Nad 917

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Dont worry! No review here......

All I can say is - My Sub really DOES** suck. I NEED** a SVS. Desperately. All these preamps just make it look bad.

Another thing is, Analog volume knob. First one for me and it VERY hard for me to find a spot on it I like as all CD's are different. I have already put my amps in protection (shut off and come back on) several times because of this. So I have to adjust to this. Overall, I like this preamp.

Listening to several songs, its full, huge soundstage, and clear.

First impressions of course. YES! This is 2 channel stereo and YES! I DO** like it, and YES! I doubt my opinions will change. There is NO gap, and my sub is just getting plain shamed in these venues! It just can NOT keep up with my speakers.

Oh well, I'll post pics......when I get a camera.....

BTW - NAD gear looks MUCH better in real life than by picture...FWIW

- Sid, The forever changing Opinion Maker! ;)

[hoosier21]

NAD makes good stuff, I am not suprised you like it.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Yeah, First NAD piece and a great first impression.

One question though......

Where is this Laid Back Sound I have heard so much about? lol

Very open, clear, detailed sounding preamp. Nothing laid back about it, very involving if you ask me.

Another thing I don't like about it; is it's so clean on the top end. It just destroys bad quality CDs. I mean you wanna talk about a left hook, this one swings hard. NAD obviously knew this, and supplied a sibilance filter, which only dampens it basically.

Maybe when I order the Denon DCM-280 this will even more dampen the highs. So far I have bright amps, bright speakers, and a *laid back, involving* preamp mixed with a bright CD Player. I'm on the bright side of the mountain at the moment. Gotta get some dead head rift gear in the chain!

[tonyv1]

Get an inexpensive tube preamp and that will soften the brightness and edginess you're hearing. Check out the Foreplay Line Stage (http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/foreplay/foreplay_line_stage_kit.htm) kit for $149.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Its not really an unpleasant brightness......lol - Just a tad to bright for my taste. I can't sink more money in another preamp, which would totally take away the point of having this NAD.....lol

Thanks for the suggestion though! If I get anything tube, it'll be a DAC for my future cd player! lol

[steveinaz]

You're going to find that the finer your equipment gets, the worse your medicore CD's will sound--its a strange paradox, but true.

So what do we do as audiophiles? I don't know--but one approach that I take is to ensure my preamp still has tone controls. I know the audio "zealots" will beat me up for that, but to hell with them, it allows me to shape the sound a bit on bad recordings, and I can enagage the bypass switch for the well recorded audio. I like having that flexibility. I'll always keep a preamp with tone controls until recording engineers learn how to do their job--and I don't think that's coming anytime soon.

[F1nut]

Well, the better your gear gets the more you hear the short comings of your source. Tone controls are fine if that's what you want to do, but the real answer is to upgrade the source. You'll know when you're there because you won't need tone controls anymore.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Jesse,
Granted the better the source - the more it will pick apart the poor quality CDs. I would think. I am upgrading my source.....that reminds me I gotta PM a member.....lol

[F1nut]

No, what I said was the better the source the better poor quality CD's will sound. I see you're planning to add a tube DAC, that should help a poorly recorded CD sound much better.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Oh I know.......

I believe right now this Yamaha CD player has a 1bit DAC??

The Denon im upgrading to has a 18bit dac.

Some rock recordings are so far off..........

not even a 10,000 dollar cd player with the smoothest tube DAC could make it sound sweet.....lol

[F1nut]

Wanna bet??? :D

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

10,000? Up front? + Dac price? ;)

It might......................

but at the point of paying that much $$$$$$$$, I think i'll just put it on a red pillow and leave it a fresh beer beside it each day and write CD Player God on it?????

[F1nut]

Sid,

You can get great playback on badly recorded CD's for less than 10K + DAC, actually less than 10K w/o a DAC.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

I know.......

lol

I think the Denon with its dead highs trait can calm them down a bit. Not to mention it is a much higher class CD Player all together!

[danger boy]

Sid, maybe you should try an equalizer in your system. that way you can taylor the differnet frequencies... i don't know much about EQ's. but i don't think they cost to much. i could be wrong that. as someone in here will correct me right way with "OH YEAH"? wanna bet? type response. but that may tame your highs.

my adcom is bright too. if you have your 70's biwired. and have removed the metal jumper. put the jumper or another home made wire jumper back .. it WILL NOT damage the speakers having them biwired. but bi amping might do damage. just be careful.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

I'm bi-amping, 2 GFA 545.

Hopefully I won't have to go eq........i hope.........

[steveinaz]

Originally posted by F1nut
Well, the better your gear gets the more you hear the short comings of your source. Tone controls are fine if that's what you want to do, but the real answer is to upgrade the source. You'll know when you're there because you won't need tone controls anymore.

I disagree to an extent--sure you should get good source equipment, no doubt, but you can't polish a turd. A bad recording is a bad recording. If you play well recorded material and it sounds fantastic with tone bypassed, then your source component is not the problem, your source "material" is. Put the "Guess Who" greatest hits CD into ANY "cost-no-object" CD Player, it will turn into a beer coaster faster than a pizza goes missing at a weight watchers convention.

Have you ever noticed that great recordings sound great even on the cheapest of CD Players? Try it, borrow a budget CD player and place an audiophile recording in it--you'll be amazed how good that CD player will sound.

Tone controls allow you to "help" poor recordings to a small degree, and most feature a bypass or direct-out mode that you can use on correctly produced material.