I've always loved NAD's equipment and I'm a sucker for that gunmetal grey.  It looks like a military piece, something that might be rack mounted in back of a US Army cavalry vehicle.

I spent some time at a NAD authorized dealer today and went straight for NAD’s bottom of the line multi-channel receiver.  You can really tell a lot about people by what they throw away, likewise you can tell a lot about a company’s product line by what they put at the very bottom.  Okay, maybe that’s a bad analogy but it seemed correct for a second.  I took the time to play with the T743 that appears at the bottom of NAD’s line of receiver that ends with their flagship T773 that you can find for around $2000.

NAD’s T743 can be had for around $600.  For your troubles you get a 5X50watt amplifier surround processor capable of decoding Dolby Digital, DTS, ProLogicII the important ones.  Throw in a mitt full of DSP settings (you know Hall, Church eq presets that mess with delays and frequency response for cool sounding effects) for whatever they’re worth, sometimes DSP’s are fun to play with but eventually you bypassing them if pure sound quality is more important to you than gee whiz factor.  It also features an LED display, stripped down but intuitive which is typical in receivers today.  What surprised me with this one is the video switching capabilities include component, this is rare in any receiver let alone the sub 1000 price point.  Another nice feature not common in this price point was the incredible audio flexibility, not only a analogue 5.1 inputs (for your DVD-Audio/SACD fans) main outs of course but every digital input gave you the choice between coax or optical.

Outside of actually listening to the unit, the test I gave it was the heft in my hands test to feel the weight and mess with the buttons.  The switches are all digital so they lack the punchy solid click feel of earlier NAD gear but they did have a smooth feel, responding to almost no more than a touch.  But you’ll almost never use front panel controls anymore the way the remote dominates your interface with the unit.  The remote that comes with the HTR-2 universal/learning remote, with illuminated buttons for easy use in the evening hours this is the same remote that is included in every model including their flagship T773.  To heft it in your hands, yes this is a solid construction weighing in at 36lbs it’s a solid box, nice heavy transformer beefy power supply as expected from anything NAD their design is Spartan with no frills getting in the way of excellent engineering. 

Sound audition in this particular outlet takes place in little cubicle like structures where several complete 5.1 setups including display stand side by side in relative isolation.  A clever setup mimicking a very small room, with nobody occupying the other spaces you get a reasonably nice demo of the equipment you’re testing.  Of course acoustics will always vary when you bring it home, since I was testing “cheaper” gear I didn’t get the benefit of the big room with couches, I had to sit in an office chair.  I replaced a Yamaha receiver with the NAD T743 before the test, of course the Yamaha was a higher end model and powered the same budget speaker kit by Klipsch.  Not to slam on the Yammy because it performed great, but I did give it a listen before I compared it with the NAD. 

The watt per channel specification means the most to people who understand hi-fi the least.  That is to say that watts per channel means very little, there is almost no difference between a 50 watt amp and a 100 watt amp, in fact it’s exactly 3db through a given speaker load.  NAD publishing a 50W spec on an amp designed for this end of the retail market is brave indeed, they’ll be up against bottom end receiver’s priced at about half and publish 100W per channel.  Without a doubt, this 50w NAD will turn most 100Watt receivers available at the big box chains over on their side and have its way with them.  A company like NAD frequently underrates their own specs and their 50Watt is generally a very high current voltage powering your speakers, enough to give you the full rich detailed sounds without clipping.  By the way; the Yamaha powered the Klipsch kit just fine without any hesitation, well it should it was double the price and was the reference receiver used to sell many sets of this Klipsch speaker system.  What impressed me when adding the NAD at 50Watt was how little difference there was in the overall performance, even when I pushed the volume beyond my listening comfort level the speakers and receiver held together nicely to the point where the speakers where practically dancing on the floor themselves.  Klipsch are known for a very forward sounding speaker, a little on the bright side emphasizing the middle highs which fits rock music nicely and brings out detail in most of the audible parts of any soundtrack.  I found the dialogue clear when watching my favorite scenes from the Matrix where Neo follows the white rabbit to a night club playing Rob Zombie in the background.  That particular scene is one of my favorite scenes for testing articulate dialogue against an aggressive music soundtrack.  In that scene Trinity whispers in Neo’s ear, if you’re not hearing every word you’re missing the movie.  It’s easy not to hear every word in that scene with Rob Zombie doing what he can to prevent it.  But the separation was beautiful using the digital inputs on the NAD receiver I could hear clearly defined left right, front rear separation and of course, the sub kicked in when I expected it to. 

The only drawback to this unit it that it’s only 5.1, which is hardly a limitation as way too much is made of the extended formats these days.  7.1 when you can get it, but most people don’t have the living room space to add speakers behind the viewing area.  Providing space between the back of your audiences head and the rear speakers in a 7.1 is difficult in a smaller room.  The purpose of going to the lowest end of NAD receiver line is to save a bit of money, if you’re looking to power up a dedicated HT room and speaker placement is infinitely flexible you might want to look into one of their higher end models.  But if you’re getting started in the hobby of home theater, especially powering a smaller room approximately 15’X15’ or less, you won’t find a better receiver for the money.   

5 x 50W Simultaneous Minimum Continuous Power into 4 / 8 ohms
105W, 145W, 165W IHF Dynamic Power into 8, 4 and 2 ohms, respectively
Dolby Digital, DTS, ProLogic II, EARS and Enhanced Stereo
5 A/V Custom Presets store unique speaker level and tone control settings
Direct access speaker level adjustment for surround, center and subwoofer
Stereo Bypass
NAD Soft Clipping ™
6 A/V Inputs, 3 with S-Video, 2 Full Tape Loops
Component Video, 2 Inputs and 1 Output, HDTV Compatible
2 Audio Inputs, 1 Tape Output
6 Digital Inputs, 4 Coaxial, 2 TOS Link freely assignable
5.1 Analogue Input (for DVD-Audio)
Speaker A + B switching (Speakers B stereo only)
2 x IR Outputs, IR Input
2 x 12V Trigger Outputs, 12V Trigger Input
Preamp Outputs for all 5.1 channels (2 Subwoofers)
Amplifier Input for 3 amplifier channels
RDS FM/AM Tuner with 30 direct access presets
HTR-2 - 8 Device Illuminated Learning Remote with Macro function