I'm considering an amp upgrade for the living room HT kit.... Unable to afford uber-high-end HT amps, I'll have to settle for a decent stereo amp to run the mains, and maybe use one of the T973's spare channels to bi-amp the centre channel.
Bear in mind that the T973 is rated 140W x 7, but is also capable of 200W x 2 to the mains when playing in Stereo only... and also bear in mind that I'd ideally like to upgrade to B&W 802's at some point, so it's not necessarily a case of a high end stereo amp having its potential "wasted" on CDM-9NT's
I've got a Luxman M-03B (200wpc) sitting around, which I'd earmarked for the job, but haven't gotten around to integrating it yet... and honestly, I don't know whether it would offer a significant improvement, if any.
Thus, I'm now torn between some of the lovely amps floating around on the forum:
The Bryston 4B SST's would have been my first choice, but sadly, I didn't have the finances at the time.
NAD 208 THX - 250W/ch (275 within spec according to some), dynamic headroom up to 600W, clips at 300W continuous- some proper bang for buck, and should in theory match the T973's sound very well.
Audiolab 8200 Monoblocks - 250W/ch - I'm not familiar with them, but given all the rave reviews and considering how well they hold value, they can't exactly be bad.
Class? CA300 - 300W/ch - probably capable of 350W+ running off a 240V mains feed, as they're apparently notoriously underrated. Once again, I've never heard one in action, but given the reviews on Class? amps, it can't be bad by any stretch of the imagination.
Halcro MC30 - 200W/ch x 3 - while not appreciably more powerful than the T973 in stereo mode, and being Class D by design, it's rated very highly - and also solves the issue around the center channel. That price though... ouch. And it would make 3 channels on the T973 redundant, which is a bit of a waste.
So, let's hear some suggestions or advice - both in terms of these amps pairing well with B&W's, as well fitting in with the sonic character of the NAD T973 when used in surround.
Or should I just go sit down and wait for the feeling to go away?
Thanks in advance... :thumbs:
Bear in mind that the T973 is rated 140W x 7, but is also capable of 200W x 2 to the mains when playing in Stereo only... and also bear in mind that I'd ideally like to upgrade to B&W 802's at some point, so it's not necessarily a case of a high end stereo amp having its potential "wasted" on CDM-9NT's
I've got a Luxman M-03B (200wpc) sitting around, which I'd earmarked for the job, but haven't gotten around to integrating it yet... and honestly, I don't know whether it would offer a significant improvement, if any.
Thus, I'm now torn between some of the lovely amps floating around on the forum:
The Bryston 4B SST's would have been my first choice, but sadly, I didn't have the finances at the time.
NAD 208 THX - 250W/ch (275 within spec according to some), dynamic headroom up to 600W, clips at 300W continuous- some proper bang for buck, and should in theory match the T973's sound very well.
Audiolab 8200 Monoblocks - 250W/ch - I'm not familiar with them, but given all the rave reviews and considering how well they hold value, they can't exactly be bad.
Class? CA300 - 300W/ch - probably capable of 350W+ running off a 240V mains feed, as they're apparently notoriously underrated. Once again, I've never heard one in action, but given the reviews on Class? amps, it can't be bad by any stretch of the imagination.
Halcro MC30 - 200W/ch x 3 - while not appreciably more powerful than the T973 in stereo mode, and being Class D by design, it's rated very highly - and also solves the issue around the center channel. That price though... ouch. And it would make 3 channels on the T973 redundant, which is a bit of a waste.
So, let's hear some suggestions or advice - both in terms of these amps pairing well with B&W's, as well fitting in with the sonic character of the NAD T973 when used in surround.
Or should I just go sit down and wait for the feeling to go away?
Thanks in advance... :thumbs:
