Sorta pissed at NAD this morning...

[ski2xblack]

So I wake up to find my NAD C372 integrated amp in the main rig lifeless. Won't even power on. Popped the top, and noticed two singed areas on the casing, but no blow up parts inside the amp at all (?). So it's off to the Sound Dr. for the NAD, and I hope it doesn't cost much to fix.

Unfortunately, I've got lots of Nugs games and football to watch this weekend, so getting the sound going is imperative. Unfortunately, over the years all the extra amps have been sold off, leaving little available.

The only option was to cannibalize the bedroom system, which I'll call the "red chicklets" system, and involves ridiculous little SET amps and horns and ****. The only amp available is one of the SETs, which fortunately has a couple inputs and can be implemented as a basic integrated amp in a pinch.

The main rig is the antithesis of SET friendly. The poor little bastard is being tasked with driving a pair of M&K MPS 1510 monitors, which are 4 ohm, low sensitivity, power draining complex crossover having, power hungry little bastards. And Ito make matters worse, I was forced to use speaker level to feed the sub, yielding all that crappy output tranny coupled nonlinearity and reduced extension. While it actually doesn't sound too objectionable below 80 db or so, anything, and I mean anything more just causes the whole thing to crap out.

This is just woefully inadequate, and I'm pissed.

****in cappy NAD POS. Damn thing better not cost much to fix.

 

[jinjuku]

NAD's from my recollection isn't the most reliable brand out there.

 

[Adam]

Yikes, another C372 went down? GO-NAD! just had his go south last month.

That sucks, man. I hope that you're able to enjoy your games this weekend.

 

[ski2xblack]

Thanks for the sympathy. Wife's showing none now, so it really helps!

Re NAD reliability, I've owned several over the years. The really old ones have required the expected maintenance, although it's been cheap. The C372 is the most recent one, and this is way too soon for it to crap out if you ask me. It's not like I listen at teenager type levels or ask very much of it.

I'm really trying to look on the bright side here. ****in SETs trying to work it's snake charmer tricks on me right now. All the bad stuff SETs do is downright hypnotic at low levels, but changes very quickly to crap when pushed. This particular setup is like trying to pull a heavy trailer up to the divide using a Yugo as the the tow vehicle. Bad idea.

So if repair is cost prohibitive, I'll be considering a replacement for the C372. The HK3940 is cheap and seems to have a stout amp section. I'd rather err on the side of too much power, and it takes a bunch for the M&K to properly sing. Plus the drivers are out of production and not replaceable, so absolutely no clipping allowed! (Yeah, the SETs are clipping like crazy, but at <2 watts, can't really burn anything up.) Any better suggestions?

 

[jinjuku]

Seriously: Pick up a Crown XLS 1000 Drive Core or Peavy IPR 1600.

You can even get this at Guitar Center and try it out. If you don't like it you are out nothing. Check out the Peavy IPR thread at AVS to see what people who own Bryston/Parasound/Pass Labs are saying.

 

[ski2xblack]

Thanks, Jinjuku. :thumbs up:

While those would be more than ideal for power, I need the control aspect, so it's either a very decent integrated, or add a preamp of some sort. Despite the video aspect, it's still a retro two channel rig.

Let me see just how expensive the fix will be for the NAD, as the whole system is as dialed in as can be and relies on the two pre-out capacity of the NAD.

Now it's time for some soul soothing gospel as only crappy SETs can do, at 70db!

 

[deedubb]

Fortunately my 7 channel NAD has been running strong for a few years now. If it ever craps out on me, I can just bypass it and run everything off my Pioneer Elite. Good luck with yours!

 

[haraldo]

This sucks.... hard to imagine anything worse than NO SOUND from the system....
Really shows the importance of keeping a backup system

 

[GO-NAD!]

Thanks for the sympathy. Wife's showing none now, so it really helps!

Re NAD reliability, I've owned several over the years. The really old ones have required the expected maintenance, although it's been cheap. The C372 is the most recent one, and this is way too soon for it to crap out if you ask me. It's not like I listen at teenager type levels or ask very much of it.

I'm really trying to look on the bright side here. ****in SETs trying to work it's snake charmer tricks on me right now. All the bad stuff SETs do is downright hypnotic at low levels, but changes very quickly to crap when pushed. This particular setup is like trying to pull a heavy trailer up to the divide using a Yugo as the the tow vehicle. Bad idea.

So if repair is cost prohibitive, I'll be considering a replacement for the C372. The HK3940 is cheap and seems to have a stout amp section. I'd rather err on the side of too much power, and it takes a bunch for the M&K to properly sing. Plus the drivers are out of production and not replaceable, so absolutely no clipping allowed! (Yeah, the SETs are clipping like crazy, but at <2 watts, can't really burn anything up.) Any better suggestions?

I can certainly sympathize! My amp didn't die completely - it just started to distort badly. I'm still waiting for it to be repaired. I also hope it doesn't cost too much. I've had mine for about 3 - 4 years and it was trouble-free until now.

If it does turn out to be not worth repairing - although I have difficulty believing that right now - the HK3490 will certainly be on the short list of possible replacements. That would leave me with a surplus tuner though. What I'd really be tempted by is the Emotiva USP-1 and the XPA-2, or even a pair of UPA-1's.

If that should ever come to pass, how do I dump my fanboy name? Good luck with yours!

 

[haraldo]

I can certainly sympathize! My amp didn't die completely - it just started to distort badly. I'm still waiting for it to be repaired. I also hope it doesn't cost too much. I've had mine for about 3 - 4 years and it was trouble-free until now.

If it does turn out to be not worth repairing - although I have difficulty believing that right now - the HK3490 will certainly be on the short list of possible replacements. That would leave me with a surplus tuner though. What I'd really be tempted by is the Emotiva USP-1 and the XPA-2, or even a pair of UPA-1's.

If that should ever come to pass, how do I dump my fanboy name? Good luck with yours!

Perhaps GO-NAD from now on will be sarcastic
Good luck, hope your amp survives !!!!!!

 

[GO-NAD!]

Perhaps GO-NAD from now on will be sarcastic

Moi? Sarcastic? Perish the thought!

 

[haraldo]

Moi? Sarcastic? Perish the thought!

Then your amp must be rescued

 

[ski2xblack]

I'm still waiting for it to be repaired.

Me too. Repair shop backed up something fierce. The cost won't be bad, but the wait sure will be. In the meantime the tube amps are proving quite interesting, so I'm trying to make the most of it.

I got to actually listen to the games this weekend. How 'bout them Donkeys?!?