Greetings, several years ago I was able to acquire a pair of Sonus faber Serafino Tradition speakers. I am currently using a Naim Unity Star (non PE) to drive them.
I am now looking to get a power amplifier to drive them, looking at and really wanting an MC462.
My question is that since the Star has preamp outputs can I hook it directly to the amplifier without getting a separate preamplifier? Would this cost me any sound quality or would it be beneficial to get a separate preamp?
I stream all my music. My Nakamichi OMS3A died years ago and I have no vinyl or desire to go down that road.
The simple answer here is yes, you can add a power amp onto your Uniti Star via the pre-out sockets. What benefits that would bring will spend somewhat on the amplifier, so best try to get a demo first.
The Star already has a pre-amp onboard and isn’t really configurable as a separate source without going through its own pre-amp, so any possible benefit of a separate pre-amp is limited by that.
An alternative would be to trade your Star for a an NSC222 Streamer/Pre-amp or an NSS333 and a NAC332 pre-amp to pair with the MC462 power amp you are really wanting.
Naim Nova PE might be worth auditioning as a replacement for Star if fewer boxes are preferred, the PE being designed specifically to handle more difficult loads.
That hits it on the head really. The speakers are very expensive, £18,000 when new in 2018 and that McIntosh is a fabulous £15,000 power amp. While the amp would be ideal for the speakers, the risk is that by opening the window wider the sound may actually get worse. There is a pressing need for a source and preamp commensurate with the quality of the power amp and speakers. A Star, fine as it is, simply isn’t going to cut it. In the world of Naim, a 333 and 332 is the very minimum in my view.
The most straightforward and affordable would be to take the Macintosh DS200, streamer with dac and volume control, to connect to your power amp.
If not, with Naim, the 332 preamp and 333 streamer.
There’s the NSC 222 , Streamer with pre, .
However, as said before, neither the DS 200 , neither the 222 will do justice to the level of your speakers.
Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping to upgrade one piece at a time but it seems I have to update the streamer, preamp, amp all at once.
Truth be told my original system from 35 years ago were an Adcom GFA555 power amp, Adcom preamp, and Dahlquest DQ20 speakers. It past away 20 years ago.
In 2020 I decided to look into a good system and was set on the Focal Kanta No. 3. Then I inquired about the next level up and demo’d the Traditionals and I was blown away. A few months later I found them ‘used’ on eBay for 13,250 USD. One was still in the box with factory tape and the other was listened to for 20 minutes. Having picked up this deal I was a bit short for the rest of my system and was told the Star would be able to drive the speakers.
I haven’t listened to anything nicer than what I have so its hard to know what I am missing. I think the Star plays well enough for me for all types but I believe it really excels at classic rock. One track in particular Tom Sawyer.
You don’t need to upgrade everything at once, but it would be good to know your end goal to work towards that. When my 552 preamp was away for repair, I ran my Nova with a ND555 streamer as the source and that was quite an improvement, noticeably so and more than I was expecting. I also had cables made up and tried my NAP300 power amp as well, so the Nova was just acting as a pre-amp - that was better again. So, it’s perfectly valid to add a better streamer to the Star, then a power amp and finally swap out the Star for the dedicated pre-amp.
