Mr Nad
17-02-2012, 17:12
After an interesting day, I've decided to plumb my NAD 302 back into the main system, and reserve the Mini-Ts for secondary systems in the study and bedroom.
The Mini-Ts rock, they really do. But. BUT... but today I witnessed them choking where the NAD sang.
A friend of mine has some home-built TL speakers. The bass units are Kef drivers (can't recall the precise model, but they are about 20 years old), and the tweeters are ribbon tweeters. Anyway, these TLs produce the most phenomenal bass I've ever heard. However, connected to the Mini-T, there was nothing. At first I thought I'd connected them out of phase, but no, there really was absolutely no bass at all. And the treble was lacking.
Connecting up the NAD, and what an amazing difference. Rich bass, crisp treble, clear midrange.
My friend and popped along to a local music shop that also deals with second hand hi-fi. We tested an old NAD 3240PE and the Mini-T wired up to a pair of JBL speakers. Again, the difference was stark. At louder volumes the Mini-T was strident, the bass wasn't as deep. However, it did sound better (to my ears, and the demonstrator's) than the Musical Fidelity Elektra E30/E20 combo.
So, this experience has prompted me to plumb back in my old, faithful NAD.
As I mentioned, the Mini-Ts are great devices that given their price are marvellous. Mine will be put to good use - as another hobby of mine is filmmaking, they'll be used to help me mix the soundtracks. They'll be great with my sons' music making antics too.
The Mini-Ts rock, they really do. But. BUT... but today I witnessed them choking where the NAD sang.
A friend of mine has some home-built TL speakers. The bass units are Kef drivers (can't recall the precise model, but they are about 20 years old), and the tweeters are ribbon tweeters. Anyway, these TLs produce the most phenomenal bass I've ever heard. However, connected to the Mini-T, there was nothing. At first I thought I'd connected them out of phase, but no, there really was absolutely no bass at all. And the treble was lacking.
Connecting up the NAD, and what an amazing difference. Rich bass, crisp treble, clear midrange.
My friend and popped along to a local music shop that also deals with second hand hi-fi. We tested an old NAD 3240PE and the Mini-T wired up to a pair of JBL speakers. Again, the difference was stark. At louder volumes the Mini-T was strident, the bass wasn't as deep. However, it did sound better (to my ears, and the demonstrator's) than the Musical Fidelity Elektra E30/E20 combo.
So, this experience has prompted me to plumb back in my old, faithful NAD.
As I mentioned, the Mini-Ts are great devices that given their price are marvellous. Mine will be put to good use - as another hobby of mine is filmmaking, they'll be used to help me mix the soundtracks. They'll be great with my sons' music making antics too.