The NAD 3020 is a true classic. Within their power capability they still aren't that far surpassed by today's amps. NAD amps were always conservatively rated in regard to power output. Good review of an worthy product that started a lot of people on their audiophile journey. Thanks from Phoenix, AZ.
Takes me back to the mid 80's and my 1st set up- NAD 3020i, Dual CS505 mkII, Mordaunt Short ms25ti's, NAD cassette deck and a lovely sounding Leak tuner from the 60's. Can the sheer joy and revelation of hearing your record collection for the first time on a decent set up ever be matched? Probably not.
In the US, we called this equipment by the letters NAD regather than “nad” as it was an abbreviation for New Acoustic Dimension. I didn’t know it was so popular in sales worldwide. It was the best “bang for the buck (pound)” by far. Their design with +3db of Dynamic Headroom in the amp helped it punch well above its stated rating and helped it to handle down to 2 ohm loads (that and a great power transformer). I appreciated your saying how good the preamp is for plugging into a higher wattage amp if needed. I have used the 3140 (40 watts/channel) since it came out. You could even bridge the channels and use a separate 2140 amp only whereby each unit fed one speaker.
I owned a Pioneer Sx-3700, and while I liked the full and bassy sound, it lacked "something." I replaced it with a NAD 3020, and was instantly blown away. You're absolutely right: You start listening to the detail and you understand what the engineers and producers were thinking when they laid down the track... You understand the subtle microphone details, and you start to pick up instruments that had been lost in the bass. A perfect example for me is "Delta" by Crosby, Stills and Nash, off their "Daylight Again" album. You hear the echo of Crosby's voice and it reveals the air of the studio. You then hear the harmonies come in, followed by a distant and muted snare drum. And then the chorus of background singers kicks in... Wow. That's why I love my NAD 3020. Every once in a while I think about upgrading. And then I ask myself: "Why? You love this thing!!"
that also can be a problem with the speakers you had at the time, but i agree with you, pioneer till 79 was a great brand after in 1980 the sound become ok not excelent ,the SX-3700 is a good example of that ,NAD had the same problem but some decreased more than others, i had a similar problem with some 80´s pioneer speakers ,allthough everyone i knew said it was the best sounding system, only after putting on top some Technics SB-F3(excelent speakers for direct listening, but might not sound that good with expensive modern amplifiers said to be good, wich aren´t) i notice some sounds that weren´t there in some Lp´s , i remenber reading about this speakers and someone saying that were the 8 ohms speakers that put to shame some 4 ohms speakers, and i never stoped using them, if someone says that they have no bass , the only problem is having a really bad amplifier, no matter if it cost a fortune.(that happens a lot today)
Still got one boxed in my loft with some MIssion 730 speakers and Sansui sr 222. I’m going to get them out and try them. Glad I found this channel.😁 I’ll compare the pre with my Kairn. Worth a shot.
There is something a bit special about the little old NAD 3020. I found it takes a few hours of run time to start sounding it's best. Had it running from a tube DAC (MF tubalog). Great combo! What actually surprised me the most, was just how much power and impact it had in the bass. I've heard its sound described as 'warm and dark' and I think that's pretty accurate. I paired it with Mission LX-2s which seemed a very happy combo!
Has anyone had to clean theyres internally? I've recently bought 1 off a lady that hasn't been played in 4 years. First time cranking it up there was a horrible loud crackle (from what I've read this could be dust in the volume pot). The sound coming through the speakers was dreadful, like it was coming from those little speakers you get for mobile phones but with no bass. Very tinny sound. Had to turn it off as I was concerned with damaging the voice coils on speakers. Bought some deoxit and air sprays so I'm hoping removing the dust is the best I can do at this point. Any advise would be great..
The 3020's real strength was the phono stage where it easily outperformed anything near it's price range. With other sources the advantage was less clear IME but in it's day most sources were vinyl so it was entry level proper hi-fi.
