Ulisse

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I took it to sibstitute a DIY tube preamplifier that with in other chains is very good but not in my chain 'cause was not able to drive my Pass Aleph5 power amp. The input impedance of the Pass is quite low (10kohm) and needs a stronger signal from the preamp to be driven properly. The Alpha5 is very, very transparent and changes its sound as you change every piece of the chain (incl. cables). So I can have an affordable comparison between a tube/a solid state preamp, even though this NAD 1155 costs a third or less than a midprice tube preamp.
With the NAD every problem of driving the power amp (as lacking bass and dynamic) is resolved: it has a powerful, deep bass, a very strong attack and also with heavy metal the Pass Alpha 5 (pure class A single-ended, sound neutral but very very gorgeous) is powerful, powerful, powerful. It seems that with the NAD Alpha has not 50watts x channel but 100 or more... thre bass becomes incredible deep and precise (no booming, no codas at all) ; iwith classical music is limpid and transparent with a soundstage not so deep as the tube preamp but very good for the money (and the age). The jazz voices are present and materializing, maybe merit of the excellent Pass power amp. The controls are very well done but not so useful in my chain; there is a very functional bass equalizer that you can defeat or can use to adjust the bass on 3 different frequencies. The loudness I've never used, the sound is nearly perfect without any modification.
The phono (MM and MC) is very good, much better f.e. that a Denon or a Pioneer consumer amp.
Is it better than a tube preamp? I don' t know in other chains; maybe it lacks just a little bit of smoothness in midrange, maybe its sound is a little little dry on this range, you can realize after a minute that is a solid state preamp. But for the money.....

tom

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $100.00 from local

Summary:
I have to say I am surprised there is only one review for this classic piece of beauty.
I had a friend Roger at CC Sounds in Waterville, Maine that used one years ago, and I had no idea how good it really was, but coupled with the NAD 2200 power amp I am getting incredible results. I had a nice setup before in a Yamaha CX-800 pre and Polaris Sumo, but this combo smokes it. Haven't had it that long but it definitely can compete with much more expensive equipment. Buy one! Extended bass and nice highs with not much strain.

Strengths:
Cost, Bass EQ, Loudness, Bass extension and control.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha,Sumo,Parasound

VermontGumby

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $120.00 from eBay

Summary:
This is my first review. Started getting back in to h-fi and found this site to be amazing. The reviews are generally right on and have helped me tremendously inf finding eqp. to add to my collection.
On to the 1155 review. I tried a Kenwood KC-207 and a rare Rockford-FosgateRF-200 pre-amps before getting the NAD 1155. The Kenwood wasn't even in the same league. The RF200 was nice but I found the 1155 to be clean, crisp and non-interfering. I hook them up to my DCM TF-600's and haven't even thought about playing with the bass/treble adjustments. I haven't owned any really high end pre-amps so can't say how it compares to them but for the mid-fi range of eqp. it is spectacular. Listeneing to the new Wallace Roney Jazz cd and the depth and clarity is wonderful.
Using the NAD 1155 Pre-Amp
Hafler DH-200 Amp
DCM TimeFrame TF600 speakers

Strengths:
Clarity - Neutraility. It just seems to get out of the way and let the recording come thru.

Weaknesses:
So far, none at this price level.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood KC207
RockfordFosgate RF200