NAD 2140 or Nakamichi 420, or else?


I have one of each of these, with NAD pre, and NAK PA5 pre to go with them, and will be putting a system back into use after a looong time without. Speakers were ruined so we're shopping for replacements, and leaning towards Para MM, Focal Chorus 706, similar others. Very few of the other speaker brands I see mentioned here in the other forum I've ever heard of, let alone heard, and no dealers even remotely close to me sell them anyway.
My worry is I'll get speakers that sound great with the electronics in the store, get them home and my NAD/NAK pieces don't do them justice. How good or lacking are either of those two amp choices? Willing to locate another of which ever ends up the better choice to run in bridge mode, not a problem. But, will I really need to step up to different electronics to get where my ears want to be? Is the general consensus here that both these amps sound good, or will be severely outclassed by the speakers?
doggitter
Rw and Llanger,
I can't believe you two birdbrains could not read that post! Did you add any information to his question?
I guess it makes you both feel great showing us how smart you are.
You should both get together and read each other WAR AND PEACE all day long!
How about two nitwits for them? Just answer the question instead of showing off how smart you are! This is an audio site not an english class.
Doggitter,

I wouldn't be so worried about the amps being out classed by the speakers. The only issues that you have to worry about is whether there is a synergy between your speakers and your amplification and whether the amps will drive the speakers.

I don't have direct experience with either of the specific amps that you have mentioned, but I have had experience with NAD equipment in general. I've found that, in most cases, NAD amps perform beyond their ratings. It has also been my experience that, although NAD isn't the last word in audio quality, they generally sound very good and get along with most speakers.

Still, keep in mind that your equipment is very old and there have been advances since they were sold. Odds are that more modern equipment is going to sound better. I do, however, believe that this applies more to the pre amps than it does the amps.

I can tell you this. My local high end shop sells Focal speakers, among others, and they regularly audition their stuff to customers using NAD gear.
My posts are as proper English as I know to type it. If you can't read it there isn't anything I can do to help. And it's good enough that if you want to make it a problem I don't care for your help anyway.

Since this original post we(wife and I) did go ahead and get a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's. We listened to Atoms, Mini Monitors, Focal 706V, the new 716's in a period of 2 days and 240 miles round trip.
We started off with the MM's and M7's and were completely blown away by the MM's. Holy WOW! those little things are fantastic for the money and size! We had only 1/2 hour with those before closing so we thought maybe it was just the sizzle factor and the impact the made on us might wear off with time.
The next weekend found us 120 miles away paying attention to the Focals. The 706V's were what I had figured we'd end up with, but there just wasn't anything special I was hearing that made an obvious decision. Being as they were also actually shown in a hallway didn't help either I'm sure. Talk lead us to the 716 on closeout and again, no particular "gotta have them" feelings. They're wonderful speakers in every way that my ears can tell though. We both just like a little more in you face type of sound. These were in a 12x14'ish room and I even I could hear serious acoustics problems there when the volumes came up.
All the time we were listening to the Focals we both were comparing them to the MM's and the MM's were still obviously ahead. And, we both agreed on what we were hearing!!
When we came back to town and listened to the MM's again it did confirm out feelings, and since the M7's are almost exactly the same except better where the MM's are lacking we stepped it up and bought them instead.
There are a couple things I learned that weekend that really made me glad. For one, as we were listening to the Focals Howard was kind enough to swap amps as an A/B comparison. I used to do a LOT of shooting years ago, and way too much without protection. Since then my left ear is definitely weaker in picking up the highs but since I've never had them tested I didn't know how bad it is. Evidently it isn't as bad as I'd thought because the A/B swap showed a huge difference in how laid back sounding one amp was compared to the other.
The other thing I learned is that my hearing can't be too awful when I can hear such sutle differences in the speakers that I am. Good stuff.

So after having the M7's here for a week and playing with them on the home court I'm pleased with the choice we made. There was the initial let down when we fired them up of room acoustic problems, and I think the old cd player is showing why it needs to be upgraded, but we can work out of that. I'm going to try to convince the Manager of the Interior to allow some absorbent wall hangings and decoration items to tone down the reflections that are rampant.
And I'm trying to decide to go with a streamer/DAC
next, or a better cd player for the next purchase. From what I see a DAC with optical or coax inputs will start about $250 for good reviews. Deciding on what price point to aim at with the cd player is a lot more difficult. IDK but am guessing somewhere around the $800-1000 mark might give the sound quality I'd like to aim for. More homework...