NAD 2200 Power Envelope

Plan on replacing some electrolytics, unless previously addressed.

You might want to read this.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/two-nad-2200-bridged-amps-w-6-ohm-speakers-ok

I have not checked the specs on your 8’s but I’d guess they’re power hungry like my 7B’s. How does the 2200 compare to amps of today? I had a NAD 2600A when that amp first came out and it was a decent amp for the money, but after I started to modify it and really seeing how it was built I wish I would have just bought an Adcom. Guess my point is, if I was looking for an older amp from that era I’d look elsewhere like find an Aragon 4004 or a McCormack DNA 1.0 which would be a lot better of an amp. Something newer like a Parasound A21 will probably walk all over those NAD’s. If you’re looking at something real affordable from that era I’d look into Adcom which truly are better amps, a lot easier to service and something that can be easily modified. An Adcom GFA 555 will probably drive your Aerial’s just fine as far as raw power and current. Easy amp to modify too. Look inside a NAD amp and you’ll see very busy and cheap parts.
What are you using now and why the interest in these amps?

I had the 2200 amp, the earlier version without the “PE” on the faceplate. The owners manual talked about the whole “Power Envelope” circuitry which was supposed to make the amp much more powerful during transients, etc... The copy sounded convincing to my unsophisticated self, but now that I think of it, I don’t know if they addressed the amps ability (or lack of ability) to drive lower impedance loudspeakers. 

I just know know that when I hooked my 2200 up to my used set of Thiel CS3.6 loudspeakers, the sound quality was harsh and fatiguing. And this was after I sent the amp to have an “audiophile upgrade” where a person replaced a bunch of capacitors. The other issue with these big NAD 2200’s, at least it was for me is transformer hum. Mine was vibrating so loudly, I could no longer enjoy quiet passages in my music. I asked around at stereo repair shops and also checked with NAD and it turns out that the transformer (power supply) for that amp was a proprietary design that housed 3 different power supplies within it and could not be rebuilt with off the shelf parts. And NAD stopped making parts for this over 30 years ago! 

So, not knowing what type of impendence load a set of Aeriel Acoustics speakers require, I would tend to agree with the advice from the others who say - move on to something else”. 

In hindsight, with the 2200 I had an amp that played really loud but even when new it made for a fatiguing listening experience.

You cannot make up with power what was never there in the first place with quality. In the words of the great Robert Harley, If the first watt isn't any good why would you want 200 more of them?

But then I have never understood why anyone sees any value in speakers that require that kind of power in the first place. So buy more. Strap them all together. When you get to megawatts surely the sound will be to die for. If it doesn't kill you in the process.