NAD 925THX Amplifiers

NAD 925THX Amplifiers 

DESCRIPTION

Power Amplifier

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-8 of 8  
[Mar 29, 2000]
Drew
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Clean, power rating is very conservative.

Weakness:

It's not built like a $4,000 Bryston (doesn't cost $4,000 either).

In its class (5 channel amps less than $4,000) it performs as well as anything you can buy. With an unlimited budget, Bryston and ATI rock, but for 5 channel performance at a quarter of the price, the NAD is definitely the way to go. The sound is neutral and clean (like Rotel), and no where near as bright or forward as the Adcom (which would be a bad match for Klipsch, B&W, NHT or Polk speakers). Has the power to really make the bass snap quickly and the midrange and tweeter are clean. This is an excellent amp. I'm using this amp for my center, rear and side speakers in a 7 speaker system, but if I had smaller bookshelf speakers (rather than large towers that can eat 300w per channel for breakfast) I would not hesitate to use the NAD in a 5 channel system. NAD has a reputation for building equipment designed for those who value the sound of their equipment above all of the frills. This amp is no exception, plenty of clean power that sounds far better than anything except the truely elite (and expensive) equipment like Bryston and ATI.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound, Outlaw, Adcom, Rotel

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 02, 2000]
Mike
Audiophile

Strength:

Good amount of power, easy to use.

Weakness:

Input sleeves pull off, weird noises.

I bought this amp because it was cheap and sounded decent. I like the sound now that it has broken in for a while, though I really don't have much to compare it too.
Electronics:
Acurus ActIII
NAD925THX
Panasonic A300 DVD
Sony MDP LD
Audioquest Turquoise Interconnects
MIT speaker cables

I have no complaints whatsoever about power. The sound is clean, very warm (good and bad), and staging is great. Bass could be tighter, high end and midrange are clean and clear.

My one complaint about this peice is that interconnects that have tight grips just rip the sleeve right off of the input connector. This is bogus and should never happen.

I bought this amp for $750 and I'd say nothing can beat it for the price.

Similar Products Used:

Acurus 125x5

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 03, 2000]
John
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Plenty of clean power

Weakness:

none

This amp is one of the great buys in home theater. It is conservatively rated and has a great sound. I was leaning heavily towards buying parasound, but the NAD was considerably less expensive and had a far better sound (warm). Adcom and ATI are far too bright for me (they may be fine for Rock music but don't cut it for good jazz). for smooth, clean power, I highly recommend this amp.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 18, 2001]
Dale
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Solid build, nice soundstage, clarity of sound, ease of use.

Weakness:

Huh?

Very clean, and gobs of power. I am using a T751 receiver
as a preamp/processor and it works out just great.
I only have an M&K 750THX speaker system, so it would seem the amp would be wasted on such small mains and surrounds.
(The sub has a built-in amp).
But in fact it does offer an added degree of impact, especially for movies, and still retains the natural sound for music, but a bit on the warm side. This balances out the M&Ks very nicely.
It's built like a tank too. I had to pop off the top and check out the workmanship, which is excellent. A well thoughout design using convection cooling (no fan) and it reamins only warm afte hours of driving my speakers. The mains by the way, are 4 ohms. But no selector swtich to deal with as the NAD sense the speaker load and adjusts the supply voltage accordingly. A toroid transformer to die for, flanked with 2 computer grade 25,000 fd capacitors.
Great amp for a more than fair price. Unless you have dull sounding speakers. audition this one for your system.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom, Parasound (listened to these).

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 08, 2001]
Dale
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

fair price, overall sound quality is neutral

Weakness:

