sputnik Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 For now, I am usng my old trusty NAD 1600 preamp with two bridged Nad 2100 power amps (100 w bridged) into Cornwalls. The preamp and the amps all have volume controls. Right now (and for as long as I've owned them), the amps volume setting is very low (not even 10%) and the preamp volume operates in its mid range (30-60%). Should I change this to let the amps run "wide open" and barely crack the volume on the preamp? When I do this, I can hear a faint hum and source music even with the preamp volume all the way down. Am I missing anything other than amp noise with the amps choked down? Right now I'm looking to upgrade to a good (Krell or Quad so far) ss amp with a good tube preamp. But the smallest of those ss amps run from 100 to 150 wpc. I am thinking that's just too much and might relegate a good preamp to impotency. Should I just go for the bigger amps or are there any recommendations for good clean 40-50 wpc ss amps (or tube amps that don't require alot of fuss and give a strong bass reaponse)? I'm sure that these questions have been beaten to death, but I could not find any specific threads in my search of the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 Have you tried running a single NAD 2100 in stereo, instead of 2 bridged oned? It might have a much lower noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leok Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 Your volume control settings are about what I would suggest, for the following reason. The signal amplitude following the amp's volume control will be the same regardless of your approach, because that determines the final output level. Keeping the preamp on the high side inproves the signal and distortion to noise ratio of the preamp by making better use of the dynamic range of any buffer stage following the preamp volume control. Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnik Posted June 6, 2005 Author Share Posted June 6, 2005 Thanks guys. I've run a single 2100 in stereo and don't really recall any noise. The two bridged amps though are an improvement in sound - more open with fuller bass and there is no audible noise unless I open up the amps all the way. I see that you both use tubes and digital amps. Maybe that's the route I should go. I like my Sonic Impact Tripath on my computer running KSB 1.1s and it sounds great on my Fortes until it clips out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 I have a NAD 2100 bridged in mono for subwoofers. I've tried it unbridged in stereo on my '83 Cornwalls. The NAD has a hard steely almost sibilant kind of sound, with images smeared. It's a rather worn out amp, so maybe thats the case. Although I have re-biased the amp. A old Mitsubishi receiver sounds way more refined on my Cornwalls than the NAD 2100. The NAD 2100 unbridged in stereo with my Cornwalls seems to be too much power anyhow. You can barley eek the volume controls past 2 and the Cornwalls are screaming bloody murder. The 2100 pushes a pair of series wired SVS 16/46's pretty good on the other hand........JMHO.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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