Are NAD 3020's worth 90 Pounds (UK)

gr33nhorn

Active Member
My cheap receiver crapped out, and I was looking to upgrade to a proper amp.

The NAD 3020 is the first amp I thought of, but after chasing a few on ebay, I've found most of them going for around the 90 Pound mark.

I have a pair of B&W Vision DS3's (4 Ohm) which i picked up for 20 pounds, so I'd rather look for a good bargain, and am not too picky about quality.

I see later model cambridge/rotel/kenwood amps with better spec (60-80W RMS) come up on local classifieds at 30-40 pounds all the time.

Are the NAD amps worth the price?
 
It's a nice sounding budget amp,personally I wouldn't pay £90 for one (not that long ago,around £50/£60 was the norm).
In my opinion,you could do better for less money,something like a Sansui AU-217 MKII.. very nice sounding amp,better SQ and build quality that the NAD 3020's. Also,it received 5 star awards in hi-fi mags upon it's 1979 release.
 
unfortunately, i don't get many good options in leeds. All the well known amps are priced sky high on ebay, and I need something asap.

Time to go the T amp route. Thanks!
 
90 quid sounds like a good price for a 3020. Opinions are like... well, you might know the rest of that. I would take a 3020 over a Sansui, but that's my opinion. I've heard both, and prefer the sound of the NAD. Back in the day, What HiFi magazine used to recommend either the Sansui 217 or NAD 3020 as the starter for a budget system, so they're both good.

The NAD has a very sweet sounding phono stage, something you may want to consider if you're planning on listening to vinyl. Also, despite only being rated at 20w, it has the ability to sound a lot louder. NAD designers used massive output transistors that are actually rated for 15A at 100v. One of those magazines tested a 3020 and kept adding speakers onto it, until they had four pairs connected, presenting a 2 ohm load. They then connected a current probe across the speaker cables, and found it was putting out peaks of 20A. Not bad for a 20w amp that one cost £89 when it was new.

Consider this though. Either the NAD or the Sansui will be running on 30 year old+ capacitors. These can and do go dry, affecting the sound quality and also reliability. If you're handy with a soldering iron, you might want to consider restoring them. Both of them would sound better than a T-amp.

More NAD info :

NAD 3020 retrospective review.

How to rebuild a 3020 :

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=460678

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=534006

Lee.
 
What the poster above said about 30 year old caps. These amps didn't have a great reputation for reliability even when brand new, either. (NAD was the first "western" brand to assemble in Taiwan) But they sounded good, for the time. If I had a $150 to spend on a used integrated, I'd look for something from the 90s. Possibly a newer NAD.
 
Reliability is not a big issue. repairability is. My dead reciever uses an STK 465 module, which I'm not having much luck getting a good replacement. I swapped in one I ordered from ebay, and the sound is a bit 'off' with a bit of coarseness in the HF.
Already ordered an SMSL SA 98E for 66 Pounds. I plan to continue using the preamp stage of the reciever.

I suppose I'll have to keep lowballing on ebay and see if I get lucky.
 
Reliability is not a big issue. repairability is. My dead reciever uses an STK 465 module, which I'm not having much luck getting a good replacement. I swapped in one I ordered from ebay, and the sound is a bit 'off' with a bit of coarseness in the HF.
Already ordered an SMSL SA 98E for 66 Pounds. I plan to continue using the preamp stage of the reciever.

The NAD 3020 uses plain old 2N3055/MJ2955 outputs, even Radio Shack (Tandy) used to sell them. Granted, they're old technology, and I saw one supplier on Mouser that listed them as obsolete so they won't be making them any more. But they were enough of them made, I'm sure replacements will be around for ears to come.

Lee.
 
Picked one up for $25. Cool looking, but unexciting to listen to.

That's really a fair review, not. Pick an amp up with 30+ year old capacitors and expect it to sound great. They weren't built with the best quality components to start with.

Here is a message from a recent customer of mine who bought a NAD 1020A preamp :

"Lee I had to respond again...because I just hooked up the 1020A to my Electrocompaniet Amp and B&W CM1 with CM2 bass modules. The sound is nothing short of fantastic. Absolutely dead silent background, very smooth throughout the entire range, tight bass, very realistic sound, and best of all very musical. Although I love my Electrocompaniet PreAmpliwire (and their amps...also extremely smooth and musical) and it is a much more expensive unit, if you blindfolded me I am not sure which one I would choose."

Nuff said.
 
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