NAD C370 fading away. Would like to service

[david230]

Hi everyone,

I have a NAD c370 which up until about a month ago was sounding fine but recently the sound is starting to become thin, lacks the punch and guts it once had and I guess it could have been going bad for longer than I realised. It just sounds bright and harsh even with my vinyl now. I plugged in an old cambride audio amp I have to see how it sounded compared to the NAD. Baring in mind the CA use to sound very flat compared to the NAD now has a complte role reversal. I could hear more bass and cleaner sound from the CA which just confirmed in actual fact my NAD is poorly.

I really dont want to get rid of the NAD as it sounded good before and I would be happy to return it to its former glory if at all possible. The only problem is I have no idea about service costs, who to trust do the job or cant decide wether to have a go at sorting it myself (last option probably not ideal)..

NAD fan desperately seeking his old sound back!

David

 

[drlindgren]

It is a truly wonderful amp at its best, I agree.

I bought one second hand on eBay many years back (complete with with a C541 cd player) - I got an absolute bargain given that both are still going strong (although I have had to do the well known protection circuit repair on the C370 and have replaced the CD tray drive belt on the 541).

Anyhow, I have an electronic version of the service manual if that's of any use to you. How do I get it to you? It's ~4.5MB.

 

[david230]

I really appreciate that although I did manage to find a download last night of the nad c370 service manual. I would rather it was done by someone who really knows there stuff as although I am competent at soldering I just dont know where to start.

I could go as far as following the alignment instructions from the service manual and see what that does?? The bottom line is, I dont know much about it..

 

[eggontoast]

It probably just needs a fresh set of caps, biasing and running up on some test gear to make sure it's working correctly. As for how much it will cost will depend on what caps you want fitting and a couple of hours labour, you gonna be looking at at least £100 for someone to do it. Where in the country are you ?

 

[david230]

I'm in Milton Keynes

I was expecting it to be £100-£150..

 

[sc1]

Richersounds now do repairs. My C370 went and it was about 75 inc vat to have it repaired (think it was the caps). You take it in via the Local Store. There is one in MK I think. ONny thing is it didn't have the white 3-pin plug adapter when it came back.

 

[david230]

Thanks Sc1, yes I have used that richersounds a few times although didn't acutally realise they did repairs!

Sounds reasonable and did you notice a big difference with your c370?

 

[sc1]

Mine had gone altogether, so any sound was an improvement! MIne was buzzing loudly when turned on. I thought they would only repair things they had sold but they seem to do everything, are really quite reasonable and the best thing for me was having somewhere to go if it stopped working again as the repair work came with a 3mnth warranty.

http://www.richersounds.com/information/service

I was pleasantly surprised because I was on verge of buying a new pre-amp to control my C270 because of lack of hi-fi repair near me.

 

[david230]

Thats great - I will get intouch with them soon I think.

cheers!

David