Pairing NAD Masters & Harbeth [poss. SHL5+ or 40.2]

Dear OP we are an NAD Masters Dealer and this combo should work great, The over all sound quality of the Masters series is clean, tight, fast articulate. 

The Harbeths tend to be a bit on the warmer side so this combo should be good. 

The real question is why just the NAD gear there is a ton of great gear out there.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ NAD Masters dealer

Thanks to each of you for the responses.  My room is basically 20 x 20 and it carries into a 12 x 24 kitchen area [32' in total sound projection].  Standing at the island you will be facing the speakers.  I don't have a dedicated listening room.  These will be for everyday/extensive use.  

Why the NAD gear? I guess I just like it and haven't spent enough time exploring other options.   For me personally, there's way too much stuff out there, and I've had good luck with there stuff in the past so I went with the best they have.  Usually paired it with top end klipsch which I liked a lot, but now I want something more refined.  Thought B & W would work and not really impressed.  Like my klipsch better.

I like a really rich/warm sound.  I'm not a bright/high tone guy which is what the B & W seem to give me, even more than the Klipsch [Forte 2].  Gets hard to listen to after a while.  Hoping my equipment can achieve that with the Harbeths. 

ps - im a layman so don't make fun of me for my terminology.  lol

Personally If I were looking especailly at the 40.2 I would look at a serious upgrade over the NAD pieces.

The 40.2 were just at the New York show with way, more expensive gear and they sounded surprisingly good. 

I would look at a Naim stack, or a Krell integrated, the Coda CS iB is a stunning integrated amplifer, and the Coda separates are just fantastic.

Then add a good external streamer and dac or a good streamer and you will have a fantastic system.

A real cool integrated amplifier is the Unison Unico 150 a tube/hybrid integrated for $6,500.00 the preamp uses fantastic Russiona 6H30 tubes with a powerful solid state ouput stage. Just stunning.

If you need any guidance we sell a lot of of fantastic lines of electronics that will sound great on the Harbeths. 

It will really come down to a number of factors

Do you want an intergrated amp with a dac/streamer a two piece setup or a dac/preamp amp combo like the Nad which is also two pieces?

What will your sources be analog, digital? TV connection, other?

Do you have a price range that you want to explore good setups would run from $4-6k up to $20k and beyond with the Harbeths.

Would a hybrid tube preamp plus solid state amp be possible? Tubes in a preamp tend to be less expensive and last longer. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I usually at least generally agree with Audiotroy in these forums.  Here, I have to disagree.  The NAD M series gear i’s quite good.  The “best” gear (whatever that means)? No.  But, it’s very clean sounding, environmentally friendly (efficient) and he already has it.  And, it’s fully “worthy” of driving the Harbeths.  If he/she was unhappy with it, or starting from scratch, I can see looking at other gear in addition the NAD.  But, there appears a bias in these forums by many that NAD is somehow less than good.  I find it is better than a lot of gear that might be more expensive.  

My suspicion is that Harbeth will pair nicely with the NAD M series. But, a home audition would be the way to find out for sure.  

My $.02.