EMO vs. NAD - l budget question.

[scott911]

To drive some old but awesome 90's THIEL speakers (CS2) I just bought, I'm looking for a recommendation.

option 1 - NAD C 326BEE refurb that I can get for about $400. It's an integrated amp. done!
option 2 - Emotiva upa-200 for $300, but need to get a pre-somewhere. tired of shopping, want to listen!

I did actually get a HK 3490 integrated amp largely on recommendation of this site, but that didn't do it for me. The THIEL's came across as too tiring to listen to. And to my ears, the on board HK DAC wasn't doing anything more than a consumer level sony cd player's analog output. The HK did improve pretty significantly when I temporarily fed it an analogy signal from an EMO DAC. But I'm sending the HK back because the electronic core of the system shouldn't nee me to 'fix' it on day one, not to mention that I don't want to spend more cash on a dac right now.

On another system, I have all EMO, including mono amps - I've very happy with that. But, the NAD comes recommend by a former THIEL guy who's heard 50 plus CS2 set-up over the years. The NAD also comes with sub out which may interest me in the future... after all - I did win audioholic's SVS giveaway a few years back... this THIEl guy's never heard Emotiva btw...

Hoping for some comparisons with those who have used both NAD and Emo.

Many, many thanks - my fingers are raw from pulling cables and trying my best to A/B... !

 

[jinjuku]

I've never heard a bad thing about the particular NAD and many a positive.

 

[anamorphic96]

The NAD should do the trick just fine as long as the room is not huge or your pushing lease breaking levels. The pre-out and main-in are nice features on the NAD. Good luck.

 

[vardo]

I really like NAD products. That integrated will put out 50 watts of continuous power,
but I don't think that's enough to drive those THIEL speakers to a very loud level
because they are rated at 87db (pretty hard to drive).

Maybe to a medium level in a small room.

Great speakers BTW.

vardo