Can a new amplifier affect speaker placement?

Zd,

That would be an interesting exercise - I could try the Creek as my pre and the M2 as my amp. The M2 is quite an unusual integrated though. It takes digital feeds directly from sources, and effectively amplifies them. That's not to say it's an amp with a DAC built-in a la Peachtree or similar. Rather, one might think of it as a DAC with amplification capabilities. One might do even better to think of the DAC as non-existent - to think of it as a "digital" amplifier (note that Class D does not mean 'digital' - this is a misnomer), yielding a similar purity of signal that an analog source might achieve with just about any other amplifier. No digital to analog conversion takes place, just a sort of re-mapping if you will.

Conversion in the M2 actually comes in to play in converting analog sources to "digital" (I'll use/abuse 'digital' here rather than getting further than I'm qualified into pulse wave modulation and NAD's efforts to map the digital signal to PWM (which also essentially operates as a 1/0 or on/off, similar in concept to digital). The amp's architecture is similar in concept to units from TacT or Lyngdorf - though its sonics purportedly surpass these (I admit I wouldn't know personally!).

It's quite a feat of engineering really - and a bit surprising I think to come from NAD of all companies. I'd be very surprised if we don't see many similar products coming to market in the next few years, particularly in the world of home theater. The M2 is still ugly looking - NAD hasn't completely forgotten its roots! So... while I'll probably take on this exercise (I'm a tinkerer) for the helluvit, I think it would negate the M2's raison d'etre. ...and if I like the sound better, well, god help me!

You could not try the Creek as your pre and the M2 as your amp because the M2 has no preamp and therefore no preamp outs.

I doubt the M2 is designed to take an input from an external analog pre-amp and would think twice about even trying that unless absolutely sure.

FOster, how are you liking the M2? WOuld love to hear that on my OHMs someday.

The M2 can indeed take an input from an external pre - well, at least according to the manual it can. It says: "FIXED: This setting should be selected when M2 is connected to the output of a preamplifier and is used primarily as a power amplifier. Output level is fixed and the M2’s Volume Control is bypassed. Adjust the level using the source signal’s preamplifier volume or input level control."

Again, I think doing so would be to bypass the M2's reason for being - but it does at least appear capable of acting as an amplifier only. Using the M2 as pre of course isn't possible, since as you said Foster, it doesn't have the outs. I wish it did - would like to be able to connect a headphone amp to it.

Hey Foster, I think you were onto something, btw, with regard to current earlier. Perhaps the Creek's high current required me to place my fairly-sensitive speakers further into the room to reduce bass bloat than the M2? Dunno, but it's a theory!