NAD C 275 Bee

+1 on the value of the Vincent!

Great value. Really good amp for the price. I have one for surround speaker duty. Works great.

It is neutral and won’t be musical like McIntosh.

Just saw Audio Advisor has the Vincent SP-331 on sale for $1K. I think its a steal at that price for any amp that does 150wpc@8 ohms and doubles to 300wpc@4 ohm and has tube input stage. Its built very solid and sounds excellent. It drives my MLs with ease.

" I have to defend NAD. I've had several NAD pieces over the years and all have been dependable and sounded great."

I too have and had very reliable NAD pieces but also have read the reliability nightmares from other owners.  I guess with NAD it is just luck of the draw.

Bill

I have to defend NAD. I've had several NAD pieces over the years and all have been dependable and sounded great.

Some good feedback; thanks. Doesn’t sound like the NAD will be a good option. My understanding of this amp was that it really provides the power much above its 150 wpc. PS. My pre-amp is a VTL 2.5, so I get plenty of warmth. I really loved my MC252, but I thought I could try and save some money - I also move every few years and the 100lb amp is a pain. @gochurchgo - any recommendations on amps that ’thrive’ at 4ohms that are affordable? I believe the Mcintosh was 250 at 4 & 8.

I’m not opposed to used in good condition.

...and another thing...

The Sopra's are listed as 8 ohm speakers, but have a minimum of 3.1 ohms impedance.

...or two...

Each NAD setup I've had has had a piece which failed and had to be serviced.  My last NAD setup was their "Masters Series", and the  SACD transport failed and needed to be replaced, the display on the integrated amp went dark.  Before that I had an NAD CD player and receiver, one channel went out on the CD player, the other on the receiver.  Before that I had an NAD receiver and the volume control would dramatically change the channel balance at different volumes.  Too bad, because I really enjoyed the equipment and its sound.  No problems since I switched to McIntosh equipment.

@adman227 Even though Focal lists the Chorus speakers at 8 ohms, assume 4. I used to run a Marantz PM6005 which is 45 watts and it gets my 807v's plenty loud BUT, the impedance curve in the mid bass is too much for the Marantz so its scooped in that region. The Chorus's love power and CURRENT. Get an amp that thrives at 4ohm and you'll be good.

I have an Odyssey Khartgo Extreme now (selling the Marantz which is a nice sounding amp) and its not even close. The Khartago is stable to 2 ohms and it doesn't ask the speakers to do things, it controls them like a hand puppet. I loved the speakers before, they blow my mind now.

I tried this amp as well as a Vincent SP-331 a couple of years ago in my system with both my ML Aerius i and Vandersteen 2Ci speakers and ultimately decided to get/keep the Vincent which I still have. I had them paired with a NAD C165Bee preamp, which I also kept. In my system, The NAD pre and the NAD amp together sounded good but not as musical as the NAD pre paired with the Vincent. I think it has to do with the tube input stage adding the missing warmth. I think a tube preamp in front of that amp will make good music.

You could find a better sounding used amp for about the same money although I have no specific recommendations. I've listened to and owned a few recent NAD pieces and in my opinion they're not special.

I owned several pieces of NAD equipment over the years, up to about five years ago, when I transitioned to PS Audio & McIntosh.  I also have been enjoying a pair of Focal Sopra No2's since they were introduced.

I find that the McIntosh amps are a really good match for the Focal tweeter, especially if they have an autoformer in the output stage.  I have not auditioned the Sopra's with that particular NAD amp, but did hear them driven by the M2, which sounded "fast", but I found fatigue setting in fairly quickly with that combination.

I have a McIntosh C2500 tube preamp and MC452 solid state power amp, and with that combination can listen for hours with no fatigue.

It should work fine but, for not much more money you could get a Rega Brio which has a better transformer and sounds better in my opinion. You'll get a more powerful, musical, golden sound, rather than the NAD's musical, lovely, but slightly dry sound. Good luck!