NAD or ATI for powering front speakers

[mac]

First post here; great forum to stumble upon!

I want to get a 2 channel amp to power the fronts to give the Denon 3805 some breathing room. As I am not able to hear quite as well as I did in my younger days, I seem to lean a little more towards a “bright” sound as opposed to “warmer”. Probably the reason I like the Axiom M22ti fronts.

After doing a little research on this forum and elsewhere, I came up with NAD C272 or ATI AT1202 or AT1802.

Would either of these come close to meeting my criteria? I haven't listened to them yet. I noticed links to Downtown Audio for ATI. I don’t believe they are authorized dealers. Is it worth the savings to only have a 90 day warranty?

Thanks in advance.

[topspeed]

First post here; great forum to stumble upon!

I want to get a 2 channel amp to power the fronts to give the Denon 3805 some breathing room. As I am not able to hear quite as well as I did in my younger days, I seem to lean a little more towards a “bright” sound as opposed to “warmer”. Probably the reason I like the Axiom M22ti fronts.

After doing a little research on this forum and elsewhere, I came up with NAD C272 or ATI AT1202 or AT1802.

Would either of these come close to meeting my criteria? I haven't listened to them yet. I noticed links to Downtown Audio for ATI. I don’t believe they are authorized dealers. Is it worth the savings to only have a 90 day warranty?

Thanks in advance.

No, don't go with an unauthorized dealer. What you think you are saving now will end up costing you 10 times as much if you ever need a repair. Some manufacturers won't even repair their own gear if it wasn't purchased from an authorized dealer. If you want a better price, simply start haggling with your authorized dealer. EVERYTHING is negotiable.

Obviously, you should buy whatever sounds best to you and I'd never buy anything that I couldn't audition first. For the type of sound you are looking for, I'd definitely add the Odyssey Stratos to your list. It is the epitome of solid state sound and carries a 20 year warranty. You might also like Adcom and Parasound's HCA series. I wouldn't use Rotel or B&K as they tend to be on the warmer side of neutral.

Hope this helps

[kexodusc]

Tons of Adcom GFA-535's on ebay right now...these are solid little performers that can be had relatively cheap...They'll satisfy your desire for "bright" sounding equipment.
Just an option...

[mac]

I appreciate the reply. I have never purchased from an un-authorized dealer so I will stick to the authorized ones here. I will see if I can audition the Odyssey as what I read about it says it is indeed worth a listen, and as I was researching that, I came on to the Carver ZR 1000 as a possible solution. Very reasonable at around $800 and great reviews as well.

mac

[mac]

kexodusc, I have read where the Adcom runs hot. Have you had any experience with that?

Thanks,

mac

[kexodusc]

Hmm, I own a couple 535II's that have heat warning LED's that I've never used. They don't run hot and are essentially the same unit with a few minor tweaks.
I use to have an old GFA 555 way back in the day that we used to power a couple of older Cerwin Vega's for parties, we drove that thing insanely hard into 4 ohms and never once had a problem with the Adcom overheating.
I've never actually heard that about Adcoms, they're fairly well respected. The 535's were a smash hit back in their day.
I've never owned any amps or receivers that had overheating problems though...I make sure they're fairly well vented. How hard are you pushing your speakers? How big is your room?

[mac]

Room is 20 X 20 with 11 foot vaulted ceilings. Listening area is 13 X 13 within the room. Speakers are rated at 8 ohms with 90db to 92db efficiency. I crank the volume up to between -4 and +4 db on the volume scale when I really want to fill the room, but not normally at those levels.