My NAD 317 stereo amp is broken: the right channel is exhibiting some very bad noise regardless of volume and input source. I opened it up but I could see no signs of obvious damage such as open caps or burned areas.
These seem to have a problem with the quality of their capacitors in the power supply, but since my problem is virtually non-existent on the left channel I assume the power supply is fine. I guess caps could still be to blame on the right channel but I have no way of measuring these things unfortunately, and I am not about to jeopardize my speakers just to try and save some money on the repairs for the amp, or buying a new amp. If I could just find a specific reference where somewhere fixed this specific problem, I might be able to fix it myself. As I (almost) did for our Canon G1. Yes, I found the fix, bought the caps but I actually let a professional guy solder it. Nicely enough, he did it for free since I did all the hard work with actually dismantling the camera, which was a bith. :)
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3 comments:
The NAD 317 seems to have a design flaw, as many owners have complained about either the right or left channels crackling before they give out altogether. The protection circuit is another problem, since it at times will not turn off.
From what I have read the problem can be found in having placed the preamplifier circuit board to close to the main board - that has quality control problems with soldering -- cheap Chinese labor.
However, with Chinese audio companies like Antique Sound Lab now in existence, and turning out excellent tube gear at an affordable price, the Chinese quality control problem may soon be something of the past.
Best of luck with your 317.
If you decide that you want to replace it, consider a Linn Classik. These incorporate both amplifier, preamplifier, tuner, CD engine and a clock, plus remote for less than $2000 new.
They can be had for under $1000 used. They sound great, take up little space and use better quality components than the NAD or other mid fi companies like Rotel, Creek and Arcam.
Regards,
Jim
Yep, it turned out to be a cold solder joint. Actually, the guy repairing it wanted to fix 5 things at once, and I could not get out of him what the _major_ problem was, but as far as I could tell it was the soldering. I think he also swapped some signal cables, swapped/cleaned a pot and so on, all he called "standard" things to do on this sort of equipment.
Glad you were able to get the 317 going again. Recently picked up an old NAD amp on Ebay and will use it as a spare as long as it doesn't "crap" out.
Take it eassy.
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