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"Editors' Choice Award" 2012 - The Absolute Sound Magazine
Listed in The Absolute Sound 2012 High-End Audio Buyer's Guide
"Five Stars" - What Hi-Fi? Magazine
Affordable High-End is Alive and Well
The NAD C320 series of amplifiers have always punched far above their modest weight. Combining the highest levels of audio engineering with an extensive feature list, and more than adequate power for all but the most ambitious systems, the C326BEE keeps the concept of affordable high-end alive and well. With the very high dynamic power and low impedance drive capability of NAD's proprietary PowerDrive circuit, the C326BEE is able to accurately control even difficult to drive loudspeakers while sounding musical, detailed, coherent and relaxed.
The Absolute Sound magazine honored the NAD C 326BEE with a "Product of the Year Award" for 2012, noting, "The 50Wpc C 326 will make BEElievers of even the most jaded audiophiles"
The NAD C 326BEE was also honored by being included in The Absolute Sound 2012 High-End Audio Buyer's Guide. According to the magazine, "For PS, this is the budget integrated amplifier of the decade if he had to, he would use it without apology to drive even his super-revealing QUAD 2805s
And [it's] no slouch when it comes to resolution."
"An Enjoyably Flowing, Supple, and Dynamic Experience"
"The NAD delivers such an enjoyably flowing, supple, and dynamic experience that we don't hesitate to give it Five Stars," reports the April 2009 issue of England's What Hi-Fi? magazine.
The 40-watt-per-channel C326BEE is the latest in NAD's range of affordably priced, yet very high performance stereo integrated amplifiers. Neatly slotted in between NAD's most affordable C 315BEE and more powerful C 355BEE, the C326BEE 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. An improved tone control circuit and revised PCB layout has reduced distortion and noise to unprecedented levels. Taken together, these improvements mark a sharp upturn in performance that must be heard to be fully appreciated!
Preamp and Subwoofer Outputs
The C326BEE includes a pre-amp output. Many systems benefit from the use of multiple power amplifiers for "Bi-Amping" (using separate power amplifiers to drive the bass and treble section of a loudspeaker).
Additionally, there are two mono subwoofer outputs that can be connected to powered subwoofers, which is an increasingly popular option.
Bypassable Tone Controls
It is fashionable to omit tone controls nowadays: However, provided that the tone controls are properly designed, they can be really useful tools in making improvements to the overall sound. The C326BEE tone controls only work at the frequency extremes leaving the critical mid-band essentially unaltered. The tone control circuits can be completely bypassed by using the Tone Defeat control button.
The C326BEE also incorporates NAD's acclaimed switchable "Soft Clipping" circuit, which significantly reduces the risk of damage to loudspeakers due to prolonged high power operation.
PowerDrive Design
The C326BEE also benefits from NAD's proprietary PowerDrive circuit topology, now well established and used throughout the NAD product range. The PowerDrive topology allows the C326BEE to deliver maximum performance under virtually any circumstance, 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 topology is a practical approach to enable an amplifier to easily deal with musical dynamics and difficult speaker loads. Thus it combines the highly desirable characteristics of high dynamic power and low impedance drive capability in one affordable package.
Low Distortion and Noise
The C326BEE 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 (FDP) - 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 1 kHz at 8 Ohms test quoted by many of NAD's 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 1kHz test.
Less Distortion = More Music
Noise and distortion mask the fine details of a musical recording robbing musical texture and dimension and replacing them with non-musical artifacts.
NAD has spent the last 35 years perfecting its designs to have the lowest distortion and highest power in its price class. NAD's noise spec is often 10 dB (100 times!) less than that of competing amplifiers. This is far from a trivial difference as fine detail and nuance (micro dynamics) are often obscured by noise in lesser amplifiers, robbing a performance of that illusive sense of 'realism'.
12-Volt Trigger
For remote on/off switching of ancillary components in a system, such as power amplifiers or active speakers, the C326BEE is equipped with a 12-trigger system. When switching the amplifier on, the 12- trigger output is also activated, which in turn can activate a 12-trigger input switching on the remote devices. Besides the 12-trigger, the C326BEE also has rear panel input and output.
Wireless Remote
The C326BEE is fully remote controlled and comes supplied with the NAD SR 8 system remote control. The remote control features an ergonomic form, with large buttons that are differentiated by shape and position, to make operation intuitive and enjoyable.
The SR 8 will also operate many other NAD products, such as CD players, tuners, etc. Flexibility is another NAD strong point. The C326BEE has 7 line inputs and the preamplifier section can be separated from the power amplifier for easy upgrades or adding ancillary equipment. Thus the C326BEE can be expanded to meet future system needs.
Installation Manual(1.2mb PDF)  | 
