NAD 316BEE vs. 326BEE

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fmalloy

Member
I am looking at both of these amps. I have Klipsch Heresy III speakers with 99dB sensitivities, so the greater power of the 326 is not necessarily required. I also don't think I need the extra features of the 326. All I need is two aux inputs, no phono, etc.

I downloaded the service manuals for each, and man, the power amp section schematics are very different. The 326 is much more complex with many more components and transistors in the signal path. I like the idea of more minimal components thinking the amp would sound cleaner...is this wrong thinking?
 
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Welcome to AK!

I have the 326BEE and love it for what it does. Plays much bigger and with greater authority than one would assume a 50W amp could sound. Read the reviews on the interweb for other opinions That said I'm using it with my Elac Unifi B5s in a medium sized living room. They are relatively inefficient at 85dB. More than enough power with the Heresys. The lower power new version of the 3020 might be worth considering, too.

As far what would sound better/cleaner, in theory simpler is better. But that is not always the case, unfortunately.

If I had a pair of Heresys (and while I don't generally like Klipsch,for some reason I've wanted a pair of Heresys since college), I'd be looking a low-powered luscious sounding tube amps. Wish I knew of a one that was inexpensive to recommend.

Despite what I said above, I have heard some hopped up Fortes and later models sound very very nice in the right carefully matched and tweaked systems.

Good luck with your search.

PS I'm smitten with a pair of the current Capitol Edition Heresys in that lovely light blonde finish but I really don't need another pair of speakers.
 
they are both good sounding amps...i use the NAD C316BEE with ELac Debut B6 speakers & the combo has great synergy...cant go wrong with either for the price range.
 
Thanks guys!

I was amazed how different the designs are from so many aspects. For example, the 326 uses relays to switch the input sources, and the 316 uses a CPU chip to do it. And the amplifiers are so different as well...
 
Yes you are not wrong - these are both lovely little amps which are very underrated, both sonically and by specification. People have noted in the past that they all have a 'NAD sound' and that the preamp sections let them down. The solid state switching was replaced with input relays in higher versions as these solid state switches are prone to developing switching noise. The C326 has a lot of power amp circuitry which has nothing to do with amplification. The soft clipping and ISC circuits are quite complex and most people don't use them anyway. The NAD amps use a fully complementary driver circuit with separate regulated supplies for the VA section. Very complex, very clever and very good.
I have a C320 which I only use as a preamp. I first modified by doing the 'BEE' mods to the preamp which actually made little difference to the sound. I then removed those nasty little 'clean preamp modules' and replaced them with OPamp based circuits. The difference was incredible. The sound quite literally opened up. The original modules are class A 3 transistor emitter follower designs with a jfet front end. They suffer from about 400mV DC offset at their outputs which necessitates fitting blocking capacitors in series with them. Do not remove these as you will cause no end of problems if you do. This combination gives the classic NAD smooth rolled off sound. Using devices with no DC offset I was then able to remove all of these in-line blocking capacitors (apart from a small 2uF film cap at the preamp output for stability with connecting cables).
Personally I love these little NAD amps.
 
Wow, thanks for the detail Powertech!

So I'm guessing I can get an improvement in quality over my cheap 100wpc Sony receiver based on a "Power Drive" IC feeding discrete power transistors...? I'm thinking the "NAD sound" might pair well with the Klipsch, which can sometimes be harsh sounding with certain recordings...

If we put aside the power difference (I don't need the extra power), the extra features, and cost, which would be the better sounding amp? 326 because of the input relays? I was also reading the 326 runs hot and had problems with the protection being overly sensitive...reliability is important to me...
 
Quite a few of the NADs run quite hot. It's down to the design of the power amp driver circuits. You might notice some transistors with individual heatsinks fitted. That's where the heat comes from - it's quite normal. The 326 is probably the better amp, and you are quite right about the ISC current limiting circuits sometimes being oversensitive. There is a process for adjusting these. Various people have mentioned NAD reliability, but I have always found them to be pretty good - I have had 5 NAD amps over the years without problems. If recapping or modifying the C3XX series amps, be aware that the circuit board foils are quite delicate and easy to damage.
 
I finally got the 326BEE to pair with my Klipsch Heresy IIIs. While I can't do an A/B/X comparison, my impressions are a) a fuller bass response, and b) a less harsh midrange than my cheap Sony receiver. One thing about the design is that it seems the output level seems to top out at 12 o'clock on the dial.
 
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