NAD C352 amp!

[mattc76]

Hi!

Just taken delivery of my £270 NAD C352 from superfi - very happy so far. Just wondering when I'll expect to see the best performance out of it ie run/burn in time if at all? Already sounds good to me - match warmer still with great detail etc...

Ta.

 

[d_a_n1979]

My friedn has the C352 and the C355 and he said for them to get to their best, they took a min of 50hours running time.

I auditioned them a month or so back with his M/A RS8's and my RS6's and they were both superb. Plenty of sweet and well timed bass, superb midrange and really nice smooth treble.

Just run them in and keep listening. The sound will get sweeter and sweeter everytime you listen to them.

 

[robg1976]

HI mate had my C352 for 18 mnths now its a great amp... Give it about 20 or so hours. its sound great out of the box but you will see a slight improvement after a little run in time... Bass becomes more controlled Please make sure you use some quality interconnects with your system they really make a huge sonic difference you dont have to spend loads...£20 buys you a good budget cable... I have tryed many cables Black rodium rhapsody.....black rodium rhythm but i found MY C352 and C542 sound best with a Chord Crimson You can get them for around £30 also use some godd speaker cable... im using B/R tango by-wire they really complete the system and make sure you get the best from you nad set up..

 

[mattc76]

[quote user="robg1976"]HI mate had my C352 for 18 mnths now its a great amp... Give it about 20 or so hours. its sound great out of the box but you will see a slight improvement after a little run in time... Bass becomes more controlled Please make sure you use some quality interconnects with your system they really make a huge sonic difference you dont have to spend loads...£20 buys you a good budget cable... I have tryed many cables Black rodium rhapsody.....black rodium rhythm but i found MY C352 and C542 sound best with a Chord Crimson You can get them for around £30 also use some godd speaker cable... im using B/R tango by-wire they really complete the system and make sure you get the best from you nad set up..[/quote]

Cheers mate, I'm using cambridge pacific interconnects from a Beresford DAC, and gale symphony 400 speaker cable to my MS 902i's. Could this be improved on? I have to say the NAD is much nicer to listen to than my CA 540. Much smoother indeed.

 

[robg1976]

Thats hard to answer really mate your cables are fine. Its hard to answer because we are all different and like different sound just as we do music taste. You may prefer a different cable to one i like. Its all a question of trying them yourself.

Just like you said you prefer the nad to the CA 540 as do i i tryed the C.A. gear and prefered the nad if you read reviews of the c.a stuff its the best but not for me..

If you can borrow from a friend or see if a dealer will let you try some cables for your self that would help. I have the pacific cables and found them to be good for transparency (detail) but not that good for stereo imaging) thats why i like the chord... The COBRA 3 cable also is a great match

Hope this helps

 

[mattc76]

Have you replaced the black plastic jumper thingies on the back with decent jumpers? If so does it make a difference and what did you use?

 

[nads]

yes, and a big difference.

Tara Labs RSC Missing links.

 

[mattc76]

[quote user="nads"]yes, and a big difference.

Tara Labs RSC Missing links.
[/quote]

Hmmm, these seem a bit tricky to get hold of.....will normal interconnects do??

 

[nads]

there are other makes out there, and as they are all of 150mm long they dont get in the way like a full interconnect would.

 

[mattc76]

[quote user="nads"]there are other makes out there, and as they are all of 150mm long they dont get in the way like a full interconnect would.[/quote]

OK - sorry to be really thick but could you point me towards some easily gettable ones. I googled jumper cable and could only really find ones for speaker jumpers - I don't think thats what i want i think!!??

Cheers!

 

[nads]

if i could i would. But those are easy for me (not UK based). and i can not remember the name of any others that have been mentioned before.

 

[mattc76]

Hi, just managed to order some of these from the US for about £20 quid. Worth a go for that money me thinks. How will they improve things? At the moment I find the treble and midrange excellent - very musical, but the bass at times a bit muddy and boomy in places (might be speaker placement I suppose).

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="nads"]yes, and a big difference.

Tara Labs RSC Missing links.

[/quote]

Made absolutely *sod all* difference when I tried replacing the jumpers on a NAD amp. The phono plugs themselves have more metal on them than the whole jumper! Then there's the cable...

 

[nads]

sorry to hear that you could not spot any difference. strange that replacing some steel with some copper brought no change. But as it is normally on HiFi fora it comes down your ears and set up. I found a BIG difference which was the last little bit i was looking for.

 

[robg1976]

Yes mate normal interconnects will do the job try to use a 0.5m cable the shorter the better. im using a black rodium rythm. you wil get more detail and improved sound stage. Try different cables to find the one you like best.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="nads"]sorry to hear that you could not spot any difference. strange that replacing some steel with some copper brought no change. But as it is normally on HiFi fora it comes down your ears and set up. I found a BIG difference which was the last little bit i was looking for.[/quote]

My jumpers weren't made of steel. Also, I don't see why a hifi company would deliberately cripple their amplifiers by putting bad quality jumpers on. If an extra £5 would make their amps sound so much better, why not spend it (and charge the customer)? I firmly believe that the standard jumpers are ok and I have tried using £100 interconnects in their place - no difference whatsoever! 🙂

 

[mattc76]

[quote user="nads"]yes, and a big difference.

Tara Labs RSC Missing links.

[/quote]

Just have to say that my tara labs missing link cables arrived today from the USA (£23 inc P&P = BARGAIN) and I have to say they have made a tremendous difference - noticeably more detail and clarity everywhere - mids/lows/highs. Significantly improved stereo imaging / soundstage. My first impressions are that it really sounds wonderful! Basically before, although the sound was good you got the impression sometimes that the music was a bit of an untidy jumble somewhere in the centre of the speakers (if you know what I mean!?). Now there is more detail, clarity, separation and this is clearly noticeable.

Thankyou nads it was a great tip!