What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Daverz]

My bass Eq stops about there to. I only EQ my subs, and I've found that I cannot boost any nulls more than 3dB while peaks can be reduced almost indefinetely to yield a subjectively flat response. I guess Vandersteen have come to similar conclusions.

Here's the procedure from the manual:

4. [...] Adjust the volume up or down until two thirds of the tracks read
70dB or higher and one third of the tracks are 70dB or
lower.  This is your reference volume do not adjust
until this entire calibration is complete for both  speakers.

5. Play track one through eleven and adjust each band to
25% of the meter reading noted in step # 4. 
[...]
Note: Do not try to adjust every peak or dip all the way
       to 0 dB.  Our studies have shown  that adjusting all the   
       peak and dips to 0dB can cause a non-musical sound
       with audible equalization effects.  Your left speaker is 
       now properly compensated for the room.

=====
They use an older model Radio Shack SPL meter for this.

[Fëanor]

The "China debate" is quite tiresome. For companies like Krell, NAD, or Thiel, the point is hardly about "maximizing" profits. It's about sheer survival.
...

The "maximizing profits" verus "sheer survival" distinction is overly fine.  In fact it's a continuum.

I'm not buying another NAD, though, because I don't like the sound.

[Coopmv]

The "maximizing profits" verus "sheer survival" distinction is overly fine.  In fact it's a continuum.

I'm not buying another NAD, though, because I don't like the sound.

Is NAD still a Canadian company?  Isn't PSB an NAD's sister company now?  I have had a pair of PSB Image 2B's for almost ten years.  They are nice bookshelf speakers made in Canada.

[71 dB]

What is all this anti NAD talk about? I am a NAD fan.  0:)

[Coopmv]

What is all this anti NAD talk about? I am a NAD fan.  0:)

Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of the old NAD equipments.  I have no experience with the newer NAD, which I do not own.

[jlaurson]

What is all this anti NAD talk about? I am a NAD fan.  0:)

Looks like there's a chink in the reputational armor of NAD.  

An audiophile friend of mine is absolutely delighted with their Masters Series.

But in that price range, I wonder if NAD's usual advantageous price/quality ratio isn't used up...
you can get Marantz and Accuphase products, or a T+A power plant for that price, and those
pieces keep their value on the used markets much better. (For whatever that says about their
[perceived] quality.)

[Coopmv]

No doubt, there is a pricing issue with the NAD Master Series.  If the products were made in Japan or Denmark, at least they can be sold on snob appeal.

[Scarpia]

The "China debate" is quite tiresome. For companies like Krell, NAD, or Thiel, the point is hardly about "maximizing" profits. It's about sheer survival.
If quality controls are not working properly, then of course this is just cause for being irate. But the simplistic assertion of "[several parts] made/assembled in China = crap" does smack of ignorance, if not outright engineering-racism. [Aside, the Burr-Brown DAC chips remains the same, no matter the color of the hands placing it on the platine.]

Though, if the 'Chinese stench' dost offend, there are products in the next higher price category that are still made in England, Denmark, or Kentucky.

The knee-jerk accusations of racism are quite tiresome and smack of an ignoramus.  Many of the old-school NAD products were made in Asia and were assembled by hands of the same color.  The issue is that the PRC is the wild-west of uncontrolled opportunism where intellectual property laws are impossible to enforce.  It is a place were bootleg cars are sold.  (Both Volkswagen and Chevrolet opened Chinese plants, to have the plans stolen and factories set up to manufacture the same cars under different names).   If an amp is going to sell for $3000, I don't see why it must be assembled with 10 cent per hour labor, or in a place where it is difficult to maintain proper oversight and quality control.

[71 dB]

Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of the old NAD equipments.  I have no experience with the newer NAD, which I do not own.

What is old and what is new? My first amplifier was NAD 302 I bought back in 1993. It is still working perfectly. I bougth NAD T762 AV-amplifier in 2003. It is extremely powerful. Awesome precise bass. Sound quality is very good for an AV-amplifier.

[Fëanor]

Is NAD still a Canadian company?  Isn't PSB an NAD's sister company now?  I have had a pair of PSB Image 2B's for almost ten years.  They are nice bookshelf speakers made in Canada.

Yes, both NAD and PSB are owned by Lenbrook Corp., a Canadian company who also distributes other makers' products in Canada and in the U.S.  However most PSB models, like NAD electronics, are now made in China.

