pyroponic Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Apparantly there is some sort of hiss inherent with NAD's newer amplifiers and receivers, unrelated to ground loop inteference. I'm thinking about returning this amplifier and getting the Rotel RMB-1095 (my Klipsch dealer is also a authorized Rotel dealer). Anyways, i'm thinking this would pair up good with the NAD T163 pre/pro? I think my speakers (in the signature) may be capable of handling such a massive amplifer. Could the RMB-1075 possibly be a better choice? Any feedback is appreciated, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 What level of hiss are we talking here? With the efficiency of Klipsch speakers it is really hard to eliminate it all. If you have to be within a foot or so from the speaker to hear it then I think that is normal. The S250 is one of NAD's cleaner sounding amplifiers, you would most liekly be in the same situation with the Rotel. How much gain to you have on the channel levels? More info on the type and level of hiss please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroponic Posted April 8, 2005 Author Share Posted April 8, 2005 I get the hiss if the gain is anything above 50%. I know it's definatly not normal, because it is very noticable (especially during quite passages in music/movies) from my listening position, about 15 feet away. It's very annoying! I'd demo the Rotel first of course to see if it showed any improvement. On ecoustics.com there is countless complaints on specifically the T773 receiver, and to a much less extent, the S250. Also the hiss kicks in slightly if an interconnect is plugged in to the amplifer (not connected to the pre/pro). When hooked up I start getting very noticable levels at -79 DB on the pre/pro, which intensifies as I turn up the volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Since you can demo the Rotel, I guess it is a no brainer then. -79 is pretty much as low as you can turn the T163 and if you are getting noise at the first notch and it gets worse as you turn it up something is amiss. So if no interconnects are connected to the S250 does it hiss? It only starts when you plug an RCA in? Hmmmmm. Interesting. Doesn't sound like a grounding issue, does the amp have a two or three prong plug? Mine is pretty much dead quiet, but I am running vintage DBX Reference amplifiers. No noise between tracks or channels unless your ear is within a few inches of the midrange/tweeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroponic Posted April 8, 2005 Author Share Posted April 8, 2005 Slight hiss with just the amp hooked up to the speakers. I read up a lot about this problem at ecoustics.com, and it appears that the newer model NAD amplifers are replete with noise problems. It's very sad because with the amount of money I spent and the fact that I chose separates over a receiver I feel I should not have to deal with this problem. I am 90% sure it is a problem with the amplifier. Also Saturday Audio told me the amplifer was brand new when I bought it, when it is obviously B-class (they shipped it in a box other than the manufacturer's box), so using the fact that they lied to me I am either going to try to return the amp and keep the pre/pro, dispute it with my credit card company, or sell it on eBay for a small loss. Hopefully they are cooperative with me. I'm going to audition the Rotel amp at the shop before demoing it (since I can't do that this weekend), i'm going to bring my NAD amp there to verify that there is a problem with it and that it's not just my house. Also I live right around the corner from an authorized NAD dealer and i'm going to see if any of their amps/receivers have this "hiss" problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Sounds like you have all your bases covered I hope that everything works out in your favor. I would have been pissed if I got the S250 without its original carton I would have called them right back and made them take it back then. They make no mention that either piece is a B stock item. Even so B stock items should still have the original carton but it would be marked as B stock, perhaps that is why you did not get a box. Pretty shady of them. I just got my Denon 2900, but Ubid sent me a silver one? Arggh. The auction ad made no mention that I might receive a silver one. Their customer service is awesome and they are sending me a black one and I can keep the silver one until it arrives - how cool is that! It is a sonic and visual improvement over the 4800 but not by leaps and bounds but it is better. Best of luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroponic Posted April 8, 2005 Author Share Posted April 8, 2005 Alright, just got back from my dealer and we tried various combinations of the NAD S250, Rotel RMB-1095, NAD T163, and some Rotel receiver at a preamp. BOTH the NAD preamp and amp have major issues, i'm going to try to work it out with Saturday Audio and if they don't want to cooperate i'll go through the credit card comapany. At first the amp not being in a manufacter's box didn't bother me, but now i'm glad that's how it came! Pretty unethical to advertise and tell the customer something is new and then ship them most likely a demo unit or something. I think i'm going to go with the Rotel RMB-1095 and the 1068 preamp, i'll let guys know how this turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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