Audio Emporium Newsletter 3-1-2007

Just In! Rotel RB-1072 ICE Power Amp $900, 100w/ch

     If you’ve been following all the audio geek press these days one of the hottest topics is:

To ICE or not to ICE? That is the question.

     ICE is the term used for a Class D (not to be confused with digital!) power amp configuration. The design is extremely low in distortion so it sounds super clean. The amps are lighter than standard AB amps. The amps run much cooler than AB amps.

     Rotel has been much involved in the early going of ICE amps. We’ve had the $2500 RB-1092 (500 w/ch!) for about a year. We’ve sold a bunch and not had a single bad one. It’s no surprise either that the folks buying them- are working them hard! We’ve also had the RMB-1077 for $2500 (100x7) for theater use.

     We dealers have been asking for a more affordable STEREO amp to sell. Not everybody needs/wants or can afford 500 w/ch!

     At last (already?!) it’s here, RB-1072. It has just hit the shelves and our initial reaction is very positive! It sounds very similar to RB-1092. They’ve put two sets of binding posts on the back so it is ready to bi-wire without extra gymnastics.

NAD’s “Little Guys”

     Audio Emporium was NAD’s tenth dealer in the United States way back in 1978. What caught my eye about NAD then was its claim to high current drive from reasonably priced amps and receivers.               Keep in mind the competition was downright wimpy. We had some tough speakers to drive like Maggies and Dahlquists. We were looking for affordable ways to drive them. The mass oriented names couldn’t cut it.

     Enter NAD. NAD put its money in a gutsy power supply and had a few little tricks to make their amps sound stronger than they had any right to. I’ll bet a lot of people reading this right now still have NAD amps or receivers in their systems. I’ve had the same NAD amp in my whole house system since 1991. I’ve never even turned it off!

     NAD eventually came out with some rock of Gibraltar amps. But they started with little guys. The 3020 was the classic $200, 20 w/ch integrated amp that sounded gutsier than the 80 w/ch HK’s of the day. The 3020 went through many variations over the years. I think it might be fair to say NAD wobbled on its path. It wasn’t always straight and narrow. There were models that had more “stuff” on them than we needed. There were renditions with crummy binding posts on the back. Some didn’t have pre-out/main-in.

     All in all, it’s been a fine heritage. But my meandering point is that NAD is absolutely, positively at the top of its affordable two channel game these days!   

C325BEE Integrated Amp $400

     BEE is the designation NAD gives products that have Bjorn Erik Edvarsen’s (NAD’s owner/designer) special stamp of approval. It’s what he feels are his best designs for the money- conspicuously good values. Always look for that BEE suffix!

     The C325BEE is a marvelous integrated! At 50 w/ch it clips at about 200 w/ch! Most other amps out there have to be rated at 150 w/ch to clip at 200. With that in mind you can get some idea of the strength and value you get with this guy. It is has the right stuff for today’s market. For example, it has remote. It has an input ready to accept your mini IPOD cable. It has pre-out/main-in. It has nice binding posts to connect your speakers to. It has five high level input and two complete tape loops.

     The only omission we might whine about is no phono section- but they offer that as an outboard add on for only $129. Given the digital world we’re in I’m fine with this choice. Instead of building in a Mickey Mouse tiny chip phono section they have opted for a clean, quiet PP-2. It supports MM & MC, has outboard supply and nice gold plated jacks. If you’re going to do phono, do it well!

     C325BEE sounds very smooth, very round- not bright or harsh!

C525BEE Single CD Player $300

     As good a deal as C325BEE is, I’d have to say C525BEE is even better! Its ability to give you nuances in musical texture for the price is just ridiculous! Running a C525BEE into its companion integrated gives you a magnificent front end for only $700!

     I have gotten used to the C521BEE, C525BEE’s predecessor. It was nice. But it doesn’t have the detail of C525BEE at the same price tag! As I dig through a library of piano music from the ages, I’m just amazed C525BEE is this good for the money.

     Is it a Rega Apollo? No, but that’s a grand. Is it as good as the Rotel RCD-1072? No, but that’s $700. Is it as good as anything south of the RCD-1072? Yes. That’s the impressive point!

     Here’s a test you can do to hear what I’m talking about. Almost all the big named classical pianists play Steinways. Find a Bach or Beethoven work you like in a modern recording- most likely it was on a Steinway. Then, get a recording by Angela Hewitt. Angela is partial to the Italian built Fazioli piano. She feels it has superior clarity and “luminosity” to anything else available. Revealing CD players like the C525BEE can let us hear the differences among fine pianos!

Speaker Talk: Why the Techno-Babble?

     On our site I spend a lot of time carrying on about various technical speaker issues. Why? Well, for openers, I find it fascinating. Take the mystery out of speaker performance. Since you can’t get very many speakers in the same room under ideal conditions to compare, you have to do something to make an informed decision. My contention is that you can tell a lot of what you need to know about a speaker’s sound from the nuts and bolts that make it up. With about 300 speaker manufacturers out there… you’ll never get a wide array of them in one room to compare. For example…

      Cast drivers. Why settle for less? You don’t have to.

      Cut above cone materials. You no longer have to settle for standard paper or plastic cones.

      You have to shake your head when certain “esoteric” manufactures won’t tell you the drivers they use. They say the source of their drivers doesn’t matter. Yup, made by elves in the forest I guess. They tell you there’s no advantage to Kevlar for example- until they get a good price on Kevlar- then wow, ya gotta have Kevlar!

      The next time you want to do some speaker shopping ask to see where the beef is- what’s under the hood. If they don’t know or won’t show you, you know what you need to know!