eknuds01
Well-known member
Well I finally had my first real visit to a high end place that carries: NAD, Rotel, and Conrad Johnson.
While the saleman was dealing with a client I ventured back to the really high end room where some B&W and Quad electrostatic speakers resided. A few minutes later I was joined by the sales guy, Ed. This guy was awesome. He, like me, just couldn't contain the excitement when it comes to listening to great high end gear. I was there about an hour or two before the store closed, so it was just me and him.
For the hell of it he hooked up the big Quad ($11,000) to the high end CJ tube preamp and tube amp. Needless to say it sounded very good. I popped in some Vivaldi and Clapton Unplugged. That stuff is a bit out of my budget for sure, but I got to say I wasn't that impressed with Quad's Flagship speakers. One thing I did like was that these panels do deliver on the bottom end. The nearest ML equivalent would be the CLS and I actually prefer the older CLSs over these Quads, but that's just me.
Then we walked over to the next room to compare the lower priced NAD and Rotel gear. I have been itching for some months to audition these two amps because their price fits right into my budget and numerous people on this site have Rotel and swear by that company.
He some B&W 803s and Vandersteens in this room. I got to hear Vandersteen for the first time and I got say these speakers ($1700/pair) could have given those Quads a run for the money and these speakers were powered by preamp/amp that is one tenth the const of the higher end tubed CJ stuff.
Then we got to listen to the B&W and man oh man was I impressed. All I can say is wow. Those speakers sound as good as they look. I felt that the 803s had very clear sounding mids and highs. Rotel stuff goes along very well with the 803s and the 1070 pre coupled with the 1070 amp was just awesome. Granted these speakers are $4000 or $5000/pair, but these 'budget' electronics seem to power them rather effortlessly. We switched over the NAD amp (C272) and Ed said the difference between the Rotel and NAD is very subtle. To be honest I really couldn't tell the difference, and I suppose that's a good thing. The music just seemed to flow through the amp(s) and speakers did the talking. I couldn't really hear any noticeable differences between the two at all.
Yeah my visit to the store comes with all of the usual caveats. In general the listening rooms were rather cramped and the speakers probably weren't very well placed. But the rep was extremely nice and knowledgeable.
I can get the Rotel pre and the amp together at the 'gon for around $700 + shipping. The NAD can be had for about the same price used. New this stuff is $1200-$1400. I asked the dealer if I could borrow the stuff when they close Friday and return it first thing saturday (floor models) and he said he could probably swing that. I must admit that I would feel guilty borrowing his stuff and then buying it used on the 'Gon. I'll probably just pull the trigger on the used Rotel gear, assuming that that stuff is there when I have the money.
Anyway, there are some things that I took away from this visit. You don't need to spend thousands and thousands for decent gear. Like I said, I can spend less than $800 (including shipping) for the Rotel stuff and probably very content with that. I am glad that I followed Dan's (DTB300) and took the time to listen to this equipment with my music. I was also able to compare two very similar priced amps and as mentioned above, the differences seemed very minor to me.
Erik
While the saleman was dealing with a client I ventured back to the really high end room where some B&W and Quad electrostatic speakers resided. A few minutes later I was joined by the sales guy, Ed. This guy was awesome. He, like me, just couldn't contain the excitement when it comes to listening to great high end gear. I was there about an hour or two before the store closed, so it was just me and him.
For the hell of it he hooked up the big Quad ($11,000) to the high end CJ tube preamp and tube amp. Needless to say it sounded very good. I popped in some Vivaldi and Clapton Unplugged. That stuff is a bit out of my budget for sure, but I got to say I wasn't that impressed with Quad's Flagship speakers. One thing I did like was that these panels do deliver on the bottom end. The nearest ML equivalent would be the CLS and I actually prefer the older CLSs over these Quads, but that's just me.
Then we walked over to the next room to compare the lower priced NAD and Rotel gear. I have been itching for some months to audition these two amps because their price fits right into my budget and numerous people on this site have Rotel and swear by that company.
He some B&W 803s and Vandersteens in this room. I got to hear Vandersteen for the first time and I got say these speakers ($1700/pair) could have given those Quads a run for the money and these speakers were powered by preamp/amp that is one tenth the const of the higher end tubed CJ stuff.
Then we got to listen to the B&W and man oh man was I impressed. All I can say is wow. Those speakers sound as good as they look. I felt that the 803s had very clear sounding mids and highs. Rotel stuff goes along very well with the 803s and the 1070 pre coupled with the 1070 amp was just awesome. Granted these speakers are $4000 or $5000/pair, but these 'budget' electronics seem to power them rather effortlessly. We switched over the NAD amp (C272) and Ed said the difference between the Rotel and NAD is very subtle. To be honest I really couldn't tell the difference, and I suppose that's a good thing. The music just seemed to flow through the amp(s) and speakers did the talking. I couldn't really hear any noticeable differences between the two at all.
Yeah my visit to the store comes with all of the usual caveats. In general the listening rooms were rather cramped and the speakers probably weren't very well placed. But the rep was extremely nice and knowledgeable.
I can get the Rotel pre and the amp together at the 'gon for around $700 + shipping. The NAD can be had for about the same price used. New this stuff is $1200-$1400. I asked the dealer if I could borrow the stuff when they close Friday and return it first thing saturday (floor models) and he said he could probably swing that. I must admit that I would feel guilty borrowing his stuff and then buying it used on the 'Gon. I'll probably just pull the trigger on the used Rotel gear, assuming that that stuff is there when I have the money.
Anyway, there are some things that I took away from this visit. You don't need to spend thousands and thousands for decent gear. Like I said, I can spend less than $800 (including shipping) for the Rotel stuff and probably very content with that. I am glad that I followed Dan's (DTB300) and took the time to listen to this equipment with my music. I was also able to compare two very similar priced amps and as mentioned above, the differences seemed very minor to me.
Erik
