Amplifier help/questions

If my amp plays loud enough to fill my room and is loud enough to my ears, what is the benefit of having a more powerful amp than what is currently being used? What will more watts give me besides louder sound?
I've been using a NAD C320 BEE for 4 or 5 years and have always felt it provides great sound, but I kinda have an itch to upgrade and am not sure it's worth it.
Comments, suggestions? thanks.

 

Well, there's more to an amp's sound than just the volume it can play at.

Try some different amps if possible and see if you can detect any changes / improvements they provide.

 

Ahhh... G.A.S.

You know you will buy something in the end. It is only a question of how long you hold out.

Of course you could be rational...

 

I see you're a drummer and you have some really nice Paradigm Studio 60's, so you should hear a diff in amps in the bass and probably soundstage depth and with.

Try some tubes for some melt in your chair midrange

Any friends near you that have something you could borrow to play with or, just do what I did, buy something on a whim, I got a Kenwood Basic M1D (130 @8ohms, about 240 @4ohms) high current, dirt cheap around $100 cuz folks see the 'Basic' and think it is, trust me it's not....it's a bass monster with my JBL's.

 

Either tubes or an outboard DAC. If you want soundstage depth then an outboard DAC is next.

 

YBNRML? You could arc weld with one of James's babys,, hehe ....

Wardsweb's SAE site is full of goodies

Sorry to go offtopic, SAE's just get me

 

Headroom, Dear Boy.

 

It always seemed to me that the smaller percentage of the total power you use, the better the sound. One time I had a 200 watt Arcam amp driving LaScalas. Probably only ever drew 15-20 watts. Sounded nice and clean, clear. 20 watts to a LaScala is an outdoor block party.

 

A better amp can give you more refined sound. I have an NAD 720BEE receiver. It has the same amp section as the one in your 320BEE (unproven, but I've read that people could not distinguish between the sound of the two). I think it sounds OK, but definitely not as good as my other amp - Onkyo A-9555. The Onkyo lets me hear more of the music. Voices have more texture and so sound more real. It's easier to distinguish the sounds of different instruments. This makes listening more enjoyable.

 

I have just installed 1.2Kw to drive Quad ESL 63's
Total overkill
Headroom prevents clipping
I rarely venture above 90db spl.
Clipping in any stage is a disaster.

 

You need something like a Crown DC 300 to make Ritchie Blackmore appear in your room.

 

THIS, I find, describes what make class-D amps, generally, sound so damned good. My Cary ICE based amp has a positively luminous midrange and treble that's intoxicating.

 

Check out this article that discusses amplifier headroom and clipping:
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/...t_how_just_how_much_amplifier_power_is_needed

 

I had that Onkyo...it used to heat up and shut down on me. With the volume only half-way. :thumbsdn:

Now my Bryston 4BSST doesn't even break a sweat at half-way. It's not a fair comparison because the Bryston is 300wpc and the Onkyo is only 100wpc. However, in my opinion, it's great to have a powerful amp!

 

I have efficient horn loaded Altecs and I was running amps with 100wpc which I figured would be plenty, but when I tried newer amps with 250wpc, I noticed the music was smoother and stayed smooth during loud passages. So the distortion in loud passages wasn't in the music, it was my amps not having enough reserve power.

That's where I hear the difference.

 

I'm surprised to hear this considering class-D generates so little heat and the Onk has plenty of heat-sinking for a class-D design. It's also dynamically rated into 3 ohms so something was wrong somewhere. Maybe a faulty unit.

 

Maybe. But it happened. I sold it off. And the guy didn't come back at me with any complaints...

 

I know the style mc dave likes best HEAVY MTAL must be heard LOUD and his speakers are pretty average JBL's, so I guess that they can kill amps pretty easy. With CLASS D it is even more complictaed to get a design that is as forgiving with strange loads and esp anything that goes under 4 OHM.
(Okay by now newer more pricey UFPD designs like you find in the new PRIMARE i32 amp - http://www.primare.net/ handles those loads and produce lots of current and power : 186 watts at 8 OHM & 386 at 4 OHM, damping factor od 220 ! Stable down to 2 OHM-enough juice to drive a B&W 802D without any problems) - but that amp costs 2.400 Euro.
My PRIMARE 75 & 125 watts class d design from 2006 has that 8 OHM sign on the back near the WBT-speaker binds.

For the amp advice, a NAD 3series amo sounds really good and has sofficient power, if you want something better expect to pay at least 1200 bucks for a VINCENT or any other good amp in that price range. If you want more spend more.
I think excellent amps can be had around the 2500 € range - Bryston B-100, NAD M3, Primare i32 or a Vincent 238 MK!! a NAIM SuperNAIT or a LINN MAJIK-I would be already superb in design sound and build quality.
You will easily hear why these amps sell at their price points.

Anything higher than that is for those with top notch associated gear, source and speakers in the same price range - plus you need racks, cables power supply costing more than a real good amp, to hear their superior sound!

You can of course improve your amp with little helpers DAC, cables, room plavement and damping.
Read some audio magazines and gather informmation then save up a grand or two and start upgrading. Be aware that you will be hooked soon on an expensive drug : High End Audio

 

I guess, lol. I definitely wish I had better speakers. Someday...

 

Not all amplifiers drive speakers the same way. Their output impedance-and the circuits behind that-are different and interact differently with the varying impedance of the speakers. Amplifiers also differ in their distortions and noise floor. Plus, if you have your volume turned up, you may be clipping slightly. Not enough to consciously notice, but gritty the sound up a bit.

But your NAD is probably quite good on all counts. At >100 watts dynamic, you'd need to step up to a >250 W/ch design to really get more headroom.

Changing your SPEAKERS will make a lot more difference than spending big bucks on a huge amp. Your speakers are nice speakers, but of course can always be upgraded. If that doesn't sound appealing*, consider adding a subwoofer. Paradigm makes some very good ones. You'll just have to see how to cut the bass out of the mains, but if you can do that you will effectively gain even more dynamic headroom by removing the bass energy from the amp, and the very low frequency excursion from your speakers.


*it's funny, guys get very obsessed with upgrading disc players and amps and stuff and never change their speakers, even though upgrading that other stuff makes much less difference (I'm not saying NO difference, but let's face it, it's orders of magnitude less than changing speakers). Must be something about changing mechanical hardware that is more appealing...

 

I definitely wanna change my speakers.

 

How about a pair of these? Should crank as loud as you can stand it!

 

Of course! Those are legendary.

But right now, I'm digging the JBL 1400 Arrays. They should be nicer in the highs and midrange but with a little less bass than those monsters.



Another good choice is the Revel Ultima Salon 2s. I like them, but the JBLs have a more muscular sound.

If I had a ton of money, definitely the TADs.

http://tad-labs.com/en/consumer/cr1/

http://tad-labs.com/en/consumer/reference_one/