It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that my beatiful T 763 after one week of service just lost it's left channel.
This is after my first unit in March had a panel problem and was returned.
That's right, one month two defective units.
I really like the receiver. It is a well engineered product that suits my musical tastes (90% music / 10% HT). It is everything I could want in a receiver.
But now I face the reality of replacing it, getting it fixed or buying another brand. The dealer will give me a credit but only deals in Pioneer Elite and Yamaha. Alas, my second choice after the NAD was Denon 3805. He is suggesting a Pioneer 55TXI. My speakers are old and very mellow and laid back.
I need opinions on the 55TXI for music reproduction. Does it put out a full 100 watts all channels driven? Etc. I know all the features (ilink, etc.)
Steve, Sorry to hear about your problem with the NAD. After two bad units of the same brand I would not want another either no matter what the brand. That's just human nature. As to the 55txi, power is one thing you will never have to worry about. This and all current Elite's [except for the 41 probably] will more than meet it's specs with all channels driven. The 55 is the update of my current 45 and I can tell you I love it. I have it paired with Monitor Audio Silver speakers and it's a perfect match. My concern with your situation is that the Elite as good as it is might not be a good match with your older speakers if they are laid back as you say. Are you planning on keeping them and what are they? If you are going to keep your speakers for awhile you might want to consider the Yamaha 2400. It is a much better sounding receiver than past Yamaha's and a good match with a speaker like yours. For instance it is a good match with Paradigm, which are laid back. This is the first Yamaha I can recommend in many years and I find it a bit unbelievable I am doing so but you might want to check it out. It is a bit thin sounding but not bright like past Yamaha's but does not meet it's power specs like the Elite but if your room is mid sized it should be fine.
I did plan to replace my Cambridge Soundworks Tower speakers eventually. I like their sound and they also worked fine with my old Onkyo. Lot's of base. I tested the NAD with the dealers best towers and I have to tell you I liked the Cambridge Soundworks better. You can't say that Henry Kloss knew nothing about speakers. They were mass market speakers but they work pretty darn good.
Steve, This problem presents a bit of a quandry. If you can afford it the best solution is to buy a receiver and speakers at the same time and get a perfect match. If you buy a receiver to match your Cambridge's then you will be restricted on speakers to choose from in the future. I would say based on what you said about the Cambridge and Onkyo that the Elite would sound much better with the Cambridge than the Yamaha. Henry Kloss was one of the true giants in speaker design for sure.
I e-mailed NAD with the problem an in a couple of hours I got a response:
================================================= Hi Steve,
I'm very sorry that you experienced problems with both your NAD units. We can tell you that our products are very reliable but occasionally, like with any manufacturer, an issue will arise, particularly with products as complicated as AV receivers with "real" amplifiers in them. When this happens, you can rest assured that in conjunction with the dealer we offer superior customer service. Please advise if you would like to try another T763.
Best regards, NAD ==============================================
I am going to give it one more try.
Looks like based on the response time they are very serious about customer support.