How much power have you got under the hood?

Well everyone, good news i just ordered my new amp, I decided on the NAD C-370, its going to be great i cant wait to hook it up, Thanks for all the help

The MF had a warm sound akin to traditional (i.e. old) tubes, with some off the roll-off of those tubes. Note: with SPENDOR speakers (that's all I remember). Also, I don't remember the MF being fast... I do NOT remember MF having similar sound to Nads -- hopefully others can enlighten on this?

Now, I know this is not helping a bunch, but $450 isn't frightfully expensive either (in this sport, that is).

Good luck!

Yesterday i was just browsing the Demo items at Audio Advisor and a certain amp caught my eye, its a Musical Fidelity X-A1 50 wpc 8 ohm,100 wpc 4 ohm. integrated amp with outboard power suppy. I am tempted to buy it for the $450.00 price tag. But i dunno, I know the nads more powerfull amp would be nice, but what do you think of this?. If nobody really thinks thats a good amp then i guess i will have to go with the NAD C-370....

NAD Quotes 450 wpc "dynamic power" into 2 0hm load for the C-370. Other more expensive amps may offer gains in different areas, but power will not be a problem. Dont think you can do better for the money.

3.5 watts. And LOUD.

It's important to know at least the nominal impedence of your speakers (in ohms). 4 ohm speakers require twice the watts to produce the same volume as 8 ohm speakers. But speakers typically have an impedence "range", ie from 4 to 16 ohms. The power rating of amplifiers are typically based on how many watts they will produce into an 8 ohm load. But when amplifier shopping, I want to know (at least) both the 8 ohm and 4 ohm power output of an amp. Your 130 watt receiver would rated for an 8 ohm load, and it may not put out any more than that into a 4 ohm load.

I use a McCormack DNA-2 Rev. A that is rated at 300 wpc into 8 ohms, 600 into 4 ohms, and 1200 into 2 ohms. My speakers have a noninal impedence of 5-6 ohms. I do not consider this to much power, and I agree with Bob B. above that too little power is worse than too much. NAD amps typically have "stiff" power supplies, but you'd still want the bigger one, especially if you like your music loud. Good Hunting. Craig

The higher powered NAD will sound better. If you are buying new, I like Rotel too. You may do even better buying used.
Nothing against NAD, my first amp was the original 3020, I loved it.

Following on Bob above, don't exclude used items (Nads or similar, since you have chosen Nad) where you may get more hpower for the buck... Emphasis on "clean", rather than "raw", power. Distorted sound CAN damage speaker units even if it comes from a 0,5kW amp (OK, it's rare).

It is much easier to blow a speaker with an underpowered amp than with an amp spec'd to at least rated speaker power handling, preferably more, or even much more especially if you like it loud. For example my speakers are rated 100 w/ch so I like around 200 w/ch amp with them. Right now I'm running 150 w/ch but that's not enough. Another amp I have is rated 350/ch but with rated 2dB headroom it pushes more like 550/ch before clipping. That one I have never heard distort & won't blow a speaker coil because I never run into clipping, which is what really kills your speakers. With a 250watt speaker, go for all the clean power that you can reasonably afford.