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Help an old man out

Haven’t posted in a while....have been very happy with my system for the last 11 years and didn’t feel the need to really upgrade til recently.  My setup is all my music (and tidal) on my desktop using a Logitech transporter as a DAC through to a Bel Canto pre 3 into a Bel Canto S300 with Gallo 3.1s for speakers.  My S300 is having issues with the left channel (sound level is down to about 50%) so it is accelerating my hunt for something new.  I have really been interested in the NAD M33, as it seems to have everything I need, including a little extra power for the Gallos...they need a kick in the butt to get moving.  Also considering a couple REL subs (probably 512s) to get the low I am not getting right now.  The Gallos are good and tight, but they don’t reach low enough for that nice chest thump.  Anyway, I am reading a lot about poor build quality with NAD and that is making me second guess the direction I am thinking.  Doesn’t seem like there is anything really equivalent at the 5k price point and as nice as some of the 17k and higher Gryphon stuff looks, I have my wife to answer to.  Sorry for the long post, but 5k is a lot of money and I am not a millionaire—just a dude who wants to kick back and listen to tunes at levels I really shouldn’t.  Also, if you feel the itching desire to jump on here and tell everyone how bad class d sucks, just don’t.  We have all heard it before, and we have all seen your amazing graphs of wisdom etc.  thanks for your help!
ukthunderace

Showing 2 responses by russ69

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,574 posts
 
Very interesting question. The Gallos are known for their good bass response IIRC and a well respected loudspeaker. I don’t think the NAD will take you where you want to go and would be a side step. Class A/B amps are really the kings of good bass control and slam so I would think about a good 200 plus WPC A/B amp. The big power supplies and large capacitors tell you they are designed to store and release power. Also keep you DAC separate, digital designs are still improving so there is no need to tie the two components together. I would just change out your amp and give that a try first. Optimize then think about adding a sub later on.

P.S. Are you using the SA bass amp?
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,574 posts
 
"...Also, I am not using the SA bass amp...I have thought about it in the past, but do not want the fan noise..."

The surface noise on a LP record use to hide the fan noise of amps, when I switched to digital I had to get rid of my old amp, the fan was just too noisy. Good call.
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