Help! - Power Amp Upgrade

[busb]

For around the price of a Nap 250 you can get a pair of Harbeth Monitor 30.1 and a Crown XLS 2000 power amplifier.

The massive power capability of the amplifier will deliver quite astonishing dynamics with the 30.1, really something entirely different from what you are used to, and once heard rather difficult to get out of your head.

Sorry but that can't possibly sound any good; it's not got a 20mm thick aluminium front. Where is the precision milled titanium volume knob and the mil spec japanese capacitors? Worst of all, it's sold in professional/studio equipment shops! It's just not HIFi! I think you've been spending too much time on the Harbeth User Group forum and got audiophilephobia.

I guess you must be right, the Crown amplifier has a class D power supply and probably does not produce the right kind of watts and weighs so little that it can be moved by a girl.

Anyway it is designed for professional use such as driving studio monitors so it can not be any good for hi-fi use, silly of me really.

There is such a thing as a Harbeth User Group? Is it like AA?

What's a class D power supply Dave? Can be moved by a girl - must be shite then.

 

[davedotco]

For around the price of a Nap 250 you can get a pair of Harbeth Monitor 30.1 and a Crown XLS 2000 power amplifier.

The massive power capability of the amplifier will deliver quite astonishing dynamics with the 30.1, really something entirely different from what you are used to, and once heard rather difficult to get out of your head.

Sorry but that can't possibly sound any good; it's not got a 20mm thick aluminium front. Where is the precision milled titanium volume knob and the mil spec japanese capacitors? Worst of all, it's sold in professional/studio equipment shops! It's just not HIFi! I think you've been spending too much time on the Harbeth User Group forum and got audiophilephobia.

I guess you must be right, the Crown amplifier has a class D power supply and probably does not produce the right kind of watts and weighs so little that it can be moved by a girl.

Anyway it is designed for professional use such as driving studio monitors so it can not be any good for hi-fi use, silly of me really.

There is such a thing as a Harbeth User Group? Is it like AA?

What's a class D power supply Dave? Can be moved by a girl - must be shite then.

Sorry, poor choice of words.

Should have said 'person of limited physical capacity', no need to be sexist at all, weighs about 10lbs.

Class D amplifier, switched mode power supply pretty much the norm in professional applications, being serious for a moment, it would be really interesting to see how such an amplifier stacks up in a hi fi situation. The basic specs suggest that it should be effectively transparent and in my experience Class D amplifiers do not seem to suffer from the 'sluggishness' that seems to plague some high power Class AB amplifiers.

 

[lindsayt]

The Urei 6290 is reputed to have a noisy two speed cooling fan. Apparently there is a fanless 6260 model.

I'm not suggesting that the OP should buy a Urei 6290. Merely that the Urei could be used as a benchmark to compare against the NAP250 or any other power amp he's considering buying. If the NAP250 sounds better than the 6290 then it might be worth buying. If the NAP250 sounds worse then it would indicate that the OP should give the Naim a miss.

 

[busb]

For around the price of a Nap 250 you can get a pair of Harbeth Monitor 30.1 and a Crown XLS 2000 power amplifier.

The massive power capability of the amplifier will deliver quite astonishing dynamics with the 30.1, really something entirely different from what you are used to, and once heard rather difficult to get out of your head.

Sorry but that can't possibly sound any good; it's not got a 20mm thick aluminium front. Where is the precision milled titanium volume knob and the mil spec japanese capacitors? Worst of all, it's sold in professional/studio equipment shops! It's just not HIFi! I think you've been spending too much time on the Harbeth User Group forum and got audiophilephobia.

I guess you must be right, the Crown amplifier has a class D power supply and probably does not produce the right kind of watts and weighs so little that it can be moved by a girl.

Anyway it is designed for professional use such as driving studio monitors so it can not be any good for hi-fi use, silly of me really.

There is such a thing as a Harbeth User Group? Is it like AA?

What's a class D power supply Dave? Can be moved by a girl - must be shite then.

Sorry, poor choice of words.

Should have said 'person of limited physical capacity', no need to be sexist at all, weighs about 10lbs.

Class D amplifier, switched mode power supply pretty much the norm in professional applications, being serious for a moment, it would be really interesting to see how such an amplifier stacks up in a hi fi situation. The basic specs suggest that it should be effectively transparent and in my experience Class D amplifiers do not seem to suffer from the 'sluggishness' that seems to plague some high power Class AB amplifiers.

Thanks for the clarification. Mine weighs 10.5kg but most of that is the case. Not all class D have SMPSs which is a bit like designing a class AB that switches to class B at 100mW - pretty pointless?

My Primare has stunningly good SQ, its dynamics scare the cr*p out of me at times. However, it takes no prisoners with poor recordings. As for Naim amps, they have good dynamics but not the best for detail, IMO.

 

[davedotco]

Always been rather fond of Primare product, did some work with Lars back around 2000 helping him get some UK press coverage for his (then) new 20 and 30 series.

Think we did a hi-fi show too, though I was working for different people at the time so can't really remember the details. Mostly I was just helping some non British companies get some reviews and magazine coverage.

Primare, from a marketing point of view, seemed to lack a real USP, very decent product but nothing really to set it apart from the crowd, nice to see it doing rather well these days.