NAD 326BEE vs. ROTEL RA02

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone, hoping for some help.

I have recently bought some Dali Lektor 2's and am looking for an amp to pair them with. My budget is about £200 and I managed to find a new NAD326BEE online for £208. I think this is a good price for an amp I've read pairs well with the Lektors.

I also found a second hand Rotel RA02 online for £170 and am now wondering which would be the better choice. Is the Rotel any better? If so is it that much better that I should consider paying almost the same price for a secondhand unit?

Don't have time to audition over the weekend so wanted to post this and would appreciate your comments

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi everyone, hoping for some help.

I have recently bought some Dali Lektor 2's and am looking for an amp to pair them with. My budget is about £200 and I managed to find a new NAD326BEE online for £208. I think this is a good price for an amp I've read pairs well with the Lektors.

I also found a second hand Rotel RA02 online for £170 and am now wondering which would be the better choice. Is the Rotel any better? If so is it that much better that I should consider paying almost the same price for a secondhand unit?

Don't have time to audition over the weekend so wanted to post this and would appreciate your comments

Hi plindeck

I know the RA-02 well as i used to sell these and although it is still impressive the NAD C326BEE overall is easily a much better amplifier. The gap between the two amplifiers is big enough to warrant paying the full premium (at RRP) for the NAD amplifier however at £208 the C326BEE is simply a no brainer :bigsmile:

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that the NAD C326BEE would be the one to go for; it's a superb amp

If at all you are interested in decent 2nd hand amps though defintley have a look for the likes of a Rotel RA04SE, Arcam Alpha 10 integrated, NAD C352 (PD version) or even the NAD C320BEE integrated amps. All superb and should come within budget (maybe a bit more for the Arcam Alpha 10)

 

[jerry klinger]

I've not heard the NAD but the Rotel does have one advantage - it's got a superb built-in phono stage. With a Rega P3-24, sounds totally natural.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I've not heard the NAD but the Rotel does have one advantage - it's got a superb built-in phono stage. With a Rega P3-24, sounds totally natural.

Hi jerry klinger

Fair point but then again a Rega Brio3 amplifier could also be considered as the Brio3's phono stage is even better then the RA-02's (particularly if a Rega turntable is to be used

).

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[the record spot]

Bump up the budget to £260 and you'll get an Arcam Alpha 10 off a bloke on Gumtree in Twickenham. Looks in good nick and it's better than anything else that's been mentioned so far. £250 will get you a TEN Audio upgraded Pioneer A400. Nothing to compare it against, unless you know much about TEN Audio's mods as all there is on the Ebay listing are the company's claims.

£250 will also get you the rather good Linn Majik-i on a BIN on Ebay too right now and that's a very nice amp. Around £900/1000 on release, it's about the same age as the Alpha 10, so late 90s. Definitely worth consideration and Linn still service this gear, so support is on hand.

There's a dual mono Pioneer A88-X Elite which was their top of the line in 1985 and looks like it's in ace nick, collect only from Hackney, but that'd be where my £240 would go as it kicks everything else into a cocked hat. That'd be my pick - Pioneer made some terrific stuff back then and their Elite range was as good as it got. To give you some idea, that amp would probably sit quite comfortably in amongst the £1500 amps of today. No danger.

EDIT: Price drop on the Pioneer to £200. At that price, I might *** down and get it meself!

 

[plastic penguin]

Bump up the budget to £260 and you'll get an Arcam Alpha 10 off a bloke on Gumtree in Twickenham. Looks in good nick and it's better than anything else that's been mentioned so far. £250 will get you a TEN Audio upgraded Pioneer A400. Nothing to compare it against, unless you know much about TEN Audio's mods as all there is on the Ebay listing are the company's claims.

£250 will also get you the rather good Linn Majik-i on a BIN on Ebay too right now and that's a very nice amp. Around £900/1000 on release, it's about the same age as the Alpha 10, so late 90s. Definitely worth consideration and Linn still service this gear, so support is on hand.

There's a dual mono Pioneer A88-X Elite which was their top of the line in 1985 and looks like it's in ace nick, collect only from Hackney, but that'd be where my £240 would go as it kicks everything else into a cocked hat. That'd be my pick - Pioneer made some terrific stuff back then and their Elite range was as good as it got. To give you some idea, that amp would probably sit quite comfortably in amongst the £1500 amps of today. No danger.

