Seconds NAD 302 or Norge

[silverheart]

Hello,

This is my first post on the group, I must admit what a great and proactive community this is.

I am looking for a good stereo setup, for my room of size, 12' x 15'. To outline what kind of music I am going to play on it .. I mostly(and expanding my taste) listen to bands like Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd, Yes, Riverside, lots of other alternative prog-rock bands, Explosions in the sky, world music like Azam ali, QnTal, etc. I am bit tight of budget, esp this year that no hike has been declared in my company :sad:

Finally, last week, I auditions Monitor Audio BR2 in Pune, at Rohit Enterprises(a dealer associated with Lakozy, bombay .. he just started this month) .. I auditioned them with NAD 315BEE. I took some of my music collection, and played a variety of music. Although the room setup didn't do justice to the speakers(it got boomy when I played the The might of Rome, from Gladiator OST), their vanishing act as they played the music, & the net reviews of BR2 convinced me it was the better choice for extended listening(i have music playing in my room all the time I am at home, except my sleeping time). So, I again extended my budget for speakers from MS602->Polk RTi A1->BR2.

Now, I have lesser money for amplifier(keeping aside some more moolah for stands and cables-interconnects). So, now, my query begins ..

I cannot to spend more than 8-10K for amplifier. So, NAD 315BEE is out of question. I was considering to buy Norge 2060 amplifier, as it fits my budget and has a good VFM review. Frankly, I am not comfortable doing so.. as I haven't heard any music on them .. i want to audition my BR2 on them, to be completely sure if it matches all well. So, once i get the BR2 coming weekend, i have to see how to manage this in Pune.
Now, Rohit Ent has to offer me a second hand NAD 302(owner selling it for an upgrade), for 8000/-, which I can easily audition with BR2 at his outlet. It comes with 1 yr warranty from Lakozy, and he says, that it is completely serviced by Lakozy, so that it is working as expected.

1. Assuming the second piece has everything intact and working as expected .. 302 being an old model, no remote .. outdated, but its still a NAD.
2. Norge 2060, with very good VFM, and with remote(my father insists on this), but not auditioned yet.

How do these two compare? Norge 2060 vs Old NADs?

Happy listening,
~Rajiv.
p.s: Hope I didn't miss anything !

 

[spirovious]

Hi,

I wrote a small comparison between 2060 & 100.
http://www.hifivision.com/what-shou...v2-norge-concerto-gold-1000-amplifiers-4.html

 

[gobble]

Hello
Listen and decide. The 302 is one generation after the famous 3020.
You can audition the Norge too, search the forums for locations.

Regards

 

[suprateep]

NAD is a NAD.

Norge is a Norge.

their sound signatures are vastly different - one more expansive, one neutral. While i would recommend NAD, for a budget a NORGE is hard to beat. But i guess you can try the norge 1000/2060 which have similar sound signatures and cost less than 9k. The good thing is they are almost neutral have good feedback levels of bass (slightly lower at higher volumes. very clear midrange and treble).

Try the Norge 1000 first - looks are okay but sound is pretty goood.

Try Silo Media solutions at Mittal Court - take my name. I had auditioned the norge at his place. Mr. Behram is a nice man - will spend some time with you (if he has time to be in office though:lol: ). Most of the HiFi dealers do a lot of HT stuff for hotels, gyms etc and we come in as second preference.

 

[Asit]

Hi Silverheart,

The Nad 302 amp that is being offered to you, I believe, should be around 15 years old. Have you enquired how old is that? As far as I remember I read somewhere this was awarded the "European amp" or something in 1994. That's how I am calculating the age of the amp.

Now, an amp which is in regular use, needs at least some servicing (like changing capacitors and so on) definitely after 15 years. I have a 19 year old Harman Kardon HK 6300 (cost me DM800, and so not really an entry level build) which was built to live forever needed similar servicing about two years and a half ago. Now it's again running as if nothing happened to it. But I am not sure about the build quality of the Nad, but generally the build quality was better those days. But even in that case, I would suspect you would need to get it serviced for optimal functioning. The dielectrics in the caps would surely give up after 15 or so years.

Now about the price, I am selling my 2 year old Nad C325bee amp in top condition with all original accessories and box at a price which is only a few thousands more than the price you have been offered. I am not writing this to sell my amp to you, because somebody else has already decided to purchase it. If that does not materialize for some reason, only then I can sell it to other people. But the reason I am bringing this up here is that, I think the price of 8K offered to you for such am amp is too much, I think.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi Silverheart,
The price for the 302 is too high. Ignore it.
Nad amps dont retain their value and u should be able to get the newer C320/C350 at about 10/12K which will be better value and one can hope they will last a bit more than the 302.
Cant comment on Norge as its ages since i last saw/heard one.
Rgds

 

[silverheart]

Thanks all for the responses. I have almost lost my intention of getting the old NAD. @Asit, the guy said 2002 as manufactured year. As I am unexperienced to identify the little details which I might figure out later, I will pass on this one.

I called up Silo Media, but the owner (Mr. Behram as suprateep mentioned) was out of country. So, when he comes back, i will checkout 2060 and Mosfet 2000 from Norge, and then decide what suits me better.

I just read the thread with people arguing over Mosfer 2000 being named as Reference. It was hilariously fascinating :lol:

regds,
~Rajiv.

 

[suprateep]

Thanks all for the responses. I have almost lost my intention of getting the old NAD. @Asit, the guy said 2002 as manufactured year. As I am unexperienced to identify the little details which I might figure out later, I will pass on this one.

I called up Silo Media, but the owner (Mr. Behram as suprateep mentioned) was out of country. So, when he comes back, i will checkout 2060 and Mosfet 2000 from Norge, and then decide what suits me better.

I just read the thread with people arguing over Mosfer 2000 being named as Reference. It was hilariously fascinating :lol:

regds,
~Rajiv.

hey man even i was trying to get in touch with Behram. He told me he was off to dubai and would be back on 1st of May. I plan to check out the denon and marantz stereo amplifiers he was planning to get. Let me know when he comes back. We can go together.

BTW the 1000 is way better of all - drove the wharf towers well too. 2000 was a dampner but it was just out of the box before it was auditioned.