NAD M2 with Sonus Faber Cremona Ms

The speakers are very much better than the amp....

I would look at Musical Fidelity as well. I had the M6i integrated driving my SF Auditors and I thought it sounded great! Very organic. Some of the older MF amps and integrated can be found on here for a very reasonable price.

I find it interesting that the NAD amp's "goodness" is being measured by its price tag. This is ridiculous. It is either a good amp with good specs. and sufficient current to drive the speakers or it isn't, the price is irrelevant...

-RW-

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Some of those amps look like good possibilities.

Rlwainwright - Do you think the NAD is sufficient to drive the Cremona M?

Rlwainwright - Please calm down.I like NAD gear. This unit has good specs, although from the specs I cannot tell how it handles a 4 ohm load, which is what the Cremona M specs give for its nominal impedance. I would just like to see a spec other than >150 for both 4 and 8 ohms. Just did some looking. According to Stereophile, it does 165 watts at 8 ohms, 250 watts at 4 ohms, which is good but not great for 4 ohms. I did find some references to some people having concerns with the unit when impendence dropped below 4 ohms, which may well happen with the M. I believe this has a Class D power stage.

The NAD is undoubtedly a very good unit. But the Cremona M are very fine speakers. My conjecture, and that is all it is, is that something like an Ayre VX-V would bring out more in the Cremona M than the NAD would, although, as I said, I have not heard either. That does not mean the Cremona might not sound pretty good with the NAD. I just think you can probably get somewhat better performance with some other gear.

Note that we are talking about integrateds, not power amps. The sound it produces with the M depends on more than just ability to deliver current.

I have a lot of SF speakers, although not the M. My experience is that SF is often somewhat finicky about electronics, although the M was designed to be less finicky than previous speakers. When I got my amp for my Cremona I tested several before finding the one I liked. And they were all high current amps.

I understand that lesser priced equipment can preform very well. But, without some real comparisons I would not automatically assume, based on its specs, that it would bring out the best in the M. If it in fact sounds as good or better than $10K integrates, that would be great.

On the side, if you want great specs at low prices, try Emotiva. A lot of poeple like them. You can get 250 watt at 8 ohm and 400 ohm at 4 ohm for $389 per monoblock. But I am not sure I would put them up against the likes of Ayre, BAT, Conrad Johnson, Levinson, etc. for driving the Cremona M.