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| In college I was a bit of an audiophile on a limited budget. Now I am a poor impovershed working family man....but enough about me. I am cobbling together a HT, and recently purchased an NAD T742, replacing my NAD 3020A and ADCOM GFA-2 amplifier. The question is, should I sell the Adcom. It is unlikely I will need that kind of power, and it is in need of a refurb as there is some scratchiness in the sound. Or should I fix it, and use the preamp outs on the T742 to drive the front channel with the Adcom. As an aside, music is more important than video sound. Also, my front speakers are REGA's from about 12 years ago. The NAD is a 'collector's' item that I refurbed last year and will hold on to for future use? What would people on this board do? |
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Hawk | Former Audio Nut: I think you will be very impressed with your 742 for music. I know I was when I auditioned it. I would sell the old gear, and use the proceeds to get the rest of your HT speakers (center, sub, and surrounds). Particualrly if your Adcom is starting to sound scratchy. I know when I played around with Adcoms 20 years ago, the scratchiness was a sign that the amp was on its last legs (sounds like an output transistor is going). Ironically enough, there is a string above by a young man who just got a classic NAD 3140 amp and he needs a preamp. Of course, you could hold onto your NAD if you wanted a music only system. I have a separate system in my study so that I can listen to music while I work on my computer (or post on this forum!). But don't hold onto it just to sit in a box. BTW, congrats on the 742. It is an incredible unit for the money. |
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John Allen | I too am former audio nut, still am. Hawk is right, you got a great integrated stereo amp as part of the 5.1 receiver when you got the T742. However, it doesn't have a phono input and your pre-amp surely does. So give the pre-amp output to the T742 L and R 5.1 input, and you will be using T742 power amp stage, a very good one (I use this with a Rega planar 3 turntable, it is great). You might then wish to use the T742 pre-amp output (for CD, radio etc) to the old power amplifier to drive a second set of speakers. I have a very similar set-up, but using an old NAD 100 pre-amp with a Sony TAF 55ES power amp for speakers in the next room. Keep the speakers, you cannot better those without spending loads of money (which Regas?). Whether you use them as L and R mains (good idea) or as surrounds depends on their frequency response and on how much you want to shell out on new speakers. In any case, the next thing you need is a center speaker imho. I think you will find your high audio standards will not be let down by the NAD T742. I am listening to old CDs and even LPs and hearing things I never heard before. |
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Paul T | We've heard of a lot of bugs in the NAD Tseries so I have been having second thoughts of getting one. I wanted the T742 as a matter of fact. How do you like it and have you found any of the bugs I've read here posted recently???? |
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Hawk | Paul: No manufacturer is 100%. The current NAD lineup has been very reliable. There had been some problems with the last generation of NAD AV receivers, the xx1 series, but not the xx2s (the 752 had a software glitch that was quickly identified and fixed free by NAD). In the past year, there have been serious problems with units from Marantz, Yamaha, and Onkyo that I know of. It is usually a software problem and sometimes it takes awhile for the maker to track it down. However, there are no outstanding issues with the current NADs, especially the 742. Since the first of the year, I have seen one person post about his disappointment with a 752 and one disappointed by a 762, but both were from New Zealand, and it was apparent to me that the dealer was not doing his job, otherwise the software upgrade for the 752 would have been discussed with the that buyer. In the meantime, we have had over 30 differnet posts that I know of about the problems with the Onkyo 500 and 600 receivers in that time. Marantz totally revised their product line about the beginning o fthe year because their x200s were a total failure. And since few people have been buying the Yamaha RX-V630, few people know how bad that receiver really is. Don't worry about a 742--it is about the most trouble free receiver out there. If you want to see how many receivers cannot even make their own power ratings, after being tested by Sound & Vision magazine, see the chart on this site: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/3401/ratevsac.htm When driving all channels, many receivers cannot even make 50% of their rated power. NAD is one of the few that not only makes its rated power, it exceeds it by a comfortable margin. |