Worth going from Nad 352 with B&w 705 to 5.1 system

bealehere

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As the title says really.

My current setup is a NAD C352 Amp with B&W 705s as the speakers and a Wharfdale sw150 to fill the bass the speakers can't do, which to be honest is not a huge amount as the speakers are great.

I am thinking about going to a 5.1 setup as I do watch quite a lot of film and tv shows, rarely TV itself, just shows streaming from my NAS Drive.

My living room is pretty much square in size with a fireplace pertruding from one wall with my TV to one side with all my hifi gear underneath.

My dilema is that I do not want a huge AV amp really as the NAD is smallish and just fits in my tv cabinet with my Marantz CD player (that is likely to go as I do not use it at all) below. I was looking to get the Marantz Nr 1603, and use the setup to drive 2 smaller speakers in the kitchen as a zone 2 (although I would just do this because I have the amp, not that I need it as its only a small house.

I am however currently running my TV (Samsung 6710) as my network player for all my films on my NAS, so the audio is currently going through the Headphone out socket which is less than ideal, this is due to the fact the amp simply is just has analogue inputs and the tv has not audio out other than ARC or Digital.

I bought 2 Monitor Audio R90HD speakers off ebay at a bargain to try them out, and see what they sounded like, just in a 2.1 setup and I think the sound is much clearer than the B&w. The Bowers seem to have a much more warm sound, but voices are a little muffled sometimes with films.

My questions really are, is the sound going to be as good or better with the Marantz amp, and surround sound. Or even running it as a 3.1?

I don't want to spend all the money on a 5.1 setup only to realise i've wasted my time and money!

Sorry if my post seems a bit long winded and vague, just contemplating various options.

Thanks in advance
Rich
 
Last edited:
As the title says really.

My current setup is a NAD C352 Amp with B&W 705s as the speakers and a Wharfdale sw150 to fill the bass the speakers can't do, which to be honest is not a huge amount as the speakers are great.

I am thinking about going to a 5.1 setup as I do watch quite a lot of film and tv shows, rarely TV itself, just shows streaming from my NAS Drive.

My living room is pretty much square in size with a fireplace pertruding from one wall with my TV to one side with all my hifi gear underneath.

My dilema is that I do not want a huge AV amp really as the NAD is smallish and just fits in my tv cabinet with my Marantz CD player (that is likely to go as I do not use it at all) below. I was looking to get the Marantz Nr 1603, and use the setup to drive 2 smaller speakers in the kitchen as a zone 2 (although I would just do this because I have the amp, not that I need it as its only a small house.

I am however currently running my TV (Samsung 6710) as my network player for all my films on my NAS, so the audio is currently going through the Headphone out socket which is less than ideal, this is due to the fact the amp simply is just has analogue inputs and the tv has not audio out other than ARC or Digital.

I bought 2 Monitor Audio R90HD speakers off ebay at a bargain to try them out, and see what they sounded like, just in a 2.1 setup and I think the sound is much clearer than the B&w. The Bowers seem to have a much more warm sound, but voices are a little muffled sometimes with films.

My questions really are, is the sound going to be as good or better with the Marantz amp, and surround sound. Or even running it as a 3.1?

I don't want to spend all the money on a 5.1 setup only to realise i've wasted my time and money!

Sorry if my post seems a bit long winded and vague, just contemplating various options.

Thanks in advance
Rich
Better be long winded and clear than short but nobody knows what you are talking about. :thumbsup:

In short, you probably won't get the same sound quality with the Marantz. IIRC, the NAD 352 was pretty ex during its time. A surround amp most of the time will not be able to beat a hifi amp at the same price in term of sound quality.

What you probably can do is to get a surround amp to drive the centre and surround speakers and pre-out the front channels to the NAD to drive your best speakers.

And note that you (at least) need to timbre match the front 3 (front x 2 and centre), otherwise, it may end up sounding quite strange. Timbre matching generally leads to your using speakers not only of same brand but also of same series.

Having said all that, it depends on how tolerant you are with certain kind of sound. You may be completely fine with the Marantz quality for the front quality (in which case, where are you located and how much would you want for the NAD? :laugh:).
 
Hi there,

I decided not to go for the smaller system Marantz Amp and have bought the Quad L-ites that Digger from the forum was selling that were just the satellites,

I am going to continue to use the Wharfdale Sub until I can afford something better like a BK Electrics.

Having the Quads set up in a 2.1 from my NAD amp I actually love the sound of them for their size they are great. I have also ordered a Denon AVR-2113 to power them and get a new tv stand to accomodate the new amp.

I shall see how I like the sound once it is all set up, but seeing as the NAD amps dont tend to go for much these days I may just end up keeping it for when I get a bigger house and may have use for it in another room.

I will be selling the B&W's though, but if they don't sell they will be being kept as well as I do like them and took me a while to find some in Black.

I will post back when I have the Receiver set up tomorrow :D
 

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