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Peace in the audio wars
NAD's audiophile home theatre receiver
by Max Christoffersen
October 2001
NAD T761 AV receiver. $2299
It’s not quite a great divide. But there sure is a bit of ‘us and them’ when it comes to audio only vs. home theatre audio performance.
Talk to anyone with a dedicated music system and chances are they detest those other ‘multi-channel types’ who prefer home theatre. Talk to home theatre enthusiasts and chances are you’ll get another line saying home theatre and stereo can and does, live happily together side by side and ‘what gives with those golden-ear two-channel flat-earther types?’ So who is right?
Well, where music and home theatre is concerned, it seems you can’t have your cake and listen to it too. Your choice is simple:
1) Listen to multi-channel home theatre and get compromised two channel
audio
or
2) Listen to quality 2 channel only and forget about home theatre entirely
Either way, someone has to be the peacemaker in this partisan audio war.
Enter NAD. In a bid to provide a solution to the home theatre vs. audio argument NAD has the T761 on offer. It’s a multi-channel 5.1 home theatre receiver designed to walk the line between both camps without siding necessarily one way or another. One could say this is the ‘Henry Kissenger model’ designed to keep the peace between two camps with much in common.
What NAD has done is identify key areas of two-channel sonic performance and biased the T761 to sound good on its own with stereo recordings and with home theatre.
The first hint that something is up is the weight. This receiver may appear physically ‘smallish’ compared to the big Japanese rigs, but it is a solid and weighty unit giving away the design bias towards a hefty power supply. The power output is rated at 80 watts into five channels.
The next give-away is the fan. Most domestic amps rely on heat sink convection cooling and with rare exception need an additional fan to keep things running to the right temperature.
So the design basics are there and a foundation of what appears to be a solid audiophile quality power supply. Cosmetically the NAD is typical NAD grey and green, which says either the unit is a hallmark of branding consistency or there is a lot of grey paint left at the NAD factory.
The remote is a handy and ergonomic design which requires a dead straight aim to work well and scrolling through sources is always tiresome. Some will find the design ‘conservative’ while others can’t get enough of the understated NAD look.
On the back the NAD T761 has component switching (for one input), three coax digital inputs and two optical inputs. NAD’s speaker saving soft-clipping function is provided, as is a handy 12-volt trigger for connection to other NAD products or processors with a 12-volt input and a six-channel pass through. Main speaker A and B connections are also provided.
But first things first - I had taken the step of leaving this amp for a full week before any music was played through it. Chris Isaak’s studio albums were first up. All of them have body, detail, imaging and dynamic impact and bass extension in spades. And the immediate impression was that Isaak’s vocals had more resonance, the acoustic guitar strings more sheen and the overall performance more cohesion.
Marc Cohn’s debut CD with Walking in Memphis had piano keyboard attack and decay spot on while, Tracy Chapman’s Telling Stories was similarly weighty and articulate with the vocals sounding very true to the spoken voice.
What was especially pleasing was the sense of balance. Where many home theatre receivers sound very nasally thin and lacking depth, the NAD had a very rounded, warm and engaging performance with tom drums sounding rounded but still tactile and dynamic while guitar strings sounded metallic and real.
At extreme listening (105dB+) the NAD did seem to give up control and sound splashy, but a bit of restraint and the fine balance was back.
Home theatre performance was identical to two channel - being finely detailed and dynamic with no sense of hash or confusion in the multi-channel sound field.
This NAD walks a fine line and does it with some panache. It is what NAD claim, a thoroughly enjoyable audio centred product that is audio first and home theatre first-equal. Given its warm sonics, formidable dynamics and pristine top end, it will satisfy the audiophile’s audio/home theatre sensitivity.
This
is the stuff of a genuine long-lasting peace between audiophiles and home
theatre enthusiasts. If you want the best of both worlds, this is among
only a handful of products that really can foot it in either home theatre
or audio only camp.
Sign on NAD’s dotted line and enjoy an audio armistice.
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