Gromit's music centre...

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Originally Posted by JonR

I remember being amazed at some of the low-level information that got picked up during the home dem. If detail and insight is your bag, the A60 will be a no-brainer I should think!

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This tallies exactly with what I've found - the NVA amp also isn't too kind to some duff recordings but tbh I'm not that bothered. On the other hand, its dynamic shading is better than the valve amp, the ability to differentiate between tenuto/legato and stronger, more accented attack is very clear. Speaking in analogies, it's as if the music has been in for a service and all the nuts and bolts have been torqued up properly, but not to the detriment of freedom of expression.

The valve amp definitely majors on tonal clues - on vocals it is superb for example - but the NVA bites back, being more articulate and nimble with much better bass. Plenty of swings and roundabouts here, but simply loads to enjoy from both camps. I may try the P50/A30 combination tomorrow and report back. :)

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Originally Posted by JonR

Thanks - I must admit this is quite a nice looking place. So many forums seem to suffer from aesthetics issues.

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It didn't happen by accident, Jon, so thanks for your comments.

I presume that you've read the Naim mains lead thread? ;)

Marco.

Yup, I have to join in on the "NVA make great amps" theme of this thread.

Thanks to the good services of a certain Richard Dunn I've tried the A30 & A60 stereo power amps and the A80 monoblocks. I am now a very proud A80 owner!

They are simply amazing, and sadly the amps do get noticeably better the further up the range you go.

For those that like internals, here's a pic of the insides of one of my A80 amps that RD sent me during construction .....

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...nalslo-rez.jpg

And at a "mere" £1k a pair, with NVA's 14 day trial scheme, these really are a no-brainer if you are looking for power amps up to £3k or so, imho.

Oh, and RD is a really fine chap to buy from.

Stunning work there, Richard D. :)

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Originally Posted by jandl100

They are simply amazing, and sadly the amps do get noticeably better the further up the range you go.

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I wish you'd stop saying things like that.... :(

Although as you well know I'm measuring up the shelves for the addition of some more black boxes ;)

Anyway Jerry - please put up a thread with some pics of your own gear aswell. Would love to see it :)

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Originally Posted by Gromit

Anyway Jerry - please put up a thread with some pics of your own gear aswell. Would love to see it :)

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Have a look in Page 1 of this thread for a nice viewing of some of my systems ... http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3

This was from before we started individual threads.

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Originally Posted by jandl100

Have a look in Page 1 of this thread for a nice viewing of some of my systems ... http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3

This was from before we started individual threads.

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Maybe I should look a bit harder... :o

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Originally Posted by Gromit

Thanks - I recently took advantage of the NVA 14 day money back trial. I tried the P50sa pre with a pair of A70 mono's which impressed me greatly. Only downer was that the comparison was so close to the Puresound A30 it was almost too close to call - what one amp lost on the swings, the other one gained on the roundabouts as it were. If I'd had the amps for longer than the allowed 14 days I think they may well have overtaken the A30 as they really started to come on song over the last couple of days.

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Just a small point. The 14 days is arbitrary, if you need more you can have more.

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Couple more pics...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...tem22small.jpg

A60...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...tem23small.jpg

Spacedeck...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3.../NAS1small.jpg

What cables are you using with your NVA amps Richard?

I keep looking at NVA equipment on eBay but I'm constantly put off by potential problems of cabling and using a non-passive pre-amp. It says that any cable over 200 picofarads per metre is not advised but I haven't a clue where to find that kind of info about my cables.

My pre now (which is my DAC) has 5v variable output so is very far from a being a passive input in terms of voltage.