Finally gone separates - And it's a good thing! (1 Viewer)

[Leo]

Well I finally completed the puzzle (not really a difficult decision) and after owning the T163 for almost 2 months have added the T973 by NAD. The combo is wonderful. Plenty of power, great processing, flexible, heavy (T973 came with a lifting strap thank goodness), simple to setup and use.

I was able to give it ample (close to 2") clearance above due to the adjustability of the Salamander Archetype 5.0 rack. Set up was easy and NAD manual actually recommended a connection pattern to aid with proper heat dissipation. I'm only using 5.1 with 2 connections when future software warrants it (I even had the room pre-wired to support the extra speaker connections). 12V triggering works as expected. There are 3 nice size fans on the bottom for air flow and heat dissipation.

As for sound - I see why everyone that goes separates never goes back. The MA500 by Marantz that I originally had were nice, but the 5 power cords were a disadvantage for me wire management-wise for me. But using the T973 Power amp is fantastic. The combo's speed and dynamic power are excellent. Everything had more oomph. Playing the battle sequence in the opening of Gladiator had my jeans pant leg wavering due to the impact from the concussive explosions.

I'll spend this weekend playing more movies, testing to see if the fans get noisy and how much heat the amp generates after going for extended periods. I'm using this setup to drive the PSB Image 4T's, 8C and 1B's.

Long live separates!

New Separates

 

[DanaA]

Yes, congratulations on your purchase and long live separates. Glad you're enjoying you NAD gear. I've heard some great things about their sound quality.

 

[Tim Hoover]

Many congrats....now get outta here and go enjoy your new gear!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Those NAD boxes look really nice cosmetically.

 

[Paul.S]

Nice.

Is it just me not paying wide enough attention, or has it become more difficult/expensive during the DVD era (compared to, say, 10-15 years ago when companies like Yamaha made more separate components) to go the separates route? It seems to me that many manufacturers that used to make both upper middle-of-the-road and high end separates have abandoned the former and instead have brought increasingly complex receivers to market.

Without spending Lexicon-level coin, it seems like there is a paucity of dedicated, flexible preamps out there--Sherwood, Outlaw . . .??

-p