Price-performance, soft clipping

Useless front handles

Arcam Alpha 9 CD player, Creek passive preamp 'level control,' Boston 930T full range speakers, Transparent Wave/Links... THE POOR AUDIOPHILE'S transitional system!
Yes, you can pick this one up under a grand and you'll be more than satisfied for home theater in at least two channels.
Audio? Well, let's say it will do until I have at least $4k to drop into a new one. The circuitry and tweaks which make this THX compliant don't appease the audio listener.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom

Comes from a great name in audio

Extremely poor quality control.

In the year that I have owned this piece of crap, it has has rarely worked and is a complete lemon. The amp did not work when it arrived. I had it serviced and they couldn't find any serious damage, but claimed that one of the fuses must have been broken during the install. It worked fine for a few months and then out again. Again, they could find anything wrong, so they replaced the fuses and it worked fine for awhile. Now both channels output zero. I have always loved NAD products and have a 5 channel THX that rocks (warm and reliable). This model is a lemon and should be avoided. I read warnings that the quality of NAD was slipping, but ignored them. This is the worst piece of audio equipment that I have ever purchased and likely to be the last NAD product that I will ever buy. Hopefully, I can save some money and replace the piece of crap.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound

Fabulous build. Spartan, solid design. Gorgeous sound.
This amp knows it's stuff !

Runs a bit hot after extended listing at high volumes. It needs to breathe.
Watch those sharp edges on those cooling fins !

This amp is excellent value for money. There will always be better amps, but for the design, build, quality and performance, the 218 is a tough act to follow.
The soundstage is remarkably accurate and revealing for a product that is just $1,100 and the sound does not fatigue the listener, even during long sessions...always a sign of a good amp. Power ? - it's got enough to go around, for a decent size listening room and sounds good at low volumes too. Partner with a good preamp (use good balanced cables) and this amp will deliver the goods.
Has a soft clipping mode - protects your tweeters when you have that loud party ! Make sure your speakers can comfortably handle what this amp throws at them. Biwiring does help open the midband significantly.
Buy this product without apprehension and enjoy the music !

Similar Products Used:

Arcam, Rotel

Power,price

none

This is a great amp. I use it as the front chanel in a 5.1 system through a NAD T770 to power NHT 2.9's. Sounds great with music as well as movies. Great soundstage and bass.
Amps like bryston and classe' are nice but save your money.

Performance, Build Quality, Soft Clipping

None

This is a very quiet and powerful amp. It has outstanding bass, warmth and detail. Should have no problem driving any difficult speakers. Built like tank, with great styling. An Excellent Value !!

Similar Products Used:

Carver TFM35

Bass, power, cost

thick midbass

OK, I'll get right to the point this amp is perfect if you are on a tight audio budget and have speakers that love lots of power. The unit has great bass, no-nonsense styling, open sound stage, and a good sound reproduction on a wide range of music. The only real solid state competition in its price range is the Rotel 991. Compared to higher priced amps like the Bryston 4BST ($2395), the NAD mid bass sound thicker, highs not as extended and detailed and the bass in not as tight. But hey, it cost less then half! Who's complaining. Great buy and great amp. Mono-blocked it pumps out a staggering 700+ watts. Although powerful mono-blocked I'd take the extra money to buy a second unit and put it towards a new amp. Remember two NADs are going to cost you about $2,000. Although you won't find a more powerful solution for less, two NADs don't stand up against the best of the $2,000 competition.

Tons of reserve power. Tight bass with no mud. Excellent localization and soundstaging. Extremely revealing - sounds effortless - no small feat at the price. This sucker can get loud. A killer value.

I haven't gotten around to picking up another one to run bridged...

See strengths above...

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GFA 555II, Adcom GFA 5400, Carver TFM 35X, HK integrated, Nak Receiver 2, the list goes on...

Power, precision and flow!This is a powerful amp, able to drive the most
difficult of speaker loads!

4 stars for sound, and an extra for price/performance!

Great Amplifier. I have a pair of Carver's AL III+ ribbon speakers and was driving my system with just their AV-806x, but after auditioning the addition of this amp to soley drive AL 3's, there was simply no comparison. I have a tough load-- 4 ohms [4!], with min of 100 wpc, but the AL3's have max of 500 wpc -- and this amp does wonderfully.

