New NAD HDMI 1.3 Preamp and Multi-channel amp

[kennyt]

BIKER,

Sorry for being slow to chime in on this one, but I was out of town... Ah the Ritz-Carlton Naples beach....

I currently run the Canton Vento 809's with and 805, 802's and 850 sub as my reference system. Great speakers, I haven't yet heard the 890's but spoke with Frank Gobl their designer who tells me they are pretty similar, so I can give you my experience here.

First, as usual, Jerry is right about power. I personally think you could drive the Vento's with 100wpc, but they would not be able to reproduce volume or dynamics well, even Canton recomends closer to 200 wpc, and they can handle more. I had been running mine with a Proceed HPA-3 and HPA-2 in the review I did of them for the magazine.

http://www.avrev.com/equip/canton_vento/

They ate up the 250 wpc these amps put out (actually when these amps are bench tested they usually output ~325 wpc) with ease. I also did the reviews of the Sunfire TGP V and TGA 7400 amp, which I used with the Vento's.

http://www.avrev.com/equip/sunfire_theatergrand_7400/

The Vento's have a warm and slightly laid back sound, which I love about them, but that can be changed by amplifier choice to your tastes. The Bel Canto's Jerry speaks of are lush and warm and for me would be an ideal match for the Vento's, I haven't heard the NuForce's yet, but from second hand reports they are similar.

You won't be unhappy with the Sunfire amps either, though the 5200 might sound a little thin on a power hungry speaker like the Vento's.

[kennyt]

BIKER,

Some things I forgot to include...

Balanced outputs, great for longer runs, but many run 30' with single ended without problems, so if you keep your amps close to the processor, no matter, and unless the two are far apart, it might not matter. I for one prefer balanced as it is just so much better a connector than RCA plugs, so I use it when I can.

Also, no one says you need to use the same maker for both amps and pre/pro's. While I would strongly encourage you to use the same amps all around, nothing should stop you from getting the NAD pre/pro, and anyone's amps.

[BIKER]

KENNYT,

Wow thanks so much for the helpful information. It's good to hear from somebody actually using the CANTON'S.

Yeah, I definitely may head toward the NAD for all of it's whiz bang features missing from the TGP-5.. more HDMI,XMRADIO,HDMI 1.3, and uptodate DAC's.. plus less expensive! When you first look into the equipment, it's very tempting to have a unified look.. here I first saw a stack of CLASSE equipment.

According to a review I saw, the 809DC speakers along w/ the reference were mostly running at 4 OHMS, which the TGA-5200 would be cranking out 400 watts/channel at that level... do you still think they would be too thin.. are the 5200s really cranking out that much power?

Also back to speakers, have you listened to the Ref 7DC, would they be appreciably better than the 809DC. It's too bad I really want the CANTON's because I live in LR, Arkansas and I mean there is nobody in this state or even bordering that appears to be selling CANTON's. I wondered for a while if CANTONS were even being sold in N.A.

[BIKER]

Switching thread to LOUDSPEAKERS/CANTON 809DC/890DC

BIKER