists the Hawk at 88dB. I don't drive my speakers at extra high volumes, but I like to have lots of power headroom. I'm currently running a Japanese import (100V) PM5004 integrated, pushing out a massive 35W X 2. It's fed analog signal by an older Cambridge DACMagic. The Marantz was enough to handle my old monitor audio RS6's with their 91dB sensitivity in a smallish room, but it's never done justice to the Hawks. I'm not into psychoacoustics or snake oil, if I can find a reasonably priced amp that drives most any speaker without issue, and has the added benefit of a decent internal DAC to simplify my system by one more box, I'm all for it. I don't pretend to be a golden-eared audiophile (though I certainly do have a decent musical ear), and I strongly believe in the point of diminishing returns...which I believe to be somewhere around $2000-2500 in the integrated amp market. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 18658 Registered: May-04 | . If you've placed the quantifying value of combining the integrated amp and the DAC in one box, then your choices narrow rapidly. If you wish to have an integrated amp with high power and a DAC, then your choices narrow even further. I assume you know that much. Keeping it all under (or around) $2k makes things more difficult indeed. If you have been impressed with the Diavlet, buy one of their amps and place a DAC in front of it. I have zero experience with the line and I am always a bit skeptical of any line that promises extremely high wattage at less than McIntosh prices. But, if you think the line is worth spending money on, you would still have enough left over for a very decent DAC that would not fix your digital section in time. While I am very much of the mind that garbage in equals garbage out, I can see a DAC such as the Audioquest Dragonfly Red - with the Audioquest Jitter Bug in line - being more than good enough for most listeners. The very compact combination comes at a price that leaves you the ability to upgrade over time as DAC's continue to improve. You wouldn't feel bad about exchanging a less than $200 DAC or simply moving it to another system. If you feel power is your most important value, you've then freed yourself up to look at a broader selection of amplifiers by going that route. Otherwise, if the choice is between the Peachtree and the NAD, personally I'd take the Peachtree. The Nova300 https://www.musicdirect.com/integrated-amp/peachtree-nova300-gloss-ebony-mocha should do well in your system. To be sure, I have no experience with the NAD C 388. The local NAD dealer doesn't show it and I'm not inclined to ask for an audition just for grins and the ability to say I listened. I have to assume the 388 adheres to the typical NAD presentation. For my tastes, the Peachtree will run rings around the typical NAD house sound. There are, of course, NAD devotees who swear the line is better than I think it is. IMO the Peachtree DAC's are excellent products for the money spent and, if you are going to decide to live with a DAC for several years, the Peachtree designs would be a safe bet to remain competitive in, say, a decade. . |
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New member Username: AvamartinPost Number: 1 Registered: Jul-19 | Hi....I had a NAD T748 AVR, which is AB. Used only as a stereo amp. Just upgraded to a C388. At lower volume they sound very much the same to me, maybe a little quieter background on the C388. A higher volumes the C388 sound cleaner, with better control of the bass. May have something to do with the 2x80W vs 2x150W. |