Can someone help me with a predicament? I have a home theater that I also use for music. (50/50)
I have front, rear, and center Dynaudio Audience 42s (4 ohm) being driven by a Marantz SR7200 receiver. It's ok for home theater but I feel it lacks the punch and clarity that I hear from other systems while listening to music through my NAD C542 cd player. My upgrade options are:
1) Get a NAD C272 amp (2x150W) and connect the SR7200 front left and right pre-outs to it. This will improve home theater a bit as well.
2) Get a NAD C352 integrated amp (2x80W) and just connect my cd player here. However, I would need to switch speaker wires between music and home theater use (still with SR7200).
3) Sell my SR7200 and just get a NAD T763 receiver. But I'm wondering if music would not be as good as options 1 and 2 above.
Please help, I can't demo the setup and our stores don't have a return or swap policy.
Thank you for the advice. Yes, I guess changing wires would be okay at the beginning, but I'm pretty sure it will bug me later.
I listened to the NAD C352 and it was great but it wasn't a significant improvement from my Marantz SR7200. It could be because I was listening using different speakers since they didn't have Dynaudio's at that store.
And finally, when I asked the store keeper about the NAD T763, he told me to keep my SR7200 because he preferred the sound of that one. This was weird since he gave me an advise which made him lose a sale. He was even willing to let me audition the NAD T763 but I declined since I didn't have much time at the mall.
Does anyone else have experience in differences in sound between a receiver VS a budget stereo amp?
Also, anyone with experience in connecting a stereo (or 3-channel) amplifier to a receiver's pre-outs?
I have NAD 763 and experienced same problem. Purchased NAD C272. WOW. Made a spectacular difference in musical performance. The 763 is excellent for home theater, but did lack punch for CD music. The 272 more than cured that.
I have same problem with SR 5400. for HT it is fine but really drops the ball on music. Matrantz dealer req the Nad C 272 a little pricy for me at this time but will still check out. good luck.let me know how u made out
Hi, I ended up selling my Marantz SR7200 and I got a newer SR5500 and connected a Rotel RMB-1075 to the receiver's pre-outs.
The improvements in sound is almost by 50% (in my estimate) once I added a separate amplifier. The improvement is not in loudness but in clarity, punchiness, dynamics, imaging of the music.