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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2019 6:40:47 GMT
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Post by Stratmangler on Oct 23, 2019 10:13:00 GMT
A pal of mine had a NAD 3130, and it sounded very good.
He still has it, and uses it in his office.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 23, 2019 10:19:15 GMT
My mother still uses a NAD 3120 with Tannoy Mercurys. It sounds fine!
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Post by Slinger on Oct 23, 2019 12:21:46 GMT
I've never owned one either.  I think the 3020 was one of the very first widely available "audiophile" amps that was also within the price-range of "normal" people, and in that way it was a fairly big evolutionary step. I've just Googled it, and apparently it sold half a million units in the first three years of its life, which is a pretty big number for an audiophile component. I think it probably, also, opened the door for companies like Arcam, so it was pretty important for more than it's price and quality. One more Googled fact: By 1998, the NAD 3020 had become the most well known and best-selling audio amplifier in history. It's got its own page on Wikipedia too, as I've just discovered. Have a read, it's quite interesting. This is interesting too... www.avhub.com.au/features/sound-image/a-history-of-nad-517759I did own a NAD amp, and enjoyed it. At the same time I also had a NAD C541i CD player which is still one of the best budget machines I've ever heard, not that I've heard that many, but it did sound good. I've still got a 516BEE CD player in my main system too. |
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 23, 2019 12:43:11 GMT
I had a 3020, one of the early ones.
Never had a problem with it.
It was streets ahead of the competition at £86 at the time.
Loads of power, much more than the rated 20W in 8ohm!
It was quiet - noise wise, clear, detailed and punchy - compared to anything I had heard up till then.
As a young lad, I cycled to Winchester train station, got on the train to Southampton, bought it at one of two or three hifi shops there.
Carrying it back to the station..
Back at Winchester I strapped the box on the rack of my 27" wheel 'racing' bike and walked it home, ever so gently!
Into Mission speakers it sounded great.
I had that combo for many many years, it winding up as a garage Hifi.
I did bring it and the Mission speakers into the music room in previous house.
The horn system totally destroyed them in every aspect sound wise..
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 23, 2019 15:48:58 GMT
The only NAD I can recall having was a S300 integrated amp. Very nice. It was introduced for the first time around the year 2000, just after the Tabu Century made by top tier Danish audiophile company Gryphon had stopped being sold. They are basically the same amps. The rear plate of the NAD S300 states: "Manufactured in Denmark," and "Designed and Engineered in London, England." It was genuinely a Gryphon Tabu Century with some modifications specified by NAD. As I say, very nice!  |
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2019 16:30:07 GMT
I never owned one. Never owned anything made by NAD, for that matter. A friend had a 3020 which he paired with Heybrook HB1 speakers and I was rather unimpressed.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 23, 2019 17:54:15 GMT
You were so unimpressed you decided you needed a thread about it? |
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 23, 2019 18:02:27 GMT
I never much liked any of the old NAD gear - I always found them a bit too warm and wooly sounding ...
I once had a NAD tape deck - build quality was pretty grim, wasn't exactly a joy to use.
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2019 18:25:11 GMT
You were so unimpressed you decided you needed a thread about it? :D ...to try to understand why it has the reputation that it has. |
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Post by John on Oct 23, 2019 19:17:20 GMT
I once helped a friend put together a system from mostly my old gear AE109 Philips CD player and we all chipped in to get a NAD amplifier It sounded quite good for what it was and certainly my friend enjoyed a good few listening sessions with the system.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 23, 2019 19:50:57 GMT
Here's a theory. Maybe NAD were clever about their relationship with the hifi press. I think a lot of punters bought those amps purely on the basis of reviews / awards.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 23, 2019 20:36:53 GMT
As I said above, it was a gateway for companies like Arcam, plus It introduced the man on the Clapham omnibus to hi-fi at a price he could afford. There wasn't much else knocking around for £79.00 that was anywhere near the NAD's quality at the time. I think those are a couple of decent reasons why it's become a bit of a milestone in hi-fi history.
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2019 22:35:52 GMT
The shiny silver fronted gear that preceded the 3020 is little known - it was originally sold by Acoustic Research (Martin Borish, the man who started NAD used to be their head honcho). They produced amps, receivers, tape decks, a tuner and headphones (including an electrostatic and a planar magnetic). It was all a good bit pricier than the 3020 and its bedfellows though.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 23, 2019 23:17:23 GMT
I bought a Cyrus 1 last year. No good reason really and haven't used it yet but think it's an amazing piece of design for the time. Reason I mention this is as memory serves it was 150 quid back in the day, so you can understand the value in the NAD perhaps as Paul says. Innit.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 24, 2019 9:51:33 GMT
My first ever CD player was a NAD, kindly gifted to me
I had around 1 or 2 CDs at the time. Sounded good to me, especially for £0
Will probably keep it as the very first
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 24, 2019 10:24:02 GMT
I bought a Cyrus 1 last year. No good reason really and haven't used it yet but think it's an amazing piece of design for the time. Reason I mention this is as memory serves it was 150 quid back in the day, so you can understand the value in the NAD perhaps as Paul says. Innit. By the time that the Cyrus hit the shops, the NAD was selling for about 100 quid. I remember the Cyrus 1 selling for £120. The 2 was massively better for the 200 quid that was being asked for it though. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2019 10:26:58 GMT
Never tried a Nad 3020 because I think it was a bit before my time. My first amp was a Yamaha CR600 receiver, then I moved onto a Audiolab 8000A, both of which I was gifted from my Dad when he upgraded.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 24, 2019 10:54:41 GMT
I bought a Cyrus 1 last year. No good reason really and haven't used it yet but think it's an amazing piece of design for the time. Reason I mention this is as memory serves it was 150 quid back in the day, so you can understand the value in the NAD perhaps as Paul says. Innit. By the time that the Cyrus hit the shops, the NAD was selling for about 100 quid. I remember the Cyrus 1 selling for £120. The 2 was massively better for the 200 quid that was being asked for it though. Indeed - with the PSX it was excellent. I very nearly bought the two! |
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on Oct 24, 2019 13:00:11 GMT
I had one. It was my first proper amp and was a great bit of kit. I was very happy with it for years.
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