Read

Read

Introduction

What's almost 10 pounds heavier, about the same size as the NAD 208THX power amplifier, and differs by one character in the model number? If you guessed the 218THX, you're right. The 208THX still sits on top of NAD's power amplifier range, and the 218THX is more conservatively rated at 200W (225W USA version) into 8 ohms compared to the 208THX's 250W into 8 ohms. Also, when bridged, the 208THX puts out a shocking 1.8kW of power instantaneously into a 4 ohm load, while the 218THX is "only" rated at 1.2kW. Lastly, the 208THX costs US$1,699 compared to the 218THX's US$999.

So why the two "similar" models? I communicated with NAD's Cas Oostvogel, and it seems although physically the 218THX is bigger and heavier (due mainly to the size of the larger "Holmgren" toroidal transformer), it puts out current from a stiffer transformer, while the 208THX utilizes a dual rail system. Hence, the 208THX is able to supply more current instantaneously than the 218THX due to its more efficient design and operation. Also, as you probably know by now (if you don't, please go read the review of the 208THX which was published in May, 1996, here in Secrets), the 208THX uses MOSFET output devices which are felt to sound more "musical", although less powerful per device, than bipolar-type devices.

Despite this, the 218THX's transformer weighs a very hefty 10.5kg (that's more than 23lbs, about half the weight of the whole amp!!) The 218THX uses a total of 8 capacitors (type not indicated) with a total of close to 40,000uF (each 4,700uF). Using 8 small caps instead of 2 large ones gives the advantage of lower ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) and ESI (Equivalent Series Inductance), meaning a low power supply output impedance and a faster recovery time; this, explained Cas, should result in a better sounding amp.

Also, the 218THX's input stages are fed from a separate low-noise regulated supply; together with a carefully laid out PCB and "star" grounding, this results in a very noise-free output. And as my auditions show, the 218THX is absolutely quiet; no trace of irritating hum, even when used with the sometimes-hummy Audio Alchemy DLC.

So you're out looking for an amp for that home theater and you listen to music as well. Should you buy the 218THX or shell out an extra US$700 for the 208THX? Hopefully, this more in-depth look at the 218THX and how it compares with the 208THX will help you with this decision.

Front and Back

I must say the 218THX is about 30% more handsome than it's more powerful brother (actually 29.74825% according to calculations on my pocket sized Cray Computer). It now comes with a pair of very muscular-looking handles. On the front are the customary NAD LED indicators for Soft-Clipping Switch status and Power. Below the vertical array of LED's is the power button; when you power up the 218THX, the Power LED goes red initially but flips to green when "all's well" is detected (i.e., no shorts, no faults). Accompanying this red-green transition is something I like very much about the 218THX: the very loud and re- assuring "CLICK" of the protective relays dis-engaging. When I say loud, I mean it can be heard easily, from at least 12 feet across a room with two noisy toddlers screaming as loud as their lungs can pump out air (who needs an amp?).

Moving to the back, you see where money hasn't been spent (I hesitate to say "wasted" because that's a matter of opinion) on multiple sets of expensive speaker binding posts and the like. There are sets of balanced and unbalanced (RCA) line-level inputs as well as one pair (per channel) of speaker binding posts which take banana's or spades. Gone are the pair of hinged flaps that many people disliked on the 208THX. When we wired up the 208THX for comparison (my thanks to John Tan, an old friend who's now the Asia Pacific Sales Director for NAD, for the loaner), getting the speaker termination (in my case, banana's) in was not a problem; however this left the flaps almost at a 90 degree angle to the rear panel, which is a pain if you haven't got the space at the rear.

On the rear panel, you also get some slide switches for balanced/unbalanced operation and Soft-Clipping on/off. I did all the auditioning unbalanced (the input connections, not me!) direct from my Audio Alchemy DLC, and I left the Soft-Clipping switch off. My Mirage's M1090is were driven full range.

Music...

I used music that was quite dynamic first (this was also to facilitate break-in, as Cas suggested the 218THX needs about 40hrs of it). Well, he's right. More about this in a while. Out of the box, it was certainly very, very impressive, in that loud transients were cogently reproduced, having all the impact you could ever want. I used the Wilson Audio recording of "Winds of War and Peace" on WCD-8823 (Lowell Graham conducting the National Symphonic Winds) to determine if the 218THX could make the Mirages' flex the solid hollow-block concrete wall behind my listening area like my HSU sub can. With the HSU silent, the 218THX rattled my brains; I normally stretch my neck and lean the back of my head against the wall during this particular passage about a minute into track 1 (Liberty Fanfare). It didn't shudder the room quite as convincingly as the HSU does when it's playing, but the Mirages', driven full-range by my Audiolab, have never done this (happens only when played loud, which the Audiolab doesn't take too well to driving the Mirages' full-range).