EDIT: Price drop on the Pioneer to £200. At that price, I might *** down and get it meself!

I agree the old Pioneer stuff was superb then.

Record Spot: I've noticed a few "souped up" amps of late on the Bay. About three weeks I saw an Arcam Alpha 9 that had wooden feet and the internals were tweaked to produce more output and "improved SQ" according to the advert. Are these upgrades really worth it, or is it a ruse to add value to old models?

 

[the record spot]

Couldn't say PP, I think there's a lot of the tweaks available to potential buyers, but my gut feeling takes me away from those. for instance the upgrades to the Marantz CD63-II KI, a player about 16 years old now, but for which you could spend hundreds that would go some way to getting a new disc spinner that'd do as good or a better job now. There I said it!

As for the wooden feet business, well, I'd take that with a pinch of salt delivered in the quantities a JCB could manage. Provide a solid, stable platform for the gear, it'll be fine. By all means try, but ultimately, while maybe not a ruse, trying before you buy or getting a good feeling for what some of these things are delivering is another matter entirely and not easily discovered ahead of shelling out the hard-earned.

 

[Frank Harvey]

As mentioned, the Rotel has a great phono stage, and if you look inside any Rotel amplifier, they're a very simple design, with very few components in the signal path. Another thing you'll notice, is that all signal paths are of equal length - very few amplifiers at this level go that far in ensuring a quality product. I find the Rotel to be quite a neutral sound, which does mean that they're not as easy to match up with stuff compared to warmer sounding products, which sound fine with anything. There's plenty of guts to Rotel's amplifiers, probably due to their simple design and decent toroidal transformers, and I find they drive the likes of B&W speakers (which usually need a lot of control) extremely well, and better than most of the competition.

 

[Singslinger]

I used to drive the Lektor 2s with the NAD C326BEE and can highly recommend the pairing. Very crisp and clear with plenty of detail. The amp might only be rated at 50 Wpc but it punches far above its weight. Source was a Rotel 991 CD player.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I used to drive the Lektor 2s with the NAD C326BEE and can highly recommend the pairing. Very crisp and clear with plenty of detail. The amp might only be rated at 50 Wpc but it punches far above its weight. Source was a Rotel 991 CD player.

Hi Singslinger

True enough

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[jerry klinger]

...but then the Rega amps haven't got a headphone socket! One of the reasons I bought the Rotel for my second system is that it has all the facilites in one box, and does them all well. The alternatives always seem to miss something out...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone for taking time to respond.

So I went for the NAD in the end. A compelling argument for the SH Pioneer on eBay but I live on teh 4th floor of my building and I'm worried I wouldn't get it up the stairs!!

Thanks again

 

[jerry klinger]

Did you try the NAD phono module as well?

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone for taking time to respond.

So I went for the NAD in the end. A compelling argument for the SH Pioneer on eBay but I live on teh 4th floor of my building and I'm worried I wouldn't get it up the stairs!!

Thanks again

Hi plindeck

Nice one and i hope you enjoy the performance of your new amplifier for many years to come

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[matthewpiano]

Well done on the amp. The NAD is excellent. That should be a very involving and organic sounding combination.

One word of advice. Be very careful if you ever decide to upgrade your Dali Lektors. They are fabulous speakers. They are involving and do many things very well but somehow you end up forgetting about the hi-fi and just enjoying the music, which is exactly what it should be about. You might find you lose these benefits with any future upgrade so choose carefully. I recently sold a pair and I'm starting to regret it. There was nothing wrong with them - I loved the sound but got bitten by the 'better speakers' bug.

 

[Blackdawn]

Enjoy your new Nad amp.

mathtewpiano, I think the Lektors would still go well with the Yamha amp don't you think? maybe not as well as with the NAD though.

 

[matthewpiano]

Enjoy your new Nad amp. mathtewpiano, I think the Lektors would still go well with the Yamha amp don't you think? maybe not as well as with the NAD though.

Yes they work very well with the Yamaha amp - I still had the Lektors when I first got the A-S500 and the combination was superb. I'd probably still prefer the NAD with the Lektors but the other amp that works brilliantly with them is the Marantz PM6003.