nad 3130 with carver mxr130

[bsarweh]

Hello All,

I'm new here having recently returned to home audio. If anyone has time, I was wondering if I could use a Carver MXR130 together with a NAD 3130 with two sets of speakers. If so, I would appreciate any instructions you could give, as I've never done the "pre-amp" thing before. Thanks in advance.

Basel

[jocko_nc]

I asume you want to use the Carver as a preamp and NAD is a power amp.

I used a similar Carver for many, many years. In the end, it may have been worse-for-wear (I was brutal to it in my youth), but I do not think it was very good as a pre-amp. It had it good points: Great power. Great FM tuner. Great package. I would use it the other way, a good AVR for a preamp, the Carver for power. I did that for a while and found the Carver preamp lacking. If you already have a power amp you want to use, I'd look into a better preamp than the Carver. Again, a mid-tier AVR can make a fine preamp.

jocko

[bubslewis]

Again, a mid-tier AVR can make a fine preamp.

Jocko,
I have a Yamaha RX-V2500 audio/video receiver which probably falls into the "mid-tier" class. Currently I run my dvd,cd, turntable thru the a/v/ receiver. I use the a/v preout to a seperate amp to drive my front speakers.

Am thinking of adding a preamp for cd and phono music listening and bypassing the a/v when I listen to music. Right now the sound is pretty good. I have to turn the volume control up a bit (but not a large amount) when I switch to phono, but otherwise everything else is OK

Am wondering how good the preamp section is in a decent a/v receiver and, more importantly, how much $wise I'd have to spend for improvement?

Front speakers are Maggie 1.6's from a B&K amp back to the a/v preouts. Am considering preamps like Parasound Halo 3P @ $800 up thru Musical Fidelity A3CR @ $1500. Would rather not exceed $1500 if I didn't have to.

I realize my questions have no real answers, but your opinions appreciated.

tx,
Bill

[jocko_nc]

Someone else would know better than I...

I will say that a Yamaha RXV650 preamp / Adcom 545 II with the "pure clean" button pressed (bypass all the processing circuitry) sounds quite nice. No other combination of equipment I have used compares. I do not use a phono, however.

For phono, there has to be something out there better, many vintage choices. Again, someone else will know.

jocko