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The NAD C165BEE stereo preamplifier is an all-new design representing a lifetime of design experience from NAD's renowned Director of Advanced Developments, Bjorn Erik Edvardsen. New semiconductors and improved production techniques such as surface mount devices (SMDs) have created opportunities for performance far beyond expectation when compared to previous products in this price range.
The NAD C165BEE preamp and C275BEE power amp together won an "Outstanding Product" award in the September 2009 issue of England's Hi-Fi News magazine. "Given its price, it clearly represents classic 'budget esoterica': first class high fidelity for only a second class budget price."
Compared to its predecessor, the C162, the improved tone control circuit and revised PCB layout has reduced distortion and noise to unprecedented levels when combined with the high signal capacity of the NAD 'Class A' Gain Modules.
'Class A' gain modules combine the short signal path advantage of IC based op-amps with the higher signal and current capacity of discrete transistors. Here surface mount devices are used to miniaturize the circuit, while the extruded aluminum heat sink keeps all parts at the optimal operating temperature for ultra low distortion.
This unique NAD development endows the C165BEE with lightning-fast transient response and bass extension, along with definition seldom encountered in this price range. High frequencies are extended, silky smooth and grain-free.
In the phono stage NAD has added three-position switches to individually select the resistance and capacitance for precise matching of most Moving Magnet and Moving Coil phono cartridges. Other refinements deliver lower noise and improve the overload margin. Precision close-tolerance parts are used to achieve nearly perfect RIAA response.
NAD has also improved the headphone amplifying circuit to better drive studio quality high impedance headphones. Taken together, these improvements mark a sharp upturn in performance that simply must be heard, to be fully appreciated!
Unlike many high-end preamps that skimp on inputs and features, the C165BEE provides all the flexibility that you will ever need. Starting with six line level inputs and the MC/MM phono input, the C165BEE also includes a superbly designed tone control circuit.
The 150-watt NAD C 275BEE power amplifier boasts many upgrades and refinements taken directly from the highly acclaimed NAD Masters Series M3 Amplifier. These include application of Bjorn Erik Edvardsen's innovative and patented Distortion Canceling Circuit in the output stage and BEE Clamp in the power supply.
A carefully engineered PCB layout has reduced distortion and noise to unprecedented levels. Taken together, these improvements mark a sharp upturn in performance that simply must be heard to be fully appreciated!
The C 275BEE benefits from NAD's proprietary PowerDrive circuit topology, now well established and used throughout the NAD product range. PowerDrive allows the C 275BEE to deliver maximum performance under virtually any circumstances, independent of the loudspeakers it is driving. The circuitry automatically senses the impedance characteristics of the loudspeaker and will then adjust its power supply settings to best cope with that specific load.
PowerDrive is a practical approach to enable an amplifier to easily deal with musical dynamics and difficult speaker loads. It delivers the highly desirable characteristics of high dynamic power and low impedance drive capability in one affordable package.
Getting high dynamic power from the power supply to your loudspeaker requires a fast wideband amplifier stage rugged enough to pass and control high peak currents without premature protection intervening. The safe operating limit for the C 275BEE has four times the capacity of the typical amplifier in this price range by using four pairs of 220W output transistors per channel.
The C 275BEE has the lowest levels of distortion and noise available in its price class and is easily capable of embarrassing far more expensive products. To prove it NAD uses Full Disclosure Power, the most demanding criteria for performance measurement. FDP specifies distortion under the most extreme conditions of low impedance loads and frequency extremes rather than the simple and easy 1kHz @ 8 Ohms test quoted by many of our competitors.
NAD uses this stricter performance criterion because it more closely matches the demands of real music and real loudspeakers. Maintaining specified distortion at 4 ohms and at 20 Hz and 20 kHz is several orders of magnitude more difficult to achieve than the simple 8 ohms and 1 kHz test.