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Hi all!

greetings from Barcelona!

I proudly own a humble NAD c320 and plan on investing in a couple of loudspeakers to pair it with... I am pretty unexperienced when it comes to deal with impedances and wattage of equipment...

My target price would be of 1200

Since you are worried about an underpowered NAD you might consider a pair of stand mounted monitors and add a sub for the low end. I would spend some serious time auditioning speakers available in your area. I would never buy speakers without first auditioning. They are the weakest link and it is critical for YOUR enjoyment that you choose them to match your tastes.

I know its a seven hour drive to Aguilar de Campoo, but you could listen to the wonderful Opera Prima or Seconda at Lyric Audio there.

Duplicate post deleted . . . . .

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thanks guys!
... it is a long drive indeed, mister Jackfish...
I've seen nearby a couple Dynaudio focus140 and Proac studio110... I can see they reach around 40Hz on the low side, and I am concerned that lower frequencies might blow them away.

I have another question... I'm also into making music and own a synth which I know can get well below those 40Hz. I'm obviously NOT planning to play through these speakers, but I sometimes record something and then I'd possibly play on HiFi set... if any sub-octave freq. reaches the cone... will it explode or something? ( remember Marty McFly )

I have a lousy PA and once tossed a speaker to the ground by merely "droning" loud!!! fortunately it was floorstanding at that time...

Thanks again guys!

Jim's idea about the sub-woofer is a good one.
You should have some money left over from your budget if you buy a pair of Jamo C803's:-
http://www.jamo.com/eu-en/where-to-buy/
You could then hunt down a sub-woofer on ebay:-
http://audio-tv-reproductores.shop.ebay.es/Subwoofers-/3275/i.html?_catref=1
I can't stress enough what a giant killer the Jamo C803's are. Few audiophiles have heard about these fabulous speakers and I can't figure out why. In the US it could be simple lack of sales outlets. Their speed & tunefullness in the bass, uncolored mid-range and crystal clear treble are astonishing for the money. In my opinion they're a breakthrough in two way dynamic speaker design.
Whatever you do, please try and hear a pair. Arrange to take your amplifier with you to one of the dealers listed above on the Jamo site and see if I'm right or not.
Don't let any of them try and tell you you'll need a more powerful amp. For now you don't, especially if you add a self-powered sub-woofer.
Good luck.

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I know this NAD c320 ( not the BEE ) is a little short on the muscle side, and will not "move" big speakers, but I do not know in what terms or who's big or small...

How's this for "big"? http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/klipschorn-overview/ 15" woofers in a three way cabinet. We could demonstrate the very high sensitivity of these speakers by powering them with a four watt table radio.

You need to gain a grasp on the concept of "electrical sensitivity". Try some reading on the topic ...

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"Sensitivity: A measure of the efficiency of a loudspeaker.
A typical sensitivity figure for a loudspeaker is 87dB.
A high sensitivity 94dB or more. A low sensitivity is
80dB or less. (See Efficiency). Low sensitivity
loudspeakers require a high amplifier power output to
obtain realistic volume levels. High sensitivity
loudspeakers will be happy working with low power
output amplifiers (20W per channel maximum
or lower).

Efficiency: A measure of the proportion of electrical energy
fed to a loudspeaker that is turned into acoustic
energy. Most loudspeakers are very low efficiency
transducers (typically around 5 per cent). Only
horn loudspeakers manage a much higher efficiency
(sometimes around 30 per cent).
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/audioterminology.htm#S

Sensitivity
The minimum input signal required to produce a specified level of output. In an amplifier, the input sensitivity is the amount of voltage at the input necessary to drive the amplifier to its rated power output. Loudspeaker sensitivity is the power level necessary to produce a stated SPL at a given distance from the loudspeaker, usually rated at 1 watt 1 meter.

Efficiency
The ratio, usually expressed as a percentage, of the useful power output to the power input of a device. The efficiency of a speaker system is the SPL the unit produces at a 1 W RMS input power level measured 1 meter from the unit. Doubling the input power raises the SPL 3 dB. Doubling the number of enclosures raises the SPL 3 dB. Doubling the input power and the number of enclosures raises the SPL 6 dB. Doubling the distance (near field) lowers the SPL 6 dB
http://www.cardinalproaudio.com/main/terms.htm#E

Efficiency: The percentage of the electrical input power to a speaker that is converted to acoustic energy. Usually specified for speakers, an efficiency measurement can be helpful when matching an amplifier to a particular speaker. Speaker efficiency can range from a fraction of 1 percent to as much as 10 percent or more. Note that efficiency indicates nothing about sound quality, only quantity of acoustic energy for a given input power. A more common way of expressing speaker efficiency is sensitivity.

sensitivity (sens): A measurement of speaker efficiency that tells how much sound is produced 1 meter away from the speaker with an input of2.83 volts (1 watt into 8 Ohms). Higher numbers are better.
http://eli47.tripod.com/audiogloss.html#s

Sensitivity and efficiency are often confused and used interchangeably, which is too bad. Efficiency is a per centage measurement of the power loss when converting (transducing) one form of energy (electrical in this case) into another form of energy (acoustic).

Most loudspeakers have very low percentages of efficiency. The average for a domestic speaker system is between 1-2%. A speaker considered to have very high electrical sensitivity domestic system like the Klipschorn (104dB) will be at roughy 10%.

Electrical sensitivity is simply a measurement which reflects the acoustic output of a speaker or speaker system when a specified voltage (2.83 volts) is applied across its terminals. For consistency the measurement is taken at 1 meter distance which can, depending on the configuration of the speaker system and the environment in which the speaker operates (half or quarter space or "in room"), falsely claim a too high or too low sensitivity measurement. Be careful with sensitivity specs, they are easily manipulated.