On recordings with a strong and sustained bass line, the 218THX never let the Mirages' do their own thing. It dictated start-and-stop, especially of the four 6.5" woofers in the pair of Mirages. And again, this didn't change when I turned up the volume. It maintained this iron-grip as loud as I could stand. This was apparent on recordings such as Mickey Hart's new "Mystery Box" (Rykodisc RCD 10338), which is a fun CD. This is a good "crank it up" recording.

When I tried something less visceral (like the last track O Vazio, Tropic Affair on Reference Recordings RR-31CD) during the break-in, I found the presentation ever so slightly forward compared to the Audiolab. Images also tended to cluster in the vicinity of the two loudspeakers, even on recordings that present a very stable centrally placed image when reproduced by the Audiolab. I also tried some pink noise, and this proved to be slightly uplifted in the upper midrange and lower treble. Also, though extended, the very top end (which I believe you may not be able to hear, but instead perceive as airiness) tended to be a little grainy, again compared to the modestly-powered but very neutral Audiolab. This grain was apparent in that air didn't sound quite like air reproduced by a more neutral amplifier but instead sounded more like (slight) tape hiss.

This was present on most recordings. I decided to give the 218THX more time with LOUD music...

and Cinema

In the meantime, I watched movies with the 218THX again driving my Mirages full-range. The usual bass-workout movies like "True Lies", "Clear and Present Danger", "Twister", "Seven", all took turns in the Pioneer. Dolby Digital duty (DD or AC-3) was performed by the Marantz DP-870.

Truly impressive is how I would describe the experience. Bass had impact, effects were extremely startling if that was how it was on the LD. And that scene from "Heat" (if you've watched the movie, you know the ONE I mean!) If you've never played this movie loud, you don't know what you are missing. After the (long) shoot-out, you can almost smell the gunpowder and see where the bullets went!

Even during the initial hours of my time spent with the 218THX on movies, I noticed it's crisp upper-mids/treble, especially on soundtracks that were so. However, as I logged more hours, I thought it began to bother me less and less, until I hardly noticed it. Overall, however, the 218THX's 200 wpc were extremely valuable on demanding soundtracks, especially those with aggressive Dolby Digital mixes. After getting through the initial brightness, I was mostly caught up with what the 218THX did so well, that of doing full justice to the intense bass- punch and excitement of Dolby Digital soundtracks (mostly).

After the Fire

When I went back to music on the 218THX after almost 2 weeks of movies with intense sound tracks, I found the presentation still more forward than I prefer. However, that brightness in the mids/treble was now hardly noticeable. Whether I simply got used to it or otherwise, I can't say, but if I did, then it must have been a minor problem and hardly one to detract from the things the 218THX does right.

Compared to the 208THX

I found the 218THX to be even more of a muscle amp than the 208THX, which itself has earned accolades throughout the home theater world for it's superb performance as a bass amplifier (Tom Norton of Stereophile uses the 208THX to drive the enormous Snell SUB-1800's). In my opinion, the 218THX is the 208THX and more when it comes to meeting the demands of "here's my invitation"- type sudden explosions! When I watched this "True Lies" scene, the 218THX launched a wave into the room that pushed me back into my chair and held me there for an instant, something I didn't get to the same measure with the 208THX.

However, where the 218THX is firmly trounced is in the area of subtlety, resolution and liquidity, especially with music like the Golden String's original All- Star Percussion Ensemble. Using the 218THX, you would concentrate on the clarity and accurate reproduction of these percussive transients, and with the 208THX, you would also marvel at the beauty of these different types of instruments and simply enjoy the recording more. At the same time, these instruments take on more of a "body" when portrayed by the 208THX, and less that of a recorded entity.

Conclusion

For the money (US$999, S$1,350), I don't think you can realistically expect much better than the NAD 218THX's combination of high power control throughout the deep, mid and upper bass as well as most of the midrange and accuracy from there on upwards. It lacked the smoothness of the very best (in my case, the Audiolab and NAD's own 208THX were the comparison amps, so "very best" means them), but if you can live with this, the 218 is tough to beat. So, I give the 218 a hearty recommendation.

P.S. With regard to the 218THX's THX certification, this is only true if the amp is used with bridging set "off" and the unbalanced inputs are off. This contrasts with the 208THX's certification even when bridged (don't know about the input used).