NAD C275BEE Power Amp $1300 (150×2, 6h, 17 1/8w, 15d, 33 lbs)

This fantastic power amp has been back ordered for months. With the array of great gear NAD makes, this CLASSIC SERIES two channel, class AB power amp sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. They have spent their resources making other “more hip” products and have just caught up on C275BEE.

If you’re after a battleship of a power amp at an affordable price, think CLASSIC NAD. Further, C275BEE can be bridged and delivers 330w per chassis, monoblock. This AB amp harkens back to a day where power amps were supreme beasts of burden. There were precious few tricks of the trade. It was mostly blood and guts. That’s what this beast is all about.

The sound of C275BEE is extremely muscular. The weight that this gorilla delivers is like a sledgehammer. It has the CLASSIC warm, round, powerful sound you’ve come to love from NAD.
If you would love a McIntosh or Bryston but $7k just isn’t in the cards, please consider C275BEE. It is the epitome of the ultimate AB performance at the law of diminishing returns.

Don’t hold it against this amp that it’s a CLASSIC design! The 150×2 rating into 8 ohms doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. THD is at scant levels = .008%! Due to NAD’s patented PowerDrive & Soft Clipping technology (a couple of useful tricks are employed!) C275BEE peaks at double its rated power and is stable down to two ohms, so it can drive any speaker.

Even if you hit it hard, Soft Clipping keeps the sound palatable. An amp driving music under control will pass a nice looking square wave. If you abuse/clip the amp, the top right portion of the square gets ragged and sounds distorted- just like when you turn your car stereo up too high. That’s your amp clipping. Soft Clipping from NAD is a patented circuit which rolls off the spikes = hard edge. The music stays smooth and not grossly distorted.

It will give you big time ummph with Maggies for example- that you’d never expect the speakers to be capable of. It is quiet enough to be used with the high efficiency Klipsches. And it has the dynamics and warmth to make GoldenEars sound twice as expensive as their price tag implies.

By the way BEE stands for Bjorn Erik Edvarsson, NAD’s point dog designer. He assigns the moniker BEE for products especially close to his heart.

C275BEE uses great quality parts- a Holmgren Toroidal transformer (ideal for Packer fans!), discrete circuitry, class A voltage stage & distortion cancellation circuitry.

NAD C165BEE Stereo Preamp $1000

C165BEE is the perfect companion for C275BEE above. It too was on back order for several months. We’re delighted to have this CLASSIC stereo preamp back in the fold. We missed it. It has an outstanding phono section, headphone amp and extremely useful tone controls to boot.

Take a look at our Nov 2018 newsletter where we provide the details on this guy.

Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)

The famous pianist/conductor wasn’t a fan of avantgarde music. When asked if he had heard any music of composer Karl Stockhausen, Beecham answered, “No, but I believe I have trodden in some.”

New! Klipsch LaScala III $10,000 Per Pair,
40h, 24 1/4w, 25 5/16d, 201 lbs, 105dB SPL!

Klipsch has been updating its Heritage Series over the past year. The last model to get the treatment is the classic LaScala, now dubbed LaScala III (or AL5 by K aficionados).

Let’s take a look at the upgrades.

*New, thicker, heavier cabinet construction. Since 175 lbs wasn’t heavy enough, K has gone bigger/badder! Real wood, matching finish, made in the USA of course.

*New, Polyimide (film) tweeter- like its bigger brother the Klipschorn

This includes new Neodymium magnets, Horn construction & a copper clad voice coil.

*New, Phenolic midrange driver- like its bigger brother the Klipschorn

*New, Improved 15” woofer with updated loading

*New, internal cabling & crossover network: new back plate & bi-ampable.

The sonic improvement is immediately evident in the high end where AL5 is more delicate and extended. Think RIBBON TWEETER sound with this new FILM technology. The prior version was lovely, but actually a tad soft on top.

The bass is tighter on AL5. Klipsch uses a unique, accordion style suspended woofer. It is extremely taut, especially when horn loaded, as with LaScala or Klipschorn. Despite being 15”, this big guy needs just a tiny excursion to bring you real bass. Despite the girth of the cabinet, LaScala is tight and lean, not tubby. The most iconic loudspeaker from yesteryear is now upgraded to quite modern standards!

Quad ERA-1 Planar Headphones $800 (94dB SPL, 420g)

Quad has been promising to release stellar headphones to the market for years.

We’ve read a lot about this and that on the drawing board. But finally in 2019, THEY’RE HERE! These are Quad’s FIRST EVER headphones. Coming from a company with a rich history in stats and technology, prepare to be impressed.

Quad uses a lightweight planar diaphragm, thinner than a human hair. Quad uses magnetic control over the entire cross section of the diaphragm. Outstanding transient attack and definition are clear attributes. The sonic terms I’ll apply are BALANCED, powerful and smooth.

Headphone lovers are among the fussiest in our hobby. The best thing we can do is invite you to listen. My perception is that ERA-1 is very comfortable, detailed and surprisingly WARM & MUSCULAR in the bass region, which I happily report, but didn’t anticipate.

NAD C328 Integrated Amp $550 (50×2)

The Absolute Sound reviews hi-fi gear every month, the majority of which costs more than my car. For them to absolutely RAVE about something a mere mortal can afford- is SHOCKING!

And yet, they’ve done precisely that. The bottom line is, C328 is SO GOOD and SO CHEAP,

that you would do very well to buy it- and then throw the lion’s share of your investment into the speakers.

For example, look at any of the Klipsch Heritage models. They’re all 99dB SPL on up! C328 will drive any and all of them nicely! Suppose you have about $4k to spend. Please consider C328 with the Forte III ($3600pr) speakers! Run your existing disc player (use the DAC in C328) and link your phone to Bluetooth. Or, maybe run C328 with Heresy III ($2000pr) and for under $3k, you’re in biz!

Felix Mendelssohn

FM was a great composer and pianist. In 1831 he played Beethoven’s music for a close friend of LVB. An Austrian official was in the room and asked, “Won’t you play something of my father’s?” FM asked just who that might be. “Why, Mozart!” And so FM did- the rest of the evening.