Hi All,
Would a NAP 200 or 250.2 / 250 Dr or even a NAP 300 work best with B&W stand mounted speakers (706 S3) and a Nac-N 272 in a modest size room (13’ 7" x 11’ 6" (4.15m x 3.50m)? At first glance a NAP 250 DR appears best but is a NAP 200 worth considering and putting the difference towards other upgrades and components in my system considering one is about twice the price of the other?
272/ XPS dr / Nap 200 would be fine I think. If considering the room you have and the speakers you mentioned.
If I had to make a choice, I would more go for XPS DR instead of 250 dr vs 200.
Others may have a different opinion.
One common view is that ‘front end loading’ is the best way - so source first.
However… I think in this case, a 250 would be the best solution. Any 250 - with a service history.
250 Owner and User Since 1985.
Thanks. I don’t know if it matters too much but probably half the time the Naim system will run in concert with my AV system. The rest of the speakers similar size & power requirement from matching B&W series, such as the HTM72 S3 centre speaker. The AV receiver/processor is an Arcam AVR850 which will initially run the centre, rear and ceiling speakers in a 5.1.2 setup. Eventually I want to run the center speaker off a NAP V145. Do I need to consider the power rating of the AVR850 (Class G, rated 100W into 8Ω) or NAP V145 (80W, 8Ω) for the sake of coherence when choosing between the NAP 200 and NAP 250 variants? Should there be any difference in gain between these components at medium volume?
Sorry for all the questions but I’m also interested in the ‘front-end loading’ approach vs upping the power amplification, what is generally thought to make a bigger improvement - adding a power supply to the preamplifier or going from a non-DR power amplifier to a power amplifier with DR?
I’d go 250DR, though to be fair I’ve not heard your speakers with it. When Naim sent out 272 for review they often included 250DR as a package. It seems the “natural” partner to me.
I mostly used my 272/250DR with XPSDR, but when, for reasons irrelevant here, the XPS was briefly not in play, I was surprised how good it still sounded. If it’s XPS or 250 DR, the latter is what I’d go for.
My AV setup is separate from the HiFi, so can’t help on that. Sorry.
Roger
Indeed.
The 272 as source and preamp will be sort of bottleneck.
Not a bad source/preamp but theres better out there than 272/300DR looking at total price.
Nap 200 are really affordable in todays market.
No knowledge to your room or speakers but you can’t go really wrong.
I’d look at a late 200 without DR, as DR upgrades are not in use with 272.
id go 250dr and xpsdr (even if you do that bit later)
Thanks for the advice/sanity check all. I was about to pull the trigger on a NAP200 then at lunchtime today spotted a dealer selling a reasonably priced preowned NAP 250 which has had the DR upgrade and a service done in 2016 so just went straight for that option. I’ll get it serviced myself in a couple of years but hopefully should be fine till then?
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