Indiana Line Utah 8 and NAD C 3050 Stereo System

In this demonstration the NAD C 3050, the 50th anniversary stereophonic amplifier modelled on the original 3030, drives Indiana Line Utah 8 three-way floorstanders. Both pieces take a retro line, walnut and twin VU meters on the amplifier, a low, wide cabinet with a magnetic grille on the speaker. Two more Indiana Line towers, the Diva 6 and the Lira 6, shared the room with the NAD M33 V2 streaming amplifier.

The system at a glance

The main chain is just two boxes, since the amplifier also works as DAC, phono stage, television input over HDMI eARC and, with its BluOS-D module, network streamer. NAD listed the C 3050 at EUR 1,599. Indiana Line builds the Utah 8 for rooms above 25 m2, so the pair suits a large living room and an owner who wants records, streaming and TV sound from one amplifier. The M33 V2, at EUR 6,499, is the step up shown alongside.

Why these components work together

Indiana Line rates the Utah 8 at 93 dB for 2.8 V, with a 4 to 8 ohm amplifier load and 30 to 240 W recommended. That high sensitivity leaves the C 3050 wide headroom with its 100 W per channel, rated into 8 and 4 ohm alike, and NAD quotes more than 20 A of peak current for the 12-inch woofer. This driver works in a 66 litre cabinet with two 75 mm ports firing at the floor, tuned to 30 Hz, and foam inserts can close one or both. A 7-inch Curv midrange in its own sub-chamber covers the band between 350 Hz and 2.2 kHz, above which a 28 mm aluminium-magnesium dome sits in a waveguide, and the crossover accepts bi-wiring. In the amplifier, a HybridDigital UcD output stage is paired with a Texas Instruments PCM5242 DAC up to 24 bit and 192 kHz, and the MM phono input carries an infrasonic filter. The M33 V2 moves to second-generation Purifi Eigentakt modules with over 200 W into 8 ohm and 380 W into 4 ohm, an ES9039PRO converter and both MM and MC phono. The Diva 6 shares the 93 dB figure in a slim 957 mm cabinet with three woofers and a 26 mm silk dome, while the Lira 6 is rated at 90 dB with two 7-inch woofers under a 4.5-inch midrange.

How it sounds

With 93 dB to work with, the C 3050 stays well clear of its limits, so the 12-inch woofer gives kick drum and bass guitar their full scale in a large room. Floor-coupled ports add weight to the lowest octave, and the low 350 Hz handover keeps male voices on the midrange cone rather than on the bass unit.

Considering a similar setup

Room size matters more than amplifier power here, and the port inserts help where the space is smaller than the Utah 8 expects. Owners who want more grip or an MC cartridge can move up to the M33 V2, while the Diva 6 or Lira 6 fit narrower rooms where a 400 mm wide cabinet is too much.