Nad T752

[Scalabis]

Hi,

What do you think about this amp?
I’m also considering the Marantz 5300.

Rest of the equipment:

- HK DVD25
- 2 Kef Q5
- 2 Kek Q1
- 1 Kef Q9c

Best regards
Rui Eloy

[michaelab]

I don't know the NAD AV receivers but I have a Marantz SR4200 which is excellent (and not too bad with music either, allthough I have a separate system for stereo :cool: )

My personal preference would be for the Marantz just because most AV receivers aren't that good with music but the Marantz are an exception. The SR5300 has had some pretty good reviews aswell.

btw, if possible I would avoid buying in Portugal - the prices are completely outrageous compared with the UK and the rest of Europe. Eg: I got my SR4200 for £200 (c. €300) in the UK when FNAC here in Lisbon were still trying to sell it for €550 :inferno:

Incidentally, in case you don't already know, there's a little Portuguese forum related to hifi which I (and a couple of other "tugas" here also take part in: http://groups.msn.com/clubedoaudio).

Um abraço,
Michael.

[Rory]

I'd personally look at solely the Yamaha DSPAX640 which is the cheapest av amp sub £400 to have Dolby Digital EX so you can have glorious 6.1 out of Harry Potter, LOtR, Star Wars etc whilst we mere mortals with standard Dolby Digital have to 'suffer' in 5.1. Another excellent feature of the 640 is its ability to output a picture signal in say S-Video, but having inputs in component or composite. Pictures say a thousand words, but i don't have a picture so you're gonna have to work it out. Anyway, its £390 in Black or Silver.
For all the above reasons, dont' go with the NAD or Marantz IMO.

[michaelab]

Is there any point in having a 6.1 capable processor/receiver if you don't have 6.1 speakers? Personally, I'm never going further than my 5.1 speakers.

In any case, the Marantz SR5300 has Dolby Digital EX aswell as, DTS-ES, DTS:Neo 6 and all those 6.1 modes. I think the ability to do format conversion of video is a nice trick but how many people really need it? I (along with probably the majority of AV receiver users) don't use the video features of my receiver at all.

IME the Yamaha receivers are not that hot with 2ch music either. You can get the Marantz in the UK for £360-£400. The NAD is quite a bit more, £550 was the best I could find.

Michael.

[zanash]

I heard some WAD [world audio designs] gear yesterday....their small tube integrated must be arround the same price. Now this is a valve unit and was simply stunning for the cost, it excelled in every way.

Ask bottleneck for the details

[lowrider]

I would also go for the 4300 + an used stereo power for the front speakers, mind you, I never heard the Marantz... :rolleyes:

[MO!]

Originally posted by michaelab
Personally, I'm never going further than my 5.1 speakers.

yeah, ok ;)

Never? Indeed! pah! :MILD:

[Rory]

michael you are indeed correct re: DD EX- the Yamaha does offer something else i negated to mention btw- discrete amplification which i guess means doesn't have to transfer into analogue then back to digital :confused: something like that anyway :SLEEP:

4300 and used power (arcam 8p, rotel rb981,971 etc) sounds like a good plan but the 4300 suffers from s*it loads of backround hiss :(


edited to add that the centre rear is very handy if your rear two surround speakers are far apart and you need somethnig to fill in the space (or do what i did and just shove one in anyway )

[Matt F]

I would have thought that the NAD T752 would be better in stereo than the Marantz 5300 but you really need to listen to both yourself and then decide.

NAD's previous av amps such as the T761 were very highly rated in straight stereo as this review confirms:

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=1879

Matt.

[michaelab]

You're probably right Matt, however, the Nad is quite a bit more expensive than the others mentioned.

btw, wasn't the Nad T761 basically identical to the Arcam AVR200 under the hood? ISTR they were both made by a Far Eastern OEM manufacturer and then Nad and Arcam respectively added a couple of tweaks and put different cases on them :rolleyes:

Michael.