My brother found this amp in the rubbish dump (unbelievable!) and brought it home. I unplugged my Sansui G-3500, that I thought was the best with my KEFs 103.2, but once the NAD 3020 was plugged in to the KEFs the sound was amazing. I think I found nirvana, at last....or at least I hope. BTW, great review. Ciao from your Italian fans.
this gentleman is the wizard or Gandalf off the Vintage audio world .learning alot from his reviews. am just waiting to here The One Vintage amp to rule them all.
Just repaired one. Went to the trouble because vocals sounded right. Very solid and with a magic texture that tells the story of THIS EXACT VOICE. A Bit like my Sansui 661 or 551 but maybe less lovely and more accurate. Not as sweet as Sansui 221, but much more solid. These amps are so enjoyable! Addictive. I just sit and smile. Especially with the RCA Living Stereo discs from the day. Together = double magic! Thanks for sharing your experience. Helpful.
Hi guys, I always dreaming about good quality amp. Finally after 30 years I bought NAD 3240PE but I sound bad. After that I invested in the sansui 221. It sounds great but too bassy with loudness. It would be great if you Kevin compare the amps sansui and NAD 20 series. Is possible?
Regarding the "rolled off" top end. Switch the jumpers on the back from "normal" to "Lab" inputs. This bypasses filters designed to bandwidth limit and stabilize the amp when used with certain "fast" phono cartridges that can (when unfiltered) generate transient intermodulation effects imparting an abrasive quality to the treble. It also filters subsonic frequencies found in record warps common in the day. The "Lab" mode when played with good, undemanding sources you should notice an opening up of the very top octave. I run my 3020 with B&W DM4s and prefer it in "normal" mode as it helps to ameliorate the DM4's somewhat over etched top end.
Nice to hear your review, and how you describe the special character of the amp. I’m doing a “restoration” of an old NAD 3020, the first revision predecessor of the A and B models. Complete cleanup, replacing all electrolytics by new high-quality types, re-cabling which was messy from manufacturer. Also corrected minor design, and manufacturing flaws. Since I work as an electronics designer, I’ve gone through the circuits, and done SPICE simulations of some. Especially interesting to hear what you say about the midrange, cause of the design of the tone controls (set in the middle), there is a “hump” on about 400Hz. On the output stage transistors, designer omitted the usual emitter resistors, probably to further ensure low output resistance, important in bass response band which requires high power. However, this leads to poor temperature stability, and my amp anyway, runs in pure class-B probably garbles the high range. What you hear, corresponds well to my observations of the circuits.
It sold for $200 in the US. I bought one in 1981 and really enjoyed it, mainly through the MM phono stage. The preamp is the star of the show; I added more power with an Adcom GFA-545 and also got more clarity.
Fantastic review. My later father had the 7020 receiver which I think was the same basically. He had it with a big arial on the roof and huge old Mordant Short speakers. Always sounded really loud, deep and rich. There's a dude who repairs mission cyrus amps (you can find him online). He says you would pay maybe a £1000 to get such quality as the NAD here and the older amps. A guy in a hi-fi shop talked me all the brands or many got sold to some huge Taiwanese company a decade or more ago. My feeling with the NAD is the incredible build quality. Dad left it in the woods, in a shed. When he passed away or some years later I switched it on and it worked. Incredible and a tribute to those who made it and the designers.
I run a 7020e (basically a 3020 with a digital tuner) It's currently my daily driver paired with PSB imagines. I used to run a seperate phono pre but for tidyness sake I now use the built in phono and I don't hear a difference. Great amps, i won't be changing it until it starts giving me problems
Bought mine in 1981, still have it, still gets used almost daily. Needs a service every decade or so. lt was part of the HiFi "System" l purchased at the time. l have replaced every component of that system, a few times over. But l have never felt the need to "upgrade" the NAD. It's currently driving a set of speakers that we paid 10x the price of the NAD.
"NAD is an abbreviation for New Acoustic Dimension. The company was founded in London, England, in 1972 by Dr. Martin L. Borish, an electrical engineer with a PhD in physics. Its most famous product is the late-1970s NAD 3020, an integrated amplifier designed by Bjørn Erik Edvardsen, which was highly regarded by various magazines in Britain." - Wikipedia
I had most of them.. The first two versions of the 3020 was a nice amp for the money. The best one of the rest, of the later variants and that i had as one of my amps then and kept for many years is the 3225 pe. I had it setup with a pair of JPW AP2 speakers and a Manticore mantra TT with musician arm and a Goldring 1040. It was like going to an amusement park each time i sat down in front of that and played records back then. Not many times did i have more fun.
