I worked for NEC in Hillsboro, Oregon. Then it became NatSteel, then Solectron, then they outsourced everything to China, then laid off everybody, then closed.
dual mono could drive 4 ohm loads and back then that meant the amp could produce twice the rated power. The old brochures would have mentioned that, those outputs where probably rated for 25 amps and at least 150 wts. Pioneer used something similar in their amps from the same time period that they call ring emitter transistors that where very durable and you will notice they are attached with 2 screws per which gave the transistor a better contact area for the compound to fill in intern providing better heat dissipation. With a little modification to the heat sinks they will accommodate To3 outputs which are more common . 10 thousand mics is plenty and won't overload the fuses when she powers up from dead most of the amps I have restored her the last 40 years have had caps with similar capacities to this the only time you would see ripple would be at clipping and I'd worry more about the high frequency drivers when driven to clipping as that can ruin them.
NEC is big into PBX switches, Microwave radio, light wave MUX, etc. so it is not surprising the can produce a quality audio product. Wouldn’t mind running into one of these.
Oh HECK yeah!!!! Gotta story I just gotta share about a nice NEC product I "found" YEARS ago----a 25" monitor and the tag on the front says c25-900a. I'll keep it short. So back in the day I worked for my local parking outfit downtown which covered three large parking ramps and several lots. Doing my daily morning drive through of one of the ramps I came across a large gray box somebody dumped off. Upon further inspection it was an NEC 25" tube color monitor set. Loaded it up and brought it down to the shop. Only thing it was missing was it's computer style power cord. Right then and there I decided to bring it home. Found the tube needed to be degaussed and some of the controls cleaned and that was it. This was back in roughly 1995-ish and I'm STILL using it to this day :)
How's this for a goody, I have a Harman Kardon CITATION TWELVE power amp in working condition. It was my uncles who had it for many years. In the early 70's I would ride my bicycle 12 miles to the other side of town to a home stereo shop named Modern Sound. The guys there would let "play" with the equipment that was on display. They had all the good stuff, notably the JBL Paragon, Linear power amp (model number excapes me but it was BIG!) various other book shelf speakers and intergrated stereos. What caught my eye was the Dynaco line of stereos, very affordable in kit form. Over the next two years I got the PAT 4 preamp, ST120 power amp and the FM5 tuner as Christmas and birthday gifts. When I got the PAT 4 preamp my parents didn't see me for three days, it took me that long to assemble it and it was fun! This was when I got really good at soldering. I still have this equipment as well. I also got a Acoustic Research fully manual turntable with a Shure M91ED cartridge from the same place. The 70's was a great era to grow up!
A couple of years ago I bought a turntable that was bundled with an amp and speakers. I was after the turntable (Technics SL-Q303 in black) and the amp was an NEC V111E of the 'Authentic Series' . It is a combined receiver/cassette player rated at only 20 watts rms per channel. The speakers were in need of repair so I didn't bother with them and connected the NEC to a spare pair of 100 watt speakers. WOW!!! I couldn't believe the strength of the output and a very pleasing sound. A very good second system that I use most often.
When the Title states "Under Rated" it doesn't mean the Power of the Amps were under rated. More it means "Not Recognized" or "Over looked" But your remarks about loudness just shows that Power and Loudness aren't equal. The dB scale of loudness is Logarithmic, so the loudness difference between 20w and 100w isn't 5 times louder, probably just 1.5 times. 20w = 43 dBm and 100w = 50 dBm But Pushing a 20w amplifier to it's 20w max will have more distortion than pushing a 100w amplifier to the same 20w output. This is the main reason you use a higher Power Amplifier. at Louder Listening Volumes, you don't have to Push it in to it's distortion range. or so, that is what has been explained to me..
that's a slick amplifier for sure. I'm an 80's kid that had a Pioneer SX-727 growing up and I miss the smell of the wooden chassis cover when it was warm
I have a NEC HIFI system - AUTHENTIC series (bought it back in late 1988? ) Amplifier is NEC A730E with 2x70RMS - Inside it there is a TOROIDAL transformer (supposed to be better - lower noise) I am still using it! Combined with KEF C40 speakers its great!
So this NEC amp sounds pretty incredible. It seems like it really is/was a hidden gem. I probably would have gotten this to build my first stereo system when I was young.
This is awesome design! My Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amplifier has dual mono configuration with two separate toroïdal transformers and i don't want to sell it. 85 Watts per channel for 8 Ohms load and 170 Watts on 4. Keeper for sure! "Everybody like's to see meter's bouncing" Hell yeah. It's hypnotizing.
