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I happened upon this video made by Pedro Diaz, English horn player for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He decided to try a little 40-watt NAD integrated amp with the LRSs and found it to be--to his surprise--"A gift of the GODS!" Probably not the result you'd expect. But he certainly knows what music sounds like, and he seems quite sincere. Just thought it was of interest. Has anyone else tried something like this?
(The video has a long introduction regarding an analogy between the NAD and automobiles. The portion of interest starts around 7:30. Also, he overdubs his original Spanish in English.)
FWIW.
Follow Ups:
NAD class AB amps / receivers use that "power envelope" dual rail power supply commutating topology that they have developed over the years, and it really does work. You end up with an amplifier circuit that can source and sink a decent amount of current when it's asked to. Not continuously, mind you, but you get it "as needed" - which suits music well. You end up with better sound than you thought you'd get given the amp's rated power and cost...The other thing about NAD amps is that their "house sound" errs a little on the side of "darkness" - so their class AB products tend to de-emphasize any "solid state glare" or "tizz" or "harshness" that might be present. All in all they made some good engineering decisions.
The late Wayne Picquet of Quad rebuilding fame told me once that his favorite amp for his Quads was an NAD power amp, I forget which model, but to him it gave the sound he felt showed the qualities of the Quads to best effect without costing an arm and a leg.
I like their industrial design as well. It's right up there next to the stuff Dieter Rams did for Braun. Not everyone likes it, but I think it is great and was ahead of it's time.
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Science doesn't care what you believe.
Edits: 11/17/21 11/17/21 11/17/21
Well, the LRS is a valuable audio tool. It is supposed to entice you to move up, but it does so well, and you can experiment, that it is almost it's own niche
I use a 50w Audiolab 8000a integrated that I bought back in 1992. I've often posted how it seems to click. This combo has left my much beefier BAT separates sitting and wondering what they did wrong. Nothing! But the Audiolab (I think it comes down to simplicty of only having one pair of transistors per channel) is exactly what I am looking for these days -- clarity, accuracy, and I also simply never listen in the 100db range anymore. I simply no longer find it pleasing.
Except for some periodic EVH.
/ optimally proportioned triangles are our friends
I've run both Maggie MMG's and Quad ESL-57's (!) from an old but recapped NAD 3020B.
You wouldn't kick any of them out of the room.
The 3020B would huff and puff when running the MMG, but still was loud enough...-..and on either speaker, the Little NAD sounded sweeter than it had any right to be. Normal amp for MMG is cj MF 2250, but the 3020 didn't embarrass itself.
I still own a 3020A which is original except for the mini 5-way binding posts I installed. For several years I used it to drive Signet speakers for TV audio. Any number of times I was surprised when watching a concert performance and how natural the audio seemed to be.
I suppose it might sound OK with any of the smaller Maggies but I expect 2-3 times the output would be beneficial. Still, that's a tribute to an old design.
Right now it is boxed up but I should probably have it recapped if I ever want to use it again.
"The only cats worth anything are the cats who take chances. Sometimes I play things I never heard myself." Thelonious Monk
I still have 2 NAD 3020 integrated amps. No recap - one doing amp only duty in my son's rig today. I used one with a pair of SMGa. I thought it was great until I got a garage find Crown DC 300A and heard them really open up.
Gsquared
it sounds great until you use a real high current amp - then your jaw will drop
Well 40w for $500 and it sounds that great, I wonder what the bigger brother sounds like-
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