The Audiolab was one of a string of amps I “upgraded” to after the Nad. I ended up hating the Audiolab! Thinking back, in the CD era of the mid 80s it all sounded so harsh and clinical after the magical sound of the Nad. I had to retrieve the Nad from my sister! I too would be very interested to hear what Kelvin thinks about the Audiolab. Got rid of mine years ago. With the right gear it probably is a good amp.
I personally sold hundreds of 3020's when I ran a Hi-Fi Markets franchise in Bradford, West Yorks. For me it's outstanding achievment was that it 'timed' better than many more expensive amp's. Play Dire Straits 'Sultans of Swing' through one a sale was usually made.
Hi Kelvin, I always look forward to your enjoyable reviews and this one was no exception, well up to your usual high standard. I remember the 3020 fondly having owned one at one time, along with everybody else so it would seem. The Nad did sterling service until a channel blew during a party, some moron reenacting spinal tap, proving the amp went all the way up to eleven - it didn’t! I ended up upgrading with something that I convinced myself was “better”. Probably not true, there’s a lot of kidology in hifi, not least kidding yourself. Wish you and the channel well.
NAD 3020 was the best selling piece of Hi-Fi of all time ... BUT ... it wasn't the best sounding of all time. Based on another British amplifier from the brand that made the NAD 5040 turntable for Martin Borish, they both had a very lightweight, brash sound, no 'power', only 20 feeble watts from a tiny power supply. But they were good for the music of their day, Punk Rock, The Sex Pistols and you know, Johnny Rotten. NAD 3020 was Jolly Rotten but none of their owners cared to know. They thought that their Russian Fiat-based Lada cars were the best on the road. The NAD owners were peasants and loved their lifestyles.
After leaving Uni in 1980 and before getting a job in my field of study, I worked for Rush Hi-Fi in Romford and Chelmsford and sold a ton of these NAD 3020s. They were an incredibly popular budget amp and extremely good value for money. Would love to hear one of these again. Nice one Kelvin.
I thought you were telling us how delightfull the dinner was in a four star Michelin restaurant. But your ears were filled with Sound in an Audio Bar named "Chez Nad" When I was young in the sixties, I used to be an Amp Spotter. She killed my L&G 3600 by watering the plants in the pots.
I run a yamaha ax396 amp with B&W dm602s and I find that combination can produce a delicate sound with classical and jazz to real wham bam thank you mam with rock and pop music
Outstanding review! Not just one of the best selling amps but truly a revolutionary amp if I dare say. My all time favorite ! Spent many enjoyable hours listening to this masterpiece with friends ! Designed in the UK too!
I currently use a NAD 314 which is a similar model as preamp into a Talk Electronics Storm 1 which is also an integrated. Both amps were dirt cheap and it works a treat! Strange combination but wow what a sound!
Due to this review I have purchased one in mint condition. Completely re-capped with high-end components. The sound is so good, my jaw dropped. Zero listening fatigue. It is in control of the music and delivers in all ranges. This is the amp I will use to compare others with. At the end of this month I may be getting the AU-317 (also due to Kelvin's review). Can't wait to recap that one and then compare these two giant-killers. But I hope Kelvin will do this for us as I lack his expertise in this regard. Love, love, love the 3020. Such a good buy.
Think it was 1981 at a party in Toronto and this amp blew my mind. So clean spinning vinyl and asked the host if he would consider selling. Anyway, still haven't bought one and should before I die.
