NAD Monitor Series 2600

Bargain of the century, superb power amp delivering 150 watts per channel or can be bridged at the flick of a switch. Great build quality, made in Japan and good looking too, although as a power amp it's at the bottom of my rack and not really seen. NAD Monitor Series 2600 is a great amp that never fails to deliver stunning sound.

This baby really drives all my speakers well, the 150 watts per channel is quite conservative in my view and the way this amp effortlessly handles rapid dynamic shifts is stunning. I've had this for about four years now and I really haven't heard much at under £1500 that can touch it.

This NAD 2600 has powered my Main speakers ...ADS L 1290 's for 15 years and never failed to impress me for home theater and CD music...the ADS L 1290 's are great speakers, but known to require POWER to bring them to life ...the "power envolope" from the 2600 Amp never fails to deliver... BUY IT ...they are not that expensive now...can't go wrong...

The NAD Monitor Series 2600 is a true 2 x 150w powerhouse main amp that also works well at low levels. The watts are NAD Watts, which means that the power supply - and thus the amplifier - never runs out of oomph in a normal listening situation, but it also resolves very well when you play music when your wife is asleep upstairs.

Back in the 1990's, the Monitor Series represented the very best that NAD could make... and this shows. It drives difficult loudspeakers with ease, and it maintains a soundstage that cannot be beat at the price level.

They can be picked up for peanuts on the secondhand market these days. If you're in the market for a stereo main amplifier, and you're on a budget, don't pass this one up.

I ended up replacing it with a Rotel 5-channel main amp because I can't be bothered to maintain two systems for stereo music and multichannel movie - but the Rotel isn't really an improvement when it comes to stereo music reproduction. It's not better, not worse, just "different". The Rotel, with stereo music, is a bit smoother and more precise in the imaging department, but the NAD has a more 'lively' character, especially at low volumes, and it seems to never run out of steam compared to the Rotel when pushed really really hard. When I play the Rotel that hard, it exhibits a slight harshness in the coppers (of course, when I run it hard, I am playing at absurd levels and basically chasing myself out of the living room).

It's not like the Rotel RB985 makes me miss the NAD, but I remember it as a seriously good friend, making very good music.

Setup:

NAD Monitor Series 5000 CD player

NAD Monitor Series 1700 tuner/preamp

Infinity Alpha 50 main speakers

REL Strata II sub, hooked up to the speaker terminals, cutting off at 32 Hz.

Listening environment: 8x4m room in a countryside house, with very low noise floor. Carpet, moderately sparsely furnitured.