Currently, I have an Audiolab 8000s to drive my 804's. If I turn up
the volume, it stops working temporarily (a heat fuse prevents
overloading the unit I believe). Pretty annoying if you try to enjoy
music.

I wonder if a heavier amp would be the solution. At first glance, two
affordable options come to my mind.

1) NAD C372 (2x150 Wpc + headphone socket)
2) Rotel RB-1080 (2 x 200 Wpc power amp, but I have a TacT RCS 2.0 as
a pre amp, no headphone socket)

I use headphones a lot, so the quality *and* the power is very
important. The quality of the Audilab socket is very good and it also
goes very loud. That is much needed as I have a hearing deficiency in
my left ear and have a 25 dB extra gain on this side.

Are the extra 50 Wpc important enough to chose the Rotel over the NAD?

Any comments?

Thanks, Guido

"Guido Vogel" wrote

Currently, I have an Audiolab 8000s to drive my 804's. If
I turn up the volume, it stops working temporarily (a heat
fuse prevents overloading the unit I believe). Pretty annoying
if you try to enjoy music.

I wonder if a heavier amp would be the solution. At first
glance, two affordable options come to my mind.

1) NAD C372 (2x150 Wpc + headphone socket)
2) Rotel RB-1080 (2 x 200 Wpc power amp, but I have
a TacT RCS 2.0 as a pre amp, no headphone socket)

I use headphones a lot, so the quality *and* the power is
very important. The quality of the Audilab socket is very
good and it also goes very loud. That is much needed as
I have a hearing deficiency in my left ear and have a
25 dB extra gain on this side.
Are the extra 50 Wpc important enough to chose the
Rotel over the NAD?

The Rotel is (IMHO) a more reliable unit. The extra 50 watts
won't make much of a difference, but note that Rotel's are
generally underspecified (the RB-1080 will output more than 200
Watts into 8 ohms) and that the NAD is specified at 2x120 watts
into 8 ohms (not 2x150 watts like you seem to think)..

-Eric-

Guido Vogel wrote:
Currently, I have an Audiolab 8000s to drive my 804's. If I turn up
the volume, it stops working temporarily (a heat fuse prevents
overloading the unit I believe). Pretty annoying if you try to enjoy
music.

Your system seems to have great speakers, driven by an over-priced
lightweight amplifier.

I wonder if a heavier amp would be the solution. At first glance, two
affordable options come to my mind.

Any chance your current amp has become defective, or has this been happening
all along?

1) NAD C372 (2x150 Wpc + headphone socket)

2) Rotel RB-1080 (2 x 200 Wpc power amp, but I have a TacT RCS 2.0 as
a pre amp, no headphone socket)

I use headphones a lot, so the quality *and* the power is very
important. The quality of the Audilab socket is very good and it also
goes very loud. That is much needed as I have a hearing deficiency in
my left ear and have a 25 dB extra gain on this side.

Surprising that you ever bought a light 60 wpc amp.

Are the extra 50 Wpc important enough to chose the Rotel over the NAD?

Not really. the difference between 150 wpc and 200 wpc is only 1.25 dB which
you will just barely be able to hear.

The difference between 200 wpc and 60 wpc is 5.2 dB which is definitely
audibly louder, but not anything like subjectively twice as loud. Your
speakers have almost 90 dB/watt sensitivity which puts them towards the more
efficient end of home speakers. However, with only 6 inch woofers in your
mains, a subwoofer might provide truer bass performance. This could also
take some stress off the amp that drives the 804. However, your residential
situation may not favor reproduction of deeper, clearer bass.