Hi, I was thinking about buying B&W dm603 s3 speakers to match them with my NAD 320bee amp. Is the 320bee powerfull enough to drive the 603's? Anyone having experiences with this combination or the 603's in general?
It should be ok, but it is always preferable to run amps with more power than the speakers, so the amps wont be driven to their limits (they start loosing control on the power they deliver and start generating peaks that usually blow the speakers, starting in the tweeters). If you try to get the most out of a speaker with a more powerfull amp, the distortion generated by a speaker reaching its limits is very noticeable, and you only blow the speakers if you want. The amp will run cooler and more in control of things. One thing you must pay attention, the speakers's impedance and sensitivity.
So what you're saying is that it should be okay as long as I don't drive the NAD C320bee at (almost) maximum sound levels. So if I drive him continuously in the range 0-70% of his power for example it is not a problem? My room is approx 36 square metres by the way and I don't intend to use the set in a much bigger environment than that.
If it would be wiser to change, one of the options is changing the 320bee for the NAD 352 but is this really necesarry and a better choice? The 320bee has minimum continuous power of 50W and IHF dynamic power of 110W into 8 ohm. The NAD 352 has a continuous power of 80W and IHF dynamic power of 115W into 8 ohm.
The impedance of the B&W 603's is 8 ohm and the sensitivity is 90dB. I looked at the KEF Q5 (which is in the same price categorie). The KEF Q5 has the same impedance and the sensitivity is just a tiny bit better at 91dB. But I liked the sound of the B&W 603 a bit better so I don't think there is much of a point there. My dealer doesn't stock the Energy speakers so I can't compare with those.
If you like the B&W better, go for it, but the question remains: How strong are they? If they are 100W or upper (RMS power, not peak), the 352 won't do. The 320 is good for a 40W set of speakers and the 352 is good for a 60-70W set. You can get a badly recorded media and blow the tweeters at less than 50%. If you want to be safe, always drive a set of speakers 10-20W weaker than the amp. This, of course, is a philosofy as any other. I drive my 175W RMS KEF Q70 with a 200W RMS power amp from Rotel, and enjoy the sound up to 87-93% (believe me, that's A LOT). One thing I consider a way of measuring quality, is: your set of amp/speakers will do until you have the feeling it's too loud; when you reach this point, usually the system is entering noticeable distortion area, because one of its components is getting stressed! An opinion, of course! Enjoy
Can't find any info on the RMS of the B&W 603's. On the B&W site it says 20-150W handling power at 8 ohm.
Although I think that always driving a set of speakers 10-20W weaker than the amp is really on the save side. I get your point that trying to drive the 603's with the c320bee is too much of a risk. And I definitely don't want to blow the speakers, which would be really costly!!!
So I think I'll have to search for a more modest speaker like the B&W dm602 s3 (20-80w power handling) which is often mentioned as a nice combination with the c320bee. Should be ok I guess because I think you underestimate the 320 if you say it's good for a 40W set of speakers. The specification of the 320 says Minimum continous power is 50W and NAD is usually really cautious with their ratings as far as I've read.
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it a lot!
oh btw... is it 'done' to cross-post this message in the speaker message board as well? cause it's as much as a speaker question as an amp question. For readers that read only one messageboard, so I get some more comments on this.
I think it's ok to post a thread with amp-speakers issues, after all you need help on the amp combination, but I'm not moderator or anything like. Enjoy
Doing some more searching I also read posts of people who match the NAD c320bee with the highly praised Quad 11L bookshelve speakers or the Dynaudio 42 bookshelve speakers.
But if I compare the stats of the Quad 11L (Recommended Maximum Amplifier power, normal impedance 6 ohm, sensitivity 86dB)
or the Dynaudio 42 (IEC long term handling power 150W, impedance 4 ohm, sensitivity 86dB)
with the B&W 603 floorstanders (Power handling 20-150W, impedance 8 ohm, sensitivity 90dB) I would say the B&W 603 is much easier to drive for the c320bee than the Quad 11L or the Dynaudio 42.
btw can't find any RMS figures
Arrrrrgggggghhhh.....all those different opinions :-), what should I do
I decided I'm going for another listening session to test the c352 as well.
My dealer thinks I don't need to upgrade the c320bee to the c352 for the extra power (he says the difference is very little) to drive the B&W 603's.
He thinks the NAD c320bee should be enough power if you take the powerdrive and soft clipping into account. As long as I don't go crazy and drive the amp past 11 o'clock.
(I also called another store of the same chain and the people there advised me to go for the c352 haha...arrgghh)
I have the dyna 42 + NAD C320BEE combo for a few months now and I never have to crank out the volume to let my speaker sings - in fact, the amp has plenty of power.
For moderate listening volume, I will never pass 9 o'clock. Now that after setting my sound card to full volume, I will never be able to turn above 8 o'clock or I will receive complain from my neighbours.
Edward, my room is approx 36 square metres. Looking at the specs of the Dynaudio 42 (see my earlier message) I would say that bookshelve speaker is harder to drive than the B&W 603 floorstanders. So in that case I won't have a problem with the c320bee.
Joao, it was the dealers idea to do another listening session and to compare the c320bee with the c352. If he says he thinks the c320bee has enough power (and the c352 has just a little bit more) that sounds like an honest advice cause otherwise he would just recommend the most expensive amp (the c352).
But I think it's a wise idea to give it another test. This time I'll also turn the volume 'wide' open for a little while, something I did not do on my first listening session.
i think it's fine to stick with the 320BEE... it may be more expensive but it's the amount of money you spent that cares. My personal opinion would that if the amp is capable of providing the power and you like the sound, why bother spending more for a lower markup amp (the c352). You could well spend the extra money on something else.