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nad 3020a balance problem..

ady

ady

Member
hi... just wired up my recently scored vintage B&W DM2 speakers and with the extra clarity i get from these i've started to notice a lack of volume on the right channel.. with another amp it is fine... the balance control on the 3020 can kind of sort this out but it's bugging me as to the cause... the amp sounds great still with no obvious problems...

i've carefully cleaned all the pots / switches but volume is still slightly down on R channel... any ideas as to the possible causes?

thanks

adrian
 
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This normally is due to aging components e.g. resistors, coupling caps changing value slightly.Happen nearly to all vintage gears.
But I think the NAD3020 too ( mine is a 7020 ) has a high spec. balance pot that is arranged to be fine tuning round the centre, so one may find that it requires quite a lot of correction, but in fact not.
Mc
 
I would want to find out for sure which section
of the amp is causing the trouble before doing
too much to it. I would take the pre outs and
drive another power amp with it. If the imbalance
still exist then you know for sure the trouble does exist
in the preamp section and not the power amp.
 
Is the weaker channel distorted as well, or just not as loud?

How long have you had the unit? Reason I ask the second
question is because I picked up a receiver that did the same
thing that you're mentioning... the problem with my unit was
that the knob had been removed while the balance control
wasn't on center, but the knob was placed at center. :rolleyes:

Since yours is the A model, you have bass, treble, and balance
controls, correct?

I have the B model which doesn't have those controls, but it
does have a split knob for L/R volume control.

Scott
 
thanks for the replies.

i haven't separated the pre from power yet... i'll try that...

the pot knob is definately on square though, the pot has a centre dent also which seems ok...

the sound is not distorted just 'less'... haven't tried the DC offset test yet, although i'm not sure this is related...

a.
 
If you can It wouldnt be a bad idea to seperate the pre from the main
amp and find out which of the two sections of the receiver is causing
the trouble. If this is something that only occurs after warm up It would
seem you have a component thats breaking down with heat mabe
a transistor or cap. But it would hard to tell exactly which one without
getting the unit on the bench and get it checked out. However dont
ever rule out things like dirty controls or relays first.
 
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