Posted in the speaker forum earlier should of posted here. Just purchased a NAD T743 receiver and I'm looking to upgrade some PSB 2b's. Will the Stratus mini's work with the 743 or do I need speakers that require a little less juice. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks
You should have enough power with the 743 to drive almost anything including the PSB's. If you have been happy with PSB then upgrading within their lineup makes sense. If you want to try something else listen to Paradigm's[very similar] or even better Dynaudio. NAD and Dynaudio is a dream combination and virtually impossible to beat IMO.
For what it's worth, my dealer who sold me the 743 highly recommends NHT speakers as a match. I already had KEF speakers so I didn't consider the NHTs but have heard wonderful things about the SB-3s. Let us know how they sound with the 743 if you get them.
if you already have an NAD, then you might want to consider magnepan MMGs. they are $550pr electrostatics that would totally stomp probably any speaker near their price range. NAD recievers can handle the 4 ohm load of maggies.
my next reciever will be an NAD (despite the fact the i like my onkyo's sound better than my NAD in 8 ohm mode) JUST because it would allow me to finally buy maggies which would fry my onkyo.
if you can, give magnepans a listen to see if you like their sound. they aren't the best at imaging, but they are superfast, sound tonally neutral and have NO resonances that make box speakers sound like speakers. they make vocals sound super realistic.
from what i've read, the big difference between different maggies is just that their larger more expensive speakers have more bass, but otherwise sound very similar.
i've been a small acoustic suspension speaker fan for years (i own superzeros now) but the total midrange coherency and speed of maggies has converted me. (i actually like my $200 NHTs better than $1000 B&Ws) i WISH i owned an NAD surround reciever. i don't like their higher than onkyo/denon/yamaha prices, but NAD is needed to run maggies without going broke. you already own one.
try to audition some magnepans if you can. your local dealer won't have MMGs as they're mail order only, but you'll get a taste of planar sound.
I thought long and hard about Mags, however my room layout only allows for small surround satelites. Hence, I thought it would be better to go with a speaker manufacturer that would allow me keep all 5 speakers from the same brand.