- Thread Starter
- #21
Hi! Just got the stands on Friday and was finally able to test the Elac with my C 338 this weekend. I think they are a great match for the bedroom, which is about the same size as your room. I have a weird room setup. There is a bed asymmetrically placed between my listening position and the speakers. And there are bookshelves between the speakers. The left side has the door recessed about 1.5 m from the wall, the wall is concrete and has the TV on a console. While the right wall is about 70 cm from the speaker and has the windows, curtains, and headboard on this side. So it's very uneven. I'm still trying to figure out the optimal speaker placement. Would welcome recommendations to try.Any updates on it? Really looking into the C338 as my first amp/all-in-one.
Do you think C338 is better than something like an amp+dac+streamer in the same price range?
Did you find the ELACs to be a good match? They're in my top3 alongside with wharfedales 12.1/12.2 and the Monitor Audio Bronze 100. To go on my 16sqm (3m x 5,5m), for a "relaxed listening".
Having A LOT of doubts because stores are closed due to COVID, so can't listen them before buying
When I tried the setup in the living room, which is larger, the comments from others above are spot on. In the bedroom, the dial is pretty much on -29 to -24 dB for my listening volume of choice, which I think is "relaxed" listening. In the living room, I had to set it up to -18 dB to make the speakers sing at the same listening volume. But oh boy do they sing! The Elacs are a different beast when played at high volumes (gain?). I'm very new to this, but I've never experienced this kind of music before. The NAD was able to keep up with the demand. But as an experiment, I switched the NAD C 338 with my old Kenwood amp (85 wpc at 8 ohms) connected to a streamer (Chromecast Audio/toslink/Topping E30) and, as expected, the Kenwood just had more ease at playing at the same volume compared to the NAD, although the speakers lose a little clarity.
Yeah it's very hard to buy stuff in this pandemic. I had the same problem as you with auditioning gear. And I'm very grateful to all the folks here in ASR. If I'm allowed to try something different, I would get a cheaper class A/B amp like the NAD C 316BEE V2 and connect my Chromecast Audio/toslink/Topping E30 streamer to it. Replace the Chromecast Audio with an Rpi4 and that would be at the same price as the C 338. (I actually have and RPi3 with ropieee. I prefer the sound coming out of the CCA via toslink to that of RPi3 via USB.) I would listen to the difference and if it's any better, I would choose between that and the convenience of having a one-box solution that the C 338 offers. Also, the remote is very useful with Roon and Spotify Connect.
Room setups (modes?) below: