Looking for Integrated Amp for Dynaudio 1.3 MkII's


Have read some comments that these speakers need power to deliver their best. Currently I have them hooked up to a NAD C320BEE Integrated Amplifier. Not sure if the NAD has the power to get the most out of the speakers. Any suggestions on an integrated amp that would go well with the 1.3 Mkii's? Is the NAD C320BEE underpowered? Thanks in advance.
tapar1

Showing 2 responses by seakayaker

I would go with the voice of experience -- users with relevant Dynaudio experience, that is -- and there are plenty of Dynaudio fans/loyalists around in the various forums. In other words, don't jump too fast for some reputed "high value" amp proposition that "should" work: check out the candidate(s) with current Dynaudio users. You don't always get the opportunity to tap into the experience of audiophiles who are SOLID, long term users of a particular brand exhibiting some notable consistency in their design perspective and "house sound" over the years; so don't miss the chance to get fixed up with something really special in terms of synergy.

More up my own alley: In reference to Cmo's observation above, I'll just pass along FYI -- nothing from my own experience -- Haden Boardman's conclusion from his review some years back o the Special 25's (which seem to have been given a second life by Dynaudio) in U.K.'s "Hi-Fi World" magazine. He claimed that the Special 25's matched up very well indeed with his own-design TEN watt EL-84 PP Class A integrated! Let's assume he was talking about a modest English parlor room, and that Haden isn't into Techno-pop or Slayer. No, the on-paper spec would not suggest that this could be right; but more than a few approximately 86 dB sensitive speakers have somehow managed to pull off such minor miracles, under the right circumstances. Is the Special 25 an anomaly among compact Dynaudios? Dunno -- just something from the FWIW dept., in consideration of this suggestion: that a well-chosen small PP tube amp with good iron off eBay and PROPERLY refurbed/updated can be just about unassailable in the bang-for-buck rankings playing 80% of what an Audiogoner might care to listen to (n.b. the qualifications). As some proposed SS candidates for typical Dynaudio scenarios above might suggest, finding solid state with some grunt that really convinces overall may be a considerably more costly proposition. Perhaps this will be useful to someone.
Postscript to my comments on the Special 25 and tube amps (as I couldn't seem to edit, having "previewed"): The Class A part may be key to Haden's reported experience with the special 25's. Most of the vintage PP EL-84/7591 amps up there on eBay have a cathodyne, or split-load, phase splitter/driver circuit. This circuit should really NOT be used with anything but Class A biasing of the output tubes for a very straightforward reason: balance between the two drive signals depends absolutely on the plate and the cathode sections of the driver tube seeing EQUAL IMPEDANCES -- this cannot be the case ACROSS THE FULL AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH when one or the other of the output tubes is cutting off! Also, it's possible, though not so probable, that Haden's amp had grid chokes on the output stage, or some other means to dump off any appreciable grid current which can lead to "blocking" in connection with the time constant of the coupling caps in circuit. Pushing a little amp hard is, of course, more likely to make such conditions unpleasantly obvious in the listening.