Nord NC500 Monoblock Power Amplifiers

Coll

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I have placed an order for two Nord Monoblock NC500 Power Amplifiers

For those who dont know that is Boggit - IQ Speakers

These amplifiers are based on Hypex NC500 class D modules with massive power outputs and work down to 2 ohms so great for awkward speakers.

Unfortunately I am away for a couple of weeks so wont be able to let you know anything for a while but I am exited to say the least.

Nord are designing uprated input buffers at the moment and eventually these will be available with I believe a choice of op amps of the very best available and I intend to try them out. But of course that will be a few weeks further down the line for me.

The amplifiers I will be receiving use Hypex buffers same I believe as Acoustic Imagery ATSAH 500 and they got a brilliant review in another magazine. But of course the Nord amplifiers are considerably cheaper and therefore a great bargain, cant wait.
 

drummerman

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Lucky you.

It reads like phenomenal value for money if a lot of power is required. I have read the AcousticImagery review and the review was very favorable.

I think it would make a stunning, compact system with something like an OPPO or Benchmark DAC/HP amplifier and some classy, small but inefficient compact monitors, perhaps the new Leema's.

Please post on how you get on.

What are you using at the moment to compare it with?
 

Coll

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Audiolab CDQ8200 and Troels Gravesen designed floorstanding speakers which cost £1700 in parts alone and about 120 hours of my labour so worth a few £s
 

Coll

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JMac said:
Be very intereseting to see what you make of them since we have essentially the same drivers in our speakers.

Will of course do so but of course usual problem is that what I like may not be what you like.

I dont like bright treble to the point that you could listen to my system and say where is the treble.
 

Coll

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Surprisingly I am looking for sound quality not outright volume.

I just like having amplifiers with lots of headroom. Troels Gravesen designs are all about sound quality that is why the drive units are so expensive.
 

Coll

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Cyrusnut said:
Considering them myself

I would not think twice at the current price if you have the funds.

If you are not happy with the sound you could uprate the buffers for a small extra cost and try different discrete op amps. These amps with uprated buffers sell for a fortune in the USA look at Belcanto.

I will have mine up and running Friday and will report back
 
Coll said:
Cyrusnut said:
Considering them myself

I would not think twice at the current price if you have the funds.

If you are not happy with the sound you could uprate the buffers for a small extra cost and try different discrete op amps. These amps with uprated buffers sell for a fortune in the USA look at Belcanto.

I will have mine up and running Friday and will report back

Have I missed something? How much are these beasts?
 

Coll

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Al ears said:
Coll said:
Cyrusnut said:
Considering them myself

I would not think twice at the current price if you have the funds.

If you are not happy with the sound you could uprate the buffers for a small extra cost and try different discrete op amps. These amps with uprated buffers sell for a fortune in the USA look at Belcanto.

I will have mine up and running Friday and will report back

Have I missed something? How much are these beasts?

Take a look at the IQ Speakers website prices are there.
 
Coll said:
Al ears said:
Coll said:
Cyrusnut said:
Considering them myself

I would not think twice at the current price if you have the funds.

If you are not happy with the sound you could uprate the buffers for a small extra cost and try different discrete op amps. These amps with uprated buffers sell for a fortune in the USA look at Belcanto.

I will have mine up and running Friday and will report back

Have I missed something? How much are these beasts?

Take a look at the IQ Speakers website prices are there.

Just done so, thanks. Interesting!!
 

Cyrusnut

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Very interested to see how you find the tonal balance, apparently very transparent but quite analogue sounding. The NAD implementation has been very well received., this could be a much more affordable option. What are you using for a pre-amp? I only use streaming as a source now, so a very simple pre-amp or dac with a volume control maybe is all I need.
 

drummerman

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I just re-read a Dec 2011 review (Jason Kennedy/HifiChoice) of Micromega's AS-400 Stereo Integrated amplifier (£3900 at launch).

This uses Hypex 150w/ch modules, two of with Micromega's own Pre-amp section.

The reviewers opinion was that compared with the Leema Tucana II, the Micromega was 'tonally richer and able to deliver greater depth and dynamics'. He also deemed the Micromega/Hypex more 'refined'.

The same review also compared a Primare i32 which was also 'comfortably outplayed' by the Micromega.

Micromega's implementation of the Hypex modules plus its own Pre-amplifier circuit had no doubt influence on the result but it still seems impressive.

Bearing in mind the above had older (and substantially less powerful) versions of the modules, I would expect great sound from iQ's products if used with a quality pre-amplifier.

In print it seems an absolute bargain under £1k but I can't personally vouch for that.
 

Coll

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Cyrusnut said:
Very interested to see how you find the tonal balance, apparently very transparent but quite analogue sounding. The NAD implementation has been very well received., this could be a much more affordable option. What are you using for a pre-amp? I only use streaming as a source now, so a very simple pre-amp or dac with a volume control maybe is all I need.
I will be using an Audiolab CDQ8200

Not sure why you think the NAD would be better its much more expensive than Nord IQ
 

Coll

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Esra said:
I think i will order a pair of NC500 monos.Are they available?Is it possible to get full silver cases?

