NAD Amps ? C270...C272...good amps?

gentlejax

Super Member
I am thinking of getting away from my adcoms and going with better sounding amps. NAD is on my list as well as B&K and Rotel. all of these seem to have used amps within my budget

are the C variants as good as the old ones? I read the C270 @ 150x2 was a really strong amp with headroom which is always good.
 
I had an NAD C372, which is the integrated amp version of the C272, and I really liked it. Lots of headroom and drove a lot of 4 ohm speakers I had much better than anything but my biggest amps. It is a little dark sounding, but not enough to bother me. It was comparable to my Yamaha M40, but the Yammy was more open sounding.
 
Since i'm involved a bit in audio, i had 3 NAD amplifiers. I always used them with high efficiency loudspeakers. My first one was a 3020, connected on a pair of Rogers Studio One. My second one was a NAD 312, connected on a pair of Confluence Solstice. I'm using presently a C356BEE connected on a pair of Cabasse Clipper 312 M2.

I have to say this : The, let's say typical "round" sound of NAD always worked perfectly with such high efficiency loudspeakers, because they can easily become aggressive in the trebble range when connected on amplifiers more "brilliant" in this range, as by example NAIM audio, Musical Fidelity or similar. So, it depends. In my opinion, if you use high efficiency loudspeakers (let's say 90 db/1w/1m or more), it can be very very good. On the other hand, if you use low efficiency loudspeakers, maybe NAD amplifiers could sound a bit "suffocated" or "contained". Of course, this is only my subjective opinion, and we all are different people with different ears. :)
 
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I've never listened to Polk products. B&W could be a good challenger in my opinion. If i'm not wrong, both are floorstanding designed (rear-vented for the B&W), so maybe you'll have to pay a particular attention about their placement in your listening room, in order to avoid excessive bass reflexion. They deserve to be checked, anyway.
 
All Nad amps have a very pleasing and non fatiguing sound. That said if you use them with point source speakers in a large space they will sound a little less than defined. But that will be mostly the problem of the speaker. Hook them up to a pair of Klipsch heritage speakers or JBLs with horn loaded mids and tweeters and you'll be set to enjoy some great sound. I imagine they would work really well with Tannoys big Co-axs. and iimagine Altec and EV speakers would smooth up with a Nad amp where other electronics might make them sound irritable. Nad amps can run a little warm running 4 ohm loads, so additional cooling might be required.
 
I have a C370 of which I only use the power section, so effectively a C270. Hooking up a quality pre-amp to this (I use either a lightspeed or Primare P30) makes a massive difference. The C370 as an integrated is pretty good and deserves all the praise it gets, but the power section is in another league imo. I've moved on to mainly Primare gear but use the NAD setup as a backup / second system. It's good enough that while the Primare is better I don't miss it and would be perfectly happy if I had to go back to the NAD power amp full time.

I recently had my C370 recapped and generally refurbished. The engineer, who obviously gets to see a variety of gear including some pretty nice stuff, started out telling me that I was wasting my money having that much work done on a basic amp. When he'd finished the work, run some tests and listened to it for a while he told me he'd changed his mind completely and was now a big fan.

As has been mentioned it has a lot of grunt and can handle heavy loads. There's test results for 2ohm on that old stereophile review. I'm not sure I'd run it like that long term, but does show the muscle of the thing. I also like the ability to separate the pre and power sections. Is a most versatile amp and thoroughly recommended.

I'll post the engineers test results for mine when I can dig out an electronic copy. The C370/270 is actually rated at 120w into 8ohms, the C372 was 150w iirc, but my C370 put out 150 when tested. NAD do tend to under rate their power figures.

Finally, I'm in england so this might only be over here but: I'm a compulsive ebay lurker and I keep half an eye on second hand values of it. A year or so ago they were going for about £200 but lately I've seen some change hands for closer to £300. If you didn't like it I don't think you'd have a problem getting your money back when reselling.
 
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I went from a NAD C320BEE to the B&K ST2140/Pro 10mc and liked to move to B&K... have since inserted a CJ PV-12 preamp in place of the Pro 10mc and like that combo better yet... looking to move to a tube amp in the near future... had a few different speakers in the system during the changes...
 
C272. Good when it's going. Made in China to an affordable price. Makes it at least affordable but mine's getting fixed -again.

Why is this in 'British Audio' ? Do the Poms own NAD now ?
 
I had the C372 as well, I bought it as a 5 year old. The early versions of the c372, and I guess perhaps the C272 had caps that would occasionally fail and require repairs. Later production runs improved this issue. For mine, the remote died on it. I was not super impressed with it as a C326Bee I bought at the same time had a more open sound with better imaging. I sold the C372 and somehow the shipping travel broke it for the seller. I'd not recommend the '72 series but certainly would the '75 or '76BEE series.
 
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Poms? Bloody cheek!

NAD have always been an interesting company. On the back of their equipment it used to say "NAD Electronics, London/Boston", the equipment was usually made in Japan, Taiwan or China, and their main designer was a Norwegian by the name of Bjørn Erik Edvardsen (hence the BEE designation on some of their products). Now, they are owned by a Canadian company.

Lee.
 
Why is this in 'British Audio' ? Do the Poms own NAD now ?

Wikipedia has this:

"The company was founded in London, England, in 1972 by Dr. Martin L. Borish, an electrical engineer with a PhD in physics.

NAD was acquired by the Danish firm AudioNord in 1991 and subsequently sold in 1999 to the Lenbrook Group of Pickering, Ontario, Canada."

So british roots I guess. I've always thought of them as British. It just feels like they've kept the same philosophy, even through the different owners.
 
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Old thread but glad to see it. I just purchased (waiting on UPS) a nice looking 2004 C270 with a 30 return. I need to find out if the one I just purchased is a later serial # ( I hope) as it seems some of the first production runs had cap issues.
 
I ended up with 2 x C272 bridged. Bloody brilliant after the recap. Sold them on for no loss. New owners were keen to get hold of them and are very happy.

I have a C372 Integrated stashed away in original box. Just in case one of my 2 x 3240s gives up ?
 
I’m thinking that the power sections in NAD are better than the preamp sections. I noticed this a few times in the past, and if I ever get another, I’ll do some comparisons. I actually never did split up the preamp from the amp in my C372. I did it with a 7020 I had and was quite disappointed in the preamp section. Around here, NAD never stays on the shelf long.
 
I’m thinking that the power sections in NAD are better than the preamp sections. I noticed this a few times in the past, and if I ever get another, I’ll do some comparisons. I actually never did split up the preamp from the amp in my C372. I did it with a 7020 I had and was quite disappointed in the preamp section. Around here, NAD never stays on the shelf long.

I know what you mean. I have had a few integrated Nads and sold them. but I do like themand always look at them and think. but since I have plenty of amps now I really just look for a better NAD Pre instead of another integrated
 
This reply is a bit late but may be of use to someone. I have a C272 driving my AR 3a's. It does so effortlessly and sounds great.
I just refurbed a pair of these speakers for a client. Bloody great speakers arent they? I did end up bypassing the old pot completely for the tweeter however, as these tend to drop in output over time.
 
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