NAD S300 integrated = Gryphon Tabu Century?

Isaac,

Congratulations on your impending arrival! Hope the NAD turns out to be the mutt's NADs as far as you're concerned!!

What with the increasing ownership of (affordable?) high-end integrated amps on this forum, maybe we should gather them all together in one place for a bake-off!! :)
 
gryphon tabu

hi...

im a happy tabu owner from germany...i think when you pay for an product you pay also for development and research, so when nad launched their amp they had not to spend all the effort/money on this cause they could build their amp on a readily developed design. so because of this and though that nad is a big company compared to gryphon they can calculate different...wich is good for the ones who are not willing to spend that much on a gryphon.

...according to image hifi (a german high end magazin like hifi+...they reviewed both amps) is the nad defenitely based on the tabu circuit, but with a lot of (small) changes (the gryphon owner developed the s300 together with nad)...the tabu won the yearly award of this magazin once...they said "even if theres a cheaper plagiarism wich is nearly as good as the tabu, the tabu is still the first choice for gryphon sound freaks..."
so i'm never had the chance to hear the nad but as with my guitar tube amps everythings stands or falls with the transformers so the gryphon had this extraordinary and expansive c-core's...and because of this and the differences in detail i would not wonder if the sound is different in an A-B comparsion...
so all in all im not sure if i had spend 5000 eur for a new tabu but i bought it for less then half from a gryphon dealer just like new condition...a top amp!!!
 
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Herzlich willkommen zum Forum xronx!

You're right, but it does mean that the NAD S300 is a very good amp for the price even if it isn't quite as good as the Tabu. However, there are people who have heard both and not been able to tell them apart...

Michael.
 
gryphon=nad

yes thats what i meant...the nad seems to be a really good amp for the money...and ive forgot to say that the casework seems even better/more massive than the with tabu...to get to know if theres really a difference in sound i wich i could use them both at home with the same equipment...xronx
 
Originally posted by technobear
:NADowner:
Click to expand...

Well my log in still works and personal profile hasn't been changed to include blowing goats as a hobby, so I figure I haven't offended Michael too much.
 
Newby here. Groovy forum. Groovy thread. My humble equipment may provoke scorn here, but I hope not.

I am about to get a used NAD S500 CD player and NAD S300 amplifier. I already have Dynaudio Countour 1.3 Mark II speakers and a Velodyne FSR10 sub. My questions, which are marginally on-thread, are:

(1) The S300 amplifier, which has not yet arrived, does not have preamp outputs or speaker B outputs, as far as I can tell. I am thinking to connect the main speaker wires to the amplifier binding posts using banana plugs, while simultaneously connecting the hi-level inputs of the subwoofer to the amp using spade lug connectors on the amplifier binding posts. Or does someone have a better idea? Will the impedence drop too low this way?

(2) Is there any way for the amplifier to trigger the CD power on, or does the amp remote work for both?

(3) What kind of cables will work to connect the balanced outputs of the CD player to the balanced inputs amp? Are they called XLR? Who makes them? I don't think they're coming with the stuff I bought.

Sorry to be such a greenhorn. Please be gentle with me.

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by Hard 8
(1) The S300 amplifier, which has not yet arrived, does not have preamp outputs or speaker B outputs, as far as I can tell. I am thinking to connect the main speaker wires to the amplifier binding posts using banana plugs, while simultaneously connecting the hi-level inputs of the subwoofer to the amp using spade lug connectors on the amplifier binding posts. Or does someone have a better idea? Will the impedence drop too low this way?
Click to expand...

Correct. I think the logic is that if you're spending this kind of money on an integrated, you're not going to use it as a pre-amp, nor try to supplement the (very capable) power section. The impedance won't be a problem as the sub, being active, will have a very high input impedance, which will pretty much not affect the load seen by the amplifier of the dynaudios.


(2) Is there any way for the amplifier to trigger the CD power on, or does the amp remote work for both?
Click to expand...

The amp remote will control the cd player through the remote control bus, NADlink, on the back panel.

(3) What kind of cables will work to connect the balanced outputs of the CD player to the balanced inputs amp? Are they called XLR? Who makes them? I don't think they're coming with the stuff I bought.
Click to expand...

Most cable companies offer XLR (the connector) versions of their higher-end cables, either off the shelf or by special order. Ask your local dealer, otherwise there's a few people here who might be able to help ;)
 
Thanks, Isaac. Sounds like I should be pretty much good to go, then. I just need some nice interconnects with XLR ends, and some kind of cable (does NAD sell it?) to connect the NAD-link on the amp, to the CD player.
 
NADlink just uses a normal stereo phono cable, so a freeby interconnect (the uber-cheap sort) is fine.
 

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