I used to read a lot of electronics mags at the time which had authors who were involved in the design of many famous British Hi-fi systems. You would often get the latest theories they were working with. To point out that which is relevant to what you say, they established that the human ear can pick up detail down to -160db and until that time the measuring equipment could not go down that far so you were working blind. Where the tests showed no difference between two amps in distortion and listening tests said there was, they later spotted the difference with better test equipment, so the audio manufacturers who designed on what the ear preferred were the more technically correct. Another reason why the punter was fooled was that distortion was often measured with a 1 kHz sine wave. If the job of the amplifier was to amplify this signal then with copious negative feedback you could reproduce to as small as you wanted. The trouble was this was not the case with more complicated signals where increasing negative feedback would introduce its own kind of distortion. Distortion comes in two types: harmonic and anharmonic . A harmonic distortion will sound musical, where anharmonic distortion is nasty to the ears. Anyway the trick was to use as little feedback as possible and use an amplifier stage which is most linear in the first place. This is why people preferred class A because it is more linear before applying feedback. Then I suppose there are the physical imperfections in capacitors which make them deviate from the perfect theoretical model of a capacitor. Some capacitors "sounded" better than others!.
I lusted after the 3020SE for years, but as a student the 1030 was more in my price bracket. But last year I picked up a boxed 3020SE for 60 quid. It would have been rude not to. I use it in my study, and it's got quite a bit of character. Having re-read some old reviews, I suspect the A400 is a belter. Don't think I've ever heard one though. Would love to hear your thoughts if you tried either of them out Kelvin.
@@GrahamAtDesk Hi Graham, its all personal taste but I did several comparisons at the time between the Pioneer and the Kenwood and just found the Kenwood a bit more dynamic. The real killer on the Kenwood is the source direct mode, for me it easily surpassed the Pioneer performance in clarity and neutrality
@@plooopymops The 3020 is more "fun". I have my 302 set up with more analytical speakers and it's where I do most of my critical listening (I'm a composer so do a fair bit of that). So for my purposes if I could only have one it would be the 302.
I had a demo of the 3020 in about 1983 so I'm not sure what nad 3020 it was against a nytech 202 I think and bought the nytech had it a few years but it was unreliable then bought a 42 110 naim from listening to reviews and hated it
Bought mine back in 1982 for £89.95, along with a Dual CS505 and a pair of Acoustic Research AR18S. It's still running smooth, but with a Thorens TD165 at the front, and a pair of Linn Index speakers hanging out the back. There are a couple of crackles on the volume pot, but I can't be arsed to sort it out. A couple of spins, and it settles down. Great little amp, and I've owned _bigger and better_ ones. This is the one I have kept.
I was fortunate enough to pick up a silver fascia 3020 second hand for $150aud after a previous hand-me-down Sony amp was having channel issues. This was about ten years ago, when I was in my early 20's at uni, no car etc. So I took the 1.5 hour public transport ride out to the rich side of town with a big ruck sack and met the older gentleman who was selling the amp. He said he was changing out all the audio in his mansion-like house to bluetooth so didn't need his old audio equipment anymore (even at the time I wanted to talk him out of it..). It dawned on me when he handed me the manual and accompanying tuner that I was quite literally getting the amp second hand! I'm honestly surprised he let me take it when I showed him how I was getting it home, bundled up into a big sack. Ten years later it is still running great, although I doubt it's had a recap/service in its 40 years, so I'm looking into that now. Funnily enough, I'm waiting for a 3020i to arrive to completely replace the old Sony that I've been using as a party backup, I got sick of hitting it so both channels would play!
I bought a 3240 brand new in1989. I used it day in day out since then. Speakers have come and gone but the nad always stayed. Recently l upgraded 14 caps (nothing lasts forever)and hooked it to my new R3's. A second hand Dual cs 5000 provides the analog source and Sony ns900v (sacd) for digital. Bliss for little money. The c 350 dlrs l spent couldn't buy me nothing close to it. With 40w/channel and 6db of headroom this amp still delivers. NAD owners rejoice! Cheers. Fernando in Canada 👍
Can’t get enough Kelvin. Love your style, message and delivery man. Steeped in hifi knowledge & experience and hilarious too. Absolutely love the vids.