build quality

Gee, I gave it such a glowing report only to come back now and tell you a couple of weeks later a channel on this amp went out.
I popped the top just to see if it was something obvious. In the course of investigating, a single wire solder terminal came off in my hand. It was a cold solder joint. I repaired it myself, but it did not fix the channel problem.
The fuses are buried on channel boards inaccessible without removing the board or a special tool. Believe me, I have been in electronics engineering/manufacturing for over 20 years, those channel boards do not snap out.
So I shipped it off to the dealer where it remained for over a month. The last I heard the tech was still waiting to get a schematic for it.
The dealer agreed it was not a good situation and offered me some recourse. It ended up being a B&K amplifier , the 3 channel 3220.
No comparision in performance or build quality.
I bragged about 2 big caps at 25,000 mfd each in the 5 channel NAD. The B&K has an even larger toroid, and 4 each 15,000 mfd. caps. (only 3 channels.. remember?)
The 925 is designed in the UK and built in the US. The B&K is designed and built in the US. Go figure.
But based on my experience I would stay away. Go for a Rotel, B&K, Anthem, ATI, etc.. whatever best matches your speakers.
It hurts me to say that as a NAD T751 owner I use now as a pre/pro for my B&K. But the receiver sounds as good as the 925, as well as having superior build quality.

Similar Products Used:

B&K 3220

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[Nov 22, 1998]
markl
an Audio Enthusiast

Having recently joined the world of "audiophiles", I have invested a lot of money in my system. I started with Cambridge Soundworks, a company that sells "direct" to you and employs hard-sell marketing techniches to prove that their gear is of "audiophile" quality. I am here to say that this is garbage! I purchased their Tower 2 Speakers and Center Stage center channel and was completely disappointed. Exposure to these awful products led me to seek out truely excelent gear. I sold my Cambridge Soundworks gear and purchased PSB. I bought the PSB Stratus Goldi for the main and the PSB C6 for a center channel. The amount of improvement is unbelievable! This system was worth every penny! My philosophy toward amplifiers had been the following: amplifiers have a relatively simple job to do, take the source signal and amplify it. i did not believe that there was s difference in amplifiers; I belived that the source was all that mattered.
To this end, I purchased the least expensive 5-channel amp I could find, the NAD-925-THX. It is rated at 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms. This might have seemed a rather weak counterpart to the Citation 5.0 Pre-amp that accompanied it; however, I belived that the source was everything. My mistake. The NAD 925THX is fine for movies; it delivers what you'de expect. However for 2-channel stereo, I felt that there was something missing. I wondered if my CD-player was at fault-- I use a MarantCD67-SE in conjuntion with an MSB "Link DAC". I find that the DAC adds detail and separation to the music, but the NAD amplifier could not properly exploit these advantages. The decision was clear: replace the amp or replace the CD player. I found it hard to belive the source was at fault. Nevertheless, I agreed to give the ATI 1505 a try thanks to the excellent reviews it has received here. My bias is toward music over home-theater; I am hard to please in 2-channel stereo, but easy to please in 5-channel home-theater.
Unexpectedly, the ATI1505 delivered exactly what I wanted; in your face midrange and treble. It emphasizes the voices in music as well as delivering excellent bass. I have no hesitation recomending this over the NAD. It delivers details the NAD overlooked. Again, being a believer in the power of the source, I am quite surprised at the excellence of the ATI1505 amplifier. It truly yields more "up-front" vocals as well as delivering superior bass performance to the NAD.
I have choice but to recommend the ATI1505 over the NAD925-THX. If you like laid-back sonics, the NAD is for you, but if you prefer a more in-your-face attitude, I recommend the ATI.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
[Jan 06, 1999]
Dat
a Casual Listener

I recently purchased the NAD 925THX for around $900. My dealer
friend assured me that it would satisfy me musically. The
power, he claimed, is more than enough. I took one look at it
and told him that he was out of his mind, the unit was gray
and really ugly in my opinion. But I gave in and took the unit
home, besides, it's only amp, it's not suppose to be pretty.

After 3 months of using this amp, I am one satisfied customer.
This was the most power I have ever had put through my NHT VT1.2
and the result was fantastic. It is known that NHTs can be very
bright sounding, so refering to the Markl's review, I need
an amp with "laid back sonics". I had considered the AT1505, but
the lowest I could find it at was $1400.

If price is the #1 priority, go for the NAD 925THX!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
[Jan 18, 1999]
mike nolledo
an Audiophile

Essentially identical to the carver AV-705x. Have heard both and exxentially sound the same which is pretty good as the carver was a good amp. In normal listening rooms, essentially unlimited power and can play as loud as you dare.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
Showing 1-8 of 8  

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