NAD

NAD began in London in 1972, when a group of hi-fi distributors organized by Martin L. Borish, then of Acoustic Research, planned a new brand of affordable electronics they could sell: New Acoustic Dimension. Borish left his post as president of Acoustic Research in 1976 to run NAD full time, and in its early years NAD was run from his London apartment.

The 3020. Norwegian-born engineer Bjørn Erik Edvardsen designed the NAD 3020 integrated amplifier, introduced in 1978 at 20 watts per channel and built in Taiwan. It sold well over a million units, and Stereophile named it one of the 100 most significant audio products of its first 40 years. NAD calls it the best-selling hi-fi amplifier in history.

From distributors to owners. Lenbrook became NAD’s Canadian distributor in 1978. In the 1990s NAD was owned by the Scandinavian distributor AudioNord, and in 1999 the Lenbrook Group of Pickering, Ontario, bought it.

Today. NAD is still part of Lenbrook, alongside PSB and Bluesound. Its range runs from C-series integrated amplifiers such as the C 320BEE, named with Edvardsen’s initials, to direct-digital designs and the Masters Series. The C 3050 LE of 2023, a 50th-anniversary model, was limited to 1,972 units.

1970s receivers: early models such as the 160 and 160a.

The 3020 family (from 1978): the 3020 and 3020e integrated amplifiers, and receivers such as the 7020 and the 7020e of 1988, which shares the 3020e’s amplifier section.

1980s amplifiers: the 3140 and 3150 integrated amps and the 2150 and 2200 power amps, many with NAD’s soft-clipping and bridging switches. Our best-selling 2150 is a 50-watt-per-channel power amp from the early 1980s.

Later receivers: the 7140 (about 1984 to 1989), the Monitor Series 7100 and its siblings from 1988, and the 705 of the early 1990s.

Home theatre: T-series AV receivers such as the T 757, whose Modular Design Construction lets the receiver be upgraded with new modules, and the T 531 DVD and CD player.

C-series and Masters Series (2000s on): the C 320BEE and later C-series integrated amps, the direct-digital C 390DD, and the Masters Series.

Pre-out and main-in jumpers. Many NAD integrated amps split the preamp and power amp at the back panel. If the jumpers between pre-out and main-in are missing, the inputs play nothing, so make sure they are there.

Switches on the back. Many 1980s NADs have soft-clipping, bridging or impedance switches. An amp that sounds wrong may just have one set oddly, so check every switch before blaming the amp.

Age. Technicians restoring 3020s report blown fuses, failed output transistors and leaky capacitors, and reviewers call cleaning the selectors and volume control almost mandatory on 1980s units. Ask what has been done.

Receivers. On late-1980s Monitor Series receivers, test every front-panel button, both speaker relays and the preset memory. The 7140’s display can fail, though it can be repaired.

Disc players. Play both a CD and a DVD in a T-series player before you buy.

Everything we list is inspected, tested and serviced as required here, and comes with our warranty.