Unfortunately, the casing of the original 3020 was a bit on the flimsy side compared to Japanese amps of the time. The 7020 receiver was more solidly built, combines a 3020 amp and 4020 tuner and can be had for a lot less than the 3020 - I nabbed my rev.2 model for £40 back in July. Asking prices for vintage gear have gone up a bit since then, but 7020s still slip under the radar. I agree with you about the sound, Kelvin - it's not flat, but it's very easy on the ear, even for extended listening and has a way of drawing me in.
Hi I've got the 7020 too. I get a scratch noise moving the big tuner dial. I can't realistically get a outdoor arial but would love to hear it on FM again. Can you get portable antenna or are they all a waste of time? Have you had the speaker clamps at the back changed, where the speaker cable goes?
@@simeonbanner6204 I get pretty good results from a basic telescopic indoor aerial that plugs into the socket at the back. Still using the original speaker connects!
i went home and my older NAD is a 3060 wich sounds good like the 70´s other good brands had as only diference the type of sound or frequencies in use at bass and treble control allthough some have the switch to control to diferent low or high frequencies like the 3060
Hi, Has anyone compared both the NAD 3020 and the Sansui AU 317 both of which Kelvin has reviewed to see which is best? Anyone know what the letters stand for after the NAD 3020 that usually say A, B, E or I? Great review Kelvin. Thanks.
@@stereoreviewx I like the look of the Sansui better too. I have a hidden gem 💎of an amp that I think you would like. It's the Yamaha A-420 Amplifier which I got in 1986 and I am still using. It has the natural sound before the synthetic sound that came in after 1990. It also goes well with most speakers too!
Wow! This review takes me back to the Golden Age of Audio. The NAD 3020 was a real audio rock star and the first amp I purchased that made a real difference in how good my system (at that time) sounded.
I built my own amp from a design by Graham Naulty. Obviously it used parts from all over the place. But *British Watts* are the proper measure of an amp lol!
Yes, nice and reach middle, soft top and in fact not so punctual bass for todays standards. Very specific sound. Not for every speakers, not for every music genre, not for every listener. In my opinion today old nad,s ( there was few later models with very the same sound ) are more than curiosity to discover and taste than daily listening work horse. In my opinion pioneer a 400, another famous hi fi for everyman, is much better, universal and more system friendly amp. But A400 is a decade younger I think.
Apparently everyone agrees that the Nad 3020 was a wonderful sounding amp, especially the pre-amp, and excellent value for money when it was available new. So the question is why NAD did not take advantage of the 3020's great reputation and continue making them, using the same iconic pre-amp circuit. Surely they would sell very well these days, just as they had for 20+ years after they were first available. Unfortunately, this situation seems to happen with many quality audio products. Are the people in charge of Audio design and manufacturing companies too dumb to realise that when you are on a good thing, with certain products, you should stick with them for good profitable business reasons? It is no wonder that many companies go out of business when they stop producing their most popular and best quality products and only focus on being trendy.
Yes I wonder about this all the time Sometimes I think they simply don’t care Which doesn’t really make sense I know because surely they won’t sales Other possibilities are they weren’t making money on those amps and they had to cut costs I would love to know the answer to this
I brought a 2nd hand one of these just to try. Wow what a performer for the price. I'm running Expensive Martin Logan speakers and this amp drove them with ease. I've now had it professionaly upgraded and all the cheap parts replaced with modern (better) parts and its now stonkin. It's now in my main system. All I can say is buy one! You will not be disappointed!! You can even use it as a separate preamplifier if required.
I purchased one of these Amps in London in the 80's with a pair of B&W DM22 speakers. the amp was stolen and the NAD i purchased in NZ to replace it never sounded as good. I still own the DM22's which sound great with my Music Fidelity A2 amp.
Just got mine re-capped after a few years sitting broken on a shelf. I had forgotten how great this amp sounds. It relegated its much more modern replacement to a closet. It was an easy decision, as the difference wasn't even close. I'm sure there are better new amps, but they're out of my price range.
Never understood what people liked about them. Fixed loads of them and couldn't tell it apart from any mediocre amp. Used the old 2N3055 garden variety transistors so at least they were easy to buy and cheap to replace. What I remember most about the NAD amps was the junk Chinese resistors they used which caused so many issues. Technics new class A and especially class AA sound so much better to my ears
can't be sure. But often the letter at the end specifies the region, ie us120v versus a european model which has 240v. The i is definately though the improved model.