I dont think you can go wrong at the current prices. I know they do silver frnots but not sure if you can get a whole case in silver.

I was hoping to give my initial views today but the monoblocks have not arrived. Nord-IQ Speakers despatched them yesterday on an overnight delivery as promised but UPS have messed up big time and sent them to the wrong depot up north and I live in the south. It looks like I will get them Monday now.
 

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Al ears said:
Nice to see you eventually got them. What preamp are you using Coll?

At the moment I am using the built in digital pre amp of the Audiolab CDQ8200

Just going to finish my post now.
 

Coll

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I was going to post this last Friday but due to UPS sending my monoblocks in the wrong direction and not putting things right quickly there was a delay in receiving them.

I had been away from home for sometime and as soon as I returned the Nord NC500 monoblocks were despatched on a next day service as promised, but UPS sent them all over the country and I received them 3 days late.

Anyway they are here now and they were very well packed (just as well) for transit in very good quality boxes with internal foam linings to keep them protected.

I must say I am very pleased with the look and finish. Workmanship is of a very high standard inside and out, mine are black cases. Speaker bing posts are very solid, they and the XLR connectors are very high quality.

As I said before they are made by Nord - IQ speakers, the price I paid for two of them is £1,014.00 including delivery and VAT and I consider this to be a real bargain.

Plugged them in switched on and everything worked fine, no thumps, no hum no hiss, silence when nothing playing just as it should be.

So how do they sound well I have not heard my favourite music sound this good before. They are neutral, very detailed, clean sounding and have exceptionally good bass control. The clarity is amazing.

Sorry but I will have to complete this later as have to go out for a while.

Back now so will finish.

I find there are subtle details in the music that I had not noticed before. My favourite violin concertos and orchestral music sound so clear and detailed it is a revelation. Also because of the power available the sound is effortless and the sound stage is huge.

I am not very good at describing sound all I can say is that I believe these amplifiers have improved my system considerably and I feel that for the quality it is a very reasonable cost.

The Nord model that I have is fitted with the Hypex input buffers and LM4562 op amps which I believe are the same as fitted to the Acoustic Imagery ATSAH 500 monoblocks that I was originally thinking of buying. This is before I discovered the Nord monoblocks at a much lower price.

A full review of the Acoustic Imagery amplifiers was published in another well known Hi Fi magazine recently and they were highly rated.

On the subject of sound quality when I purchased my monoblocks I knew that Nord would be offering up rated buffers with high quality discrete op amps at a later date but I did not want to wait the extra 4/5 weeks for delivery and so purchased the amplifiers with the standard Hypex buffers.

I did want the upgrade as I have heard that it does improve the sound but did not want to wait so I arranged with IQ Speakers to have the uprated parts sent later. The uprated buffers will soon be available and I hope I have made the right decision as these monoblocks sound pretty good as they are.

I will be fitting them myself as it is quite a simple job. IQ would of course do this for you if you wish in fact Colin at Nord - IQ offered to come to my home at no cost and I live about 100 miles away but I told him not to worry as I have done many similar tasks in the past and that I was happy to do it.

I should add that in a few weeks time I believe Nord will be offering the amplifiers with uprated buffers already fitted with a choice of op amps. Also it is not just the op amps that are different some of the components on the board are also uprated

Nord are very kindly going to send me Burson V5 and Sparkos op amps so that I can try them both and keep the one I like the best. With either I hope to have another step up in detail and sound quality thus for a small extra cost I will be turning the basic Nord monoblocks into even greater giant killers.

I will give you further info on how they sound after fitting the uprated input buffers later on , next year.

Even with the extra cost for the uprated buffers the coist is still well under the Acoustic Imagery price and all the other manufactures using the NC500 modules.
 

drummerman

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ENVY!

Although I would probably never go beyond idling those amplifiers the price seems simply amazing.

Now what would I use them with ... ?

A lovely tube pre-amp!
 
drummerman said:
ENVY!

Although I would probably never go beyond idling those amplifiers the price seems simply amazing.

Now what would I use them with ... ?

A lovely tube pre-amp!

Good idea. :)

Hopefully they can be fitted without XLR type socket because preamp I had in mind doesn't have this type.
 

Coll

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Al ears said:
drummerman said:
ENVY!

Although I would probably never go beyond idling those amplifiers the price seems simply amazing.

Now what would I use them with ... ?

A lovely tube pre-amp!

Good idea. :)

Hopefully they can be fitted without XLR type socket because preamp I had in mind doesn't have this type.

Nord can provide an RCA to XLR lead its on the website
 
Coll said:
Al ears said:
drummerman said:
ENVY!

Although I would probably never go beyond idling those amplifiers the price seems simply amazing.

Now what would I use them with ... ?

A lovely tube pre-amp!

Good idea. :)

Hopefully they can be fitted without XLR type socket because preamp I had in mind doesn't have this type.

Nord can provide an RCA to XLR lead its on the website

It's a pity then that I already have very decent RCA leads. Could always flog them I suppose.
 

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