NAD and proton same company?
- Thread starter ke4mcl
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
zenith2134
Lunatic Member
That's what I read too, Celt. A lot of the NAD and Proton stuff of yesteryear was built in Taiwan by the same corporation.
ken kantor
Fowl Humor
NAD was a spinoff from AR, and its business organization was quite complex. One of the various owners of NAD launched Proton, and there is a historically strong connection between the companies in design, manufacturing and distribution.
-k
-k
musichal
poet emeritus
Yeah, some of the early Proton equipment looked exactly like the NAD of the time, and are related as was already answered. Same with AMC looks. Still have a soft spot for NAD and have a C-740 receiver connected to the computer, but I understand the HT stuff should be avoided. I once owned an 1155 pre with two 2155's bridged that was pretty darn good, a 2200 amp, their first Monitor Series amp and pre, and various tuners that sounded good on strong signals but were no RF champs - still have a 4130 tuner on my signature system, and a 602 tape deck on the C-740.
Wow, I had forgotten about the AR connection.
I may be mistaken but my recollection is that the first Proton products were TV's that were supposed to be of videophile quality (and reputedly met that goal). Then they moved into audio, with some NAD-like products.
bryndildaddy
Active Member
Both Proton and NAD were noted for making superb FM sections.
As I recall, the famous tuner was called Schotz.
In the mid-80s, we were told that Proton equipment (some of it anyway) was built by the same company that built NAD. Fulet sounds right. Their amps were both known for their ability to drive low impedence loads.
The Proton video monitor was impressive when it came out, but Sony was right there with some equally good looking tubes.
My favorite piece of Proton gear is the bi-amped table radio and stereo speaker. Whenever I hear a Bose Wave radio, I just chuckle and think back to the Proton.
In the mid-80s, we were told that Proton equipment (some of it anyway) was built by the same company that built NAD. Fulet sounds right. Their amps were both known for their ability to drive low impedence loads.
The Proton video monitor was impressive when it came out, but Sony was right there with some equally good looking tubes.
My favorite piece of Proton gear is the bi-amped table radio and stereo speaker. Whenever I hear a Bose Wave radio, I just chuckle and think back to the Proton.
Nakdoc
nakamichi spoken here
In the earliest days of NAD, Fulet in Taiwan was the OEM manufacturer. By 1984, Fulet wanted to introduce their TV product, so they formed the Proton brand, selling the 600M and 602M monitors...fabulous pieces in their time. NAD had terrible QC problems, all caused by Fulet, and in the year the 7140 was replaced by the 7150, NAD found anotherOEM manufacturer, and Fuluet /Proton introduced audio pieces ripping off NAD designs. Proton gradually went from the muddy NAD look to the style found in the 2200, and Fulet did get better with QC and overall manufacturing. This ripoff period is when the two brands seemed to be one and the same.
ken kantor
Fowl Humor
Nakdoc,
It's a more complex story than this, in my opinion/observation. For example:
- Fulet was a part-owner in NAD from the beginning. (Well, from the Post-AR "beginning," at least.) Also, it was one of NAD's major distributors, as were just about all of the financial founders of the company.
- Fulet invested and loaned a great deal of money to NAD over the years, including a many million-dollar bailout that essentially rescued NAD at one point.
(Various of the other original investor/distributors of NAD decided they had competing interests in other brands, or did not step up for one reason or another.)
- The ownership of the engineering designs and tooling in question is perhaps too complicated to fully unravel. Parts of these designs date back to the AR engineering lab, and its "9-D" program. Others came from a different NAD OEM vendor. Some of the product engineering was done by friends of the family that were working for yet other brands. It's all a mess of "consultants," unpaid invoices, bad loans, shared engineering resources, family and business feuds, etc, etc.
To say that Proton "ripped off" NAD's designs gives, I think, the wrong impression.
-k
Last edited:
dinger
Active Member
Sorry to resurrect this old thread but I got curious about the NAD/Proton relationship and typed it in google and this was the top result. I find HiFi manufacturing history quite fascinating and I'm sure there are other interesting stories out there. I don't suppose there's well researched book covering the inside industry story through the glory days?
The funny thing about that is that I actually preferred listening to a cheap analog tuner from Technics (an ST-Z35) instead of the NAD when I owned a 7140. The tuner in the 7140 worked OK but was always off center in tuning by 0.05. Never figured that out. The Schotz tuner was supposed the be the greatest thing but it never really did it for me...
The NAD has since been passed on to another member here and I am back to using Technics amps...