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NAD Advice sought

R

rosewellian

New Member
Hi

Having just found some records in my late fathers loft I'm a born again Vynl player. As younger person I had a Proton (which I believe came out of the NAD factory) setup with Dual Deck and Warfedale speakers. All long since gone.

I have just purchased some job lot NAD seperates & Deck and seek advice on whats worth keeping in particular the amps where I have ended up with three.

here is the NAD kit list

1240Pre-amp
2240power amp
3225PE amp
4225 Tuner
T550 DVD/CD Player
8020 Speakers
5120 deck with flat arm

other gear
Castle Warwick Speakers
Kenwood KA-660D AMP

I have not wired any of this up yet as I need to get some decent quality cabling and banana plugs at the weekend

I like the rich mellow tones so any advice on which components are likely to give me that would be appresiated.

Thanks
Ian
 
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Ian,
Welcome to AK forum. I'm not an electrical tech. Do you know that the amplifiers work and are safe for speakers that you would ppower with them? With a multimeter, if you have one, you can test amplifier output. See Solid State section's first thread concerning DC offset testing. Or, initially use some disposable speakers in case amps has some issues. Find some 8 ohm rated, $5 speakers at a thriftstore for first use of amps, if not comfotable useing a multimeter. Just my opinion. Others may say different.
I'm not familiar with that NAD gear, to comment on it. Hopefully you will get some more replys. Not so much traffic in Members Systems section.
enjoy
 
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Old Guy8 said:
Ian,
Welcome to AK forum. I'm not an electrical tech. Do you know that the amplifiers work and are safe for speakers that you would ppower with them? With a multimeter, if you have one, you can test amplifier output. See Solid State section's first thread concerning DC offset testing. Or, initially use some disposable speakers in case amps has some issues. Find some 8 ohm rated, $5 speakers at a thriftstore for first use of amps, if not comfotable useing a multimeter. Just my opinion. Others may say different.
I'm not familiar with that NAD gear, to comment on it. Hopefully you will get some more replys. Not so much traffic in Members Systems section.
enjoy
Click to expand...
Old Guy8 said:
Ian,
Welcome to AK forum. I'm not an electrical tech. Do you know that the amplifiers work and are safe for speakers that you would ppower with them? With a multimeter, if you have one, you can test amplifier output. See Solid State section's first thread concerning DC offset testing. Or, initially use some disposable speakers in case amps has some issues. Find some 8 ohm rated, $5 speakers at a thriftstore for first use of amps, if not comfotable useing a multimeter. Just my opinion. Others may say different.
I'm not familiar with that NAD gear, to comment on it. Hopefully you will get some more replys. Not so much traffic in Members Systems section.
enjoy
Click to expand...


Thanks Old Guy8 especially for the multimeter tip. I will give it a try and report back. (I have some battered Nad 80hm speakers I can use as Guinea Pigs)
 
rosewellian said:
Thanks Old Guy8 especially for the multimeter tip. I will give it a try and report back. (I have some battered Nad 80hm speakers I can use as Guinea Pigs)
Click to expand...
That thread, I belief gives you an opinion on how much DC reading will give noticeable distortion and where a dangerous level starts. Like I said I'm not a tech. Also if you have noisey or non functioning switches and pots. There is the first thread in General Audio Discussion section, how to use Deoxit contact cleaners for non-techs.
Only NAD what I own is a C546 bee CDP which soubds fine.
 
If it were me...

I'd definitely keep the 1240 preamp the 2240 power amp (and the 4225 tuner) as those are pretty much companion items (ie: a matched set) .
If you prefer an integrated amp instead,the that NAD 3225 integrated would also be a decent enough piece of gear too.
So that's largely an either/or sorta choice there,either keep the pre/power amp combo -or- keep the integrated.
Ask me that choice is basically a draw,me I'd take the seperates.

The DVD player seems to fit with the rest of the NAD pieces ^^^^ above ^^^^,so I see no reason not to keep it and see if I liked it or not.

The 5120 TT does'nt really do much for me...
I mean one could definitely do worse,and if you dont have anything else,it's better than nothing,but to me it's not a keeper JMO.
So I'd probably just consider it a temporary piece till I found something better.

If those 8020 speakers are the 8020e mini-monitors I'd keep those too as they seem to me to be some nice speakers (the 8020e are on my want list).
IIRC those 8020e were made for NAD by KEF (but dont quote me on that one,LOL).

The Castle Wawrick speakers look interesting,though I'm not familiar with them at all,I'd still hafta give them an audition before making any decisions there.
These look to have lots of potential,they look properly english and I like a nice proper english speaker myself,yeah they could be really nice.

And lastly,the Kenwood KA-660D integrated amp,it might be a nice piece of gear,I honestly dunno,but I'd probably stick with the NAD stuff myself.
Maybe stick it in a closet as a back-up just for the he!! of it ???

I dunno it's all decent gear,honestly it could be a tough choice sorting it all out.
Me,I'd probably keep it all I mean WTH no guts ~ no glory,LOL.

:D

Bret P.
 
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Oh yeah,,,before I go...
rosewellian said:
I like the rich mellow tones so any advice on which components are likely to give me that would be appresiated.
Click to expand...
The NAD gear will definitely fit that bill,especially with some proper English speakers,should be very listenable w/o any fatigue.
And NAD gear typically has really nice phono pre's in them,so they're good for use with turntables.

The only real ??? quatity with the NAD gear to me is that T550 DVD-P.

No idea about that Kenwood integrated though,,,so that would require an audition to figure out if it would fit the desired traits.

HTH

Bret P.
 
I would build two systems out of it. The 3225 amp, 4225 tuner and 8020 speakers would make a great bedroom system, and the 1240 pre, 2240 power and Castle speakers would be the main system. I've no experience with the DVD player, and that flat-arm turntable was never my cup of tea. I would replace it with a good used Rega Planer 2 or Technics SL-1300 (cheaper than the 1200 and just as good IMHO) depending on what your turntable flavour is.

Do you have any pics of the 8020 speakers? Some version were made by KEF, whereas others weren't as good.

Enjoy!

Lee.
 
What a great forum this is, thanks guys for all your input. I got my gold plated banana plugs and copper speaker wire now so will spend the week-end playing around with the combo's as suggested.

The 8020 speakers are made in Uk so probably KEF? but the cabinet corners are battered and the cones were full of dust till I got it all off with a soft bristle paint brush so will be interesting to see what they sound like.

BTW only one of the strands in the speaker wire is copper the other is silver 12metres (36ft) for US $4 so guessing its el cheapo stuff but OK for testing? Is there any convention that says the copper strands should go to the Positive (Red plugs) and silver to Negative or vice versa?
 
Everyone experience with audio gear is different. As far as Technics turntables. I had a 1400 mark 2 for 20 years, which was a very nice table, EXCEPT the tonearm lift internals was its Achilles heal. Mine broke twice. 1300, 1400 &1500 mark 2's, were I believe same, except level of automation.
Speaker wire, what's good enough, can be a sensitive subject on this forum. Personally, I use pure copper #14 gauge through #8 with gold plated copper terminations, depending on what I want to spend.
 
I'm a fan of NAD pre/power/integrateds. We have a 326BEE in my wife's office system with some Dynaudio two-ways and we both love it. Looks like you'll have an enjoyable weekend ahead.
 
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