Sensitivity has been adopted as the standard for speaker specifications and marketing. Probably because it's far simpler to sell a 90dB speaker than it is a 2% system.

Then plug in the numbers you are looking at here; http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

Let's look at an example, 50 watts into a 82dB "sensitivity" speaker system (X2) at 8' distance equals a peak level of just over 94dB in your room. That's not bad but let's put a 90dB sensitive speaker into that same equation and now we get peaks at 102dB! By using speakers with a higher sensitivity spec, you have done the same as buying higher wattage. Every 3dB you add to the speakers' sensitivity is roughly the equivalent of adding twice as many watts to your power amplifier.

With the reasonably lively market today in lower powered SET amplifiers there are numerous speakers meant to perform quite well on no more than, say, 5 watts. However, if you look in the mass market line of speakers, you'll find the prevailing attitude there is "watts are cheap". Lower sensitivity with more dificult loads are more common than when you look off the mass market reservation.

Any of these speakers will be happy with less then 10 watts; http://brinesacoustics.com/Products.html

as will these; http://www.omegaloudspeakers.com/products/super5series

More mass market and affordable you'll find a speaker like this; http://stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1007inf/index2.html

Pair that with a good Hsu sub and you have a very reasonable system.

Know what you are actually buying by understanding a few basic numbers and you'll do much better at buying correctly the first time. Keep the impedance high and stable and any amp will perform well with any of these speakers.

The basic trade off for high sensitivity is a larger enclosure for lower bass extension. The designer can manipulate those values to arrive at a system which delivers high SPL potential which means at "typical" levels your amp will be cruising rather than bruising. A modestly sized enclosure can achieve good bass extension which might mean you hold off on a subwoofer for now. Transmission lines and quarter wave systems can extend bass response to synthesizer friendly frequencies while maintaining a small to medium footprint.

http://www.goodsearch.com/search.aspx?source=goodshopbar&keywords=tube+friendly+speakers

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I know this NAD c320 ( not the BEE ) is a little short on the muscle side, and will not "move" big speakers, but I do not know in what terms or who's big or small...
You need to gain a grasp on the concept of "electrical sensitivity". Try some reading on the topic ...
]
"Sensitivity: A measure of the efficiency of a loudspeaker.
A typical sensitivity figure for a loudspeaker is 87dB.
A high sensitivity 94dB or more. A low sensitivity is
80dB or less. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Worth reading although every time I begin to imagine the accepted formulae explain what happens when an amplifier is connected to a speaker, both of known specification, something comes along to put a spanner in the theoretical works.
Recently I heard a Musical Fidelity Class A amp ( can't remember the model number) rated at 30watts absolutely trounce a Class A/B Parasound amp rated at 120watts.
Not just in musicality but in a sense of subjective power, slam and dynamic range. Go figure.

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Recently I heard a Musical Fidelity Class A amp ( can't remember the model number) rated at 30watts absolutely trounce a Class A/B Parasound amp rated at 120watts.
Not just in musicality but in a sense of subjective power, slam and dynamic range. Go figure.

Nothing beats solid design and construction. Most shops can show you fairly clear examples of some "puny" 50 watter (or far less) that just flat out runs away from something with an honest two or three times the power at the bench. The point to understand though is even if you're pushing the two amps to their clipping point, two to three times the wattage on paper isn't going to amount to much actual average volume level difference. Beneath clipping and with both amps running at the same comfortable level the actual wattage capacity means nothing to the figures I quoted. Back in the 1980's when the BK ST140 was new to the world it would regularly walk away from a higher powered, more expensive amplifier. However, the BK only did so when it was working into a solid 8 Ohm load. At four Ohms reactive - not so much.

On the other hand it's more difficult not to notice the difference between an 84dB and a 94dB speaker system. Though, unless you're limited to, say, two watts max keeping both well within the limits of
"average" levels once again means diddly to the equations. But, for those who say they are concerned about having "only" 50 watts and do not remember when 15-25 was a big amplifier, starting with speaker sensitivity is IMO the best way to approach the issue if SPL's are a concern.

In my #2 system, at my second home, I recently purchased a set of PSB Image T6 speakers for $1200; I cannot recommend them too highly (see the recent article in Stereophile; also they are a current Editors Recommendation from The Absolute Sound). I am using them with a 40W Cambridge amplifier which has plenty of power for these speakers; your NAD should work great with them.

According to the PSB website, these are sold in Spain by UNO 800 SL AUDIO on CALLE JUAN DE AUSTRIA 126 in Barcelona 08018
... phone # 34 93 485 50 62...e-mail ---(info@uno800.com)

The recent Stereophile review was in the March 2010 issue; see it here on this website. The Absolute Sound recommends them in the 2011 High-End Audio Buyer's Guide that just came out. I recommend them too, so that's 3 for 3...rofl.

Another pair of speakers I have in another system at my main house are the excellent KEF IQ90, made in Britain. KEF speakers are generally very good and worth considering (the IQ70 has also had good reviews).

Your KEF dealer in Barcelona is PRO TECH ESPACIO ON AVENIDA DERECHOS HUMANOS 08870...PHONE # 34 93 811 34 33....

I bought a Parasound A23 amplifier from Audio Advisor a year or so ago. After listening to it for a few hours, it went back; a very poor-sounding product, in my opinion.
I guess that some of their very expensive stuff has had good reviews, but this one did not impress.

I have never owned a Musical Fidelity product, but their integrated amplifiers seem to get good reviews.