It was a game changer at that time but there was also Marantz and other brands that did a lot in the hifi segment back in the 80's, mission Cyrus, musical fidelity class a, and also the Rotel series.
I've got a NAD 3125 that never fails to impress me. For some reason matching it with KEF Q-30's is a magical combination. I've had much bigger, more expensive, higher end speakers running with it, and nothing sounds as good as this combo. I'd love to hear it with a pair of KEF LS-50's.
My personal guess is that the LS 50s only sound good with powerful very impressive amplification I generally just feel those speakers are overrated and hyped
🤣🤣 the way this man puts it, I have speakers I love, but I cant tell much difference between amps, as long as they are not distorting they sound very similar to me
Great design and good amp. I auditioned one against the Rotel RA-01 and budget Musical Fidelity Class A amp back in the day.. Ultimately to my ears, the Rotel and MF amps sounded sweeter. The Rotel was around 25wpc but didn't have the guts or drive of the NAD and the MF for me was the best sounding but too expensive. I bought the Rotel mostly down to cost. Money no object back then I liked the Arcam delta amplifiers. Linn were just too Meh and Naim's olive pickings never lived up to the hype. Even the NAD was musically almost on par with the Naim which was an eye opener for me.
Dug out an old system for my grandson. Nad 3020/2140 power amp/pioneer pl12 through goodmans double maxims. Absolutely stunning sound! Great starter for 21 year old just starting out into the world of HIFI.
This description could also describe the Arcam Alpha 7 which I have owned since the 90's.Silky smooth detailed realism.I have tried numerous amps over the years and always went back to my Arcam.
Same is true for the FMJ A32, which is a truly magical Arcam amp. Rather too expensive for “bargain basement” status, alas. OTOH, when the output caps. failed, Arcam fixed it and fully recalibrated it, no messing. Sounds amazing, even now, after decades of use. In the 80’s I couldn’t afford Arcam; luckily, things change...
The single best description I’ve ever heard about this amp, ever. I’ve had one 25+ yrs (an early ‘80s) and your example is best described with the tune from Elvin Jones - On The Mountain & the track Smoke in the Sun. Snare, cymbals & legato. 😎🤟
I just bought an old good condition example from a local audio engineer last week. Inside it has nice Motorola transistors. Great unit, really enjoying it!
It was a game changer, but I was not the biggest seller not by a long way it would have been outsold many times over by the Kenwood KA3020 and the Marantz PM 66 SE KI Signature and poss the PM 6010 SE KI Sig too, but whilst is was not as lively as the KI Sig amp the NAD was by far the most Neutral sounding amp at this price point
Why man when I thought being OK with my system you rose my wild desire to give this amp a try .Would you be so kind to let me know what is a fair price for this amp if in acceptable condition. Thanks in advance.You are so passionate and so truthful that I can only admire and would have loved having a beer and chatting music and gear with you.
I want to get some of these here in Buenos Aires, Argentine, though I don't trust they didn't let all things as original as they came in its inside. It's a big risk I guess. I have listened a recently made models from China, with no bodied sound at all. No real life sound. Absent midrange. 😢
Oh dear never heard of the NAD 3020 but never mind. Great channel which a friend found for me and you do a great job. When we were teenagers we used to raid the local dump to find valve radios and even valve amps. Take them home, remove the valves and hose off the mud etc. Leave them to dry in the sun and then wire them up to see if they worked or we got a poke from the mains, or both. Great fun and fairly dangerous but then we all survived! Are you a fan of Tommy Cooper by chance?
Hey I found a top of the nad monitor series integrated amp 3100 in a scrap bin. Cleaned and serviced and attached to a pair of Dynaudio s sounds absolutely fantastic. Must be they had great dynamics
I bought it because it was cheap at the time. I think it cost $199.99 at the time. But it was surprisingly good sounding. I still have it but it needs repair in one channel.