[Coopmv]

The knee-jerk accusations of racism are quite tiresome and smack of an ignoramus.  Many of the old-school NAD products were made in Asia and were assembled by hands of the same color.  The issue is that the PRC is the wild-west of uncontrolled opportunism where intellectual property laws are impossible to enforce.  It is a place were bootleg cars are sold.  (Both Volkswagen and Chevrolet opened Chinese plants, to have the plans stolen and factories set up to manufacture the same cars under different names).   If an amp is going to sell for $3000, I don't see why it must be assembled with 10 cent per hour labor, or in a place where it is difficult to maintain proper oversight and quality control.

Scarpia,

Indeed, a number of NAD components I have truly enjoyed over the years were made in Japan (NAD2200 and NAD 1700) and Singapore (NAD 116).  

[Coopmv]

What is old and what is new? My first amplifier was NAD 302 I bought back in 1993. It is still working perfectly. I bougth NAD T762 AV-amplifier in 2003. It is extremely powerful. Awesome precise bass. Sound quality is very good for an AV-amplifier.

The only NAD component I have bought after 2000 was the Danish-made SilverLine S500i CD Player (see photo).  My NAD 116 and 218 THX were bought in 99 while the British-made NAD118 was purchased in 2000 or 2001.

[Coopmv]

Yes, both NAD and PSB are owned by Lenbrook Corp., a Canadian company who also distributes other makers' products in Canada and in the U.S.  However most PSB models, like NAD electronics, are now made in China.

I am quite happy with my Canadian-made PSB's.     

[71 dB]

What I like about NAD is innovations. Recently NAD has been developping digital amplifier technology with Diodes Zetex Semiconductor. The result is M2 stereo amplifier with stunning performance and according to NAD, musical sound that rivals any analog amplifier in the world. Feedback has been a huge problem in digital amplifiers but here these problem have been eliminated with innovative engineering. These advances open doors to possibilities unthinkable in analog amplifiers.

[Coopmv]

What I like about NAD is innovations. Recently NAD has been developping digital amplifier technology with Diodes Zetex Semiconductor. The result is M2 stereo amplifier with stunning performance and according to NAD, musical sound that rivals any analog amplifier in the world. Feedback has been a huge problem in digital amplifiers but here these problem have been eliminated with innovative engineering. These advances open doors to possibilities unthinkable in analog amplifiers.

I think this is what you are referring to.  I will wait a bit before I make the leap for a digital amp.  In fact, I have been thinking about making a great leap backward - to get a tube amp.  Perhaps the Mac 275?

NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier

[71 dB]

The only NAD component I have bought after 2000 was the Danish-made SilverLine S500i CD Player (see photo).  My NAD 116 and 218 THX were bought in 99 while the British-made NAD118 was purchased in 2000 or 2001.

That's hell of a selection!  If I remember right, the S500i CD Player was damn expensive!

[Coopmv]

That's hell of a selection!  If I remember right, the S500i CD Player was damn expensive!

$1600 USD.  It might have been even more expensive in Europe.  It has a great drive system and I just may get an outboard DAC to bolster the SQ.

[71 dB]

$1600! 

I think this is what you are referring to.  I will wait a bit before I make the leap for a digital amp.  In fact, I have been thinking about making a great leap backward - to get a tube amp.  Perhaps the Mac 275?

NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier

Yeah, that's the one.

I'm afraid digital amplifiers will be too expensive for me for 10 years but someday...

I don't get tube amplifiers. When I hear them somewhere I hear more distortion than music.  

[Coopmv]

$1600!  

Yeah, that's the one.

I'm afraid digital amplifiers will be too expensive for me for 10 years but someday...

I don't get tube amplifiers. When I hear them somewhere I hear more distortion than music.  

I will keep my eyes open for digital amps made by other manufacturers.  I will buy NAD again if it shifts some of its manufacturing away from you-know-where but that may be unrealistic.  Yamaha appears to be a pioneer in this technology as it came out with a quite affordable digital amp a few years ago.
AR is supposed to be experimenting with digital amp technology as well.  

Yamaha MX-D1 digital power amplifier  

If Nokia can pump up its share prices in the not too distant future, that is how my digital amp will be paid for ...   

[Valentino]

What's in the M2 is class D, or?

I'm using B&O ICEpower myself. ASP and ASX2. The ASX2 sounds simply wonderful.