Yamaha NS 5000 w/ NAD M33

These Class D purifi amps are not terrible. 

*Down the line, I will certainly upgrade to something more suitable.

@oczed  I appreciate the response. I love Mola Mola's, but I can see how the Kula, at 150w, might leave you in the same position. 

Very curious about bridging the NAD M33 with M23. (It would provide 700w to my power hungry NS-5000's)

@oczed do you think that's too much? (700w)

I can’t really say as I’m not familiar with the NAD, but it should give you more than enough headroom.  But as I mentioned with the Kula, adding a sub was sufficient for me in lieu of adding more watts.  

If you’re still focused on improving the amp, I’d probably explore going with a higher end power amp altogether.  The Yamaha M-5000 would be the logical place to start.  

I own the NS5000.  What a speaker, I threw away the shipping boxes. My friend who has forgotten more about audio and music than I ever knew came over to my place to hear the NS5000.  He said the NS5000 was only bested by 2 other systems that he had heard and those cost $600k. 

I have heard the NAD M22 V2 in my home. It is not the same as the M33. I did not like the NAD M22 V2. I have tried a PeachTree GAN1 that was modded by Ric Shultz at EVS. It was not powerful enough at 200 watts.

I then tried the CODA #16 (what my friend heard). I also upgraded to the Audience FrontRow speaker cable. In terms of total satisfaction, I would say it was a 95/100 for me and likely 99/100 for my buddy. He is more of a tube guy. I would like the warmth of the #16 dialed back a tiny bit for me to say it was perfect. When I demoed it, I used the Holo Serene preamp.

I moved the CODA #16 to my office to pair with the $1000 Magnepan LRS+. What a combo. The brighter LRS+ works perfectly on my ears with the #16. I have hooked up 2 preamps to the CODA #16 (it has a switch) and I am blown away how good this sounds (not as good as the NS5000). I am using the Holo Serene preamp and the Schitt Mjolnir v3 preamp from 2023. Unfortunately, I am not taking the #16 away from the LRS+.

On the NS5000 I am doing a shootout with a stereo Benchmark AHB2. This amp will be close to the sound of the NAD M33. As someone who has owned AHB2 monos I will say that the volume on the NS5000 would be better served by monos over the single stereo. Sound wise there is not much difference with stereo and mono AHB2.

The other amp in the shootout is the Sanders Magtech (which used to be on the LRS+). The Sanders is a much better match to the NS5000 over the AHB2. In fact, the AHB2 is going up for sale later tonight. There is a bit of hardness in the sound that I am now attributing to the AHB2 and nothing upstream. I now am using the Schitt Yggi+ Less is More DAC and the hardness is not too bad, but it is still there. The Sanders does not exhibit this issue. I am using the Benchmark LA4 preamp for the NS5000 (also long term)

The Sanders is likely a stop gap for me though I could see it being a long-term solution.  The amp that I think will work great on the NS5000 for my more neutral preferences is the new SimAudio 761 or 861 from the North Collection. There is a local dealer that carries both the NS5000 and the North Collection and I will demo this later in the year.

I have also heard the Yamaha 5000 series gear with the NS5000. I think the CODA is much better.  I am also looking at other CODA amps to see if I can get that 5% dissatisfaction eliminated.

The NS5000 is not too hard to drive so there are lots of amp choices. I am going for a perfect fit (like the #16 and LRS+) so I have a few more amps to try out.

I see you asked about power. My Sanders is 500 | 900 watts # 8 and 4 Class AB. The CODA #16 is 150 | 300 | 600 at 8 | 4 | 2 and has 100 watts in Class A. It also has a massive power supply. I think the CODA is the more powerful amp.

The 100-watt AHB2 was surprising powerful with the NS5000 but that extra power of the other 2 amps gives a bigger soundstage.

Yes, more power helps the NS5000 but is not essential and depends on the music you play.

@adamaxel I noticed on your photo that you have the tweeters on the outside. That is supposed to give a bigger sound stage and a bit less imaging. I have the tweeters on the inside and have not tried it the other way. 

Have you tried both ways?