@@rc6717 Posting a ridiculous, subjective comment like that I can easily infer you are the one with significant mental impairment. I recommend you abstain from eating anymore paint chips. Now, when it comes down to performance specs of audio equipment, the best numbers will be found on amps, preamps, integrated, receivers, etc built circa 1980 to 1999. We can all agree lower distortion, lower noise floor, higher damping, and greater power output is desirable. Let's take the very top tier "mid-fi" amplifier (Almost hi-fi @ $799) the PM6007 by Marantz currently in production. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.08%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 45W, Damping factor: 100, SNR: 102dB. Nothing impressive. Now let's take the well known Yamaha M-85 for example made from 1986-1988. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.002%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 260W, Damping factor: 230, SNR: 122dB. Nice. Bottom line, today's equipment is still outperformed by the older gear. When the demand for feature rich AV receivers started around 1999, companies started cramming in Bluetooth, wifi, 7+ channels, HDMI, ATMOS, and on and on. The focus was no longer on musical fidelity and now on the number of features it had. I recommend listening to your favorite Raffi songs on freshly serviced Yamaha MX-1, then judge for yourself 🖕🖐️
Close to my Rotel RA-1412, also not a "popular" brand but a fantastic amp. I bought it in 1977 in Japan when I was stationed there in the Air Force. It is also two mono amps in one. Except it has all the inputs on the right side, the speaker outputs on the left side, and the power transistors all the way across the back. Extreme heavy due to the two massive power transformers and caps. And it was rated at 110 watts per channel... but at 0.001% distortion!!!
Very interesting, I've never seen anything from NEC for audio, don't think it ever came to the UK. I wonder if they used their own transistors in the PA section. As NEC were a big player in transistors and mosfets.
In the UK we used to aspire to the Quad 405 current dumping AMP -- trouble was you had to buy the whole Quad ensemble to use them, this amp does look nice for normal household use and after all tnhere are many amps that punch above their stated weight on paper.
I have this amp and matching tuner. All the meters were stuck. Its probably the only weakpoint. The amp had no relais cover when i bought it! Love your video's .
It’s interesting to see some of you guys go to heroic lengths to reclaim older solid state audio gear. Most of the stuff, even the better quality stuff, was never really designed with repair or long-term viability/reliability as an imperative, and it’s only gotten to be more and more difficult with contemporary designs. I’ve nearly completely thrown in the towel with messing with repairing solid state gear, except for very basic repairs on otherwise good condition equipment. Endless online “Easter egg hunts” trying to find and stockpile obsolete semiconductor devices etc, storing stacks of dead donor carcasses to have a source of now near impossible to find NOS replacement parts…. I just hit my limit. Hats off to you guys still fixing the solid state stuff. Personally, I’ve gone straight back to working with tube amplifiers and preamplifiers ONLY, and life has been much easier and more relaxing since then.
I hear you. Tubes are so much simpler to work with and they sound a whole lot better then most solid state gear, but they are incredibly inefficient, waste a ton of electricity which is getting expensive and operate at very high voltage which requires utmost attention when servicing as they can kill you in an instant.
Back in its day, NEC audio equipment was much more expensive than the run of the mill Technics, Pioneer, etc. but was extremely reliable and sounded great. The problem was NEC didn't have the "brand" recognition and the profit margin wasn't there, and stores wouldn't haggle with customers on the price as they would with other brands. Plus, as you pointed out, customers wanted higher power.
I had a NEC VCR that was unbelievable for it's time. Still have the TV from around 85 and it works perfectly. I use it about everyday and I have never fixed a thing on it.
Yes, the speakers' relay did originally have a clear plastic cover. I used to be a hi-fi dealer, here in the UK in the 1980s, but NEC gear was seldom seen on these shores. Much was due to the snobbishness of the British hi-fi press towards Japanese equipment. When I moved to Italy there were more but still a rare find.
Hi 12V nice vids sir 👍🏼 Just wondering what your opinion is of Onkyo stuff? They seem pretty well made to me but I’m not a tech. I do have an AV Receiver/Amp TX-SR606 that I just love, it’s huge by today’s standards but the audio output on all channels is clean and pure. Keep on keeping on good sir. 👍🏼
Wow does that remind me of my workbench when I was doing electronic repair. Covered with junk and just barely enough space for the product! Memories! :)
Nice Amp and great build quality. Not to sound critical but from a service perspective observations. (1) Is it possible to calibrate the meters ? The meter on the right Channel seemed to be demonstrating a higher output. I suspect it required matching calibration as it’s unlikely the balance was off or the inputs to the amplifier or the gain were imbalanced. (2) A little screwlock glue should be applied to the pivot screw after adjusting. These screws can vibrate loose and move. Great Video. Love your work.
I don't know about " underrated " but the Carver M1 magnetic field amp was mind blowing . massive power and very clear. I had one back in the 80s that drove the original polk SDA 1 speakers . the speakers could handle 500 watts a channel and i think the amp put out that much also . Still my all time favorite amp and speakers to this day.
I stumbelled over one when I was exploring a neighbour fleemarket, 100 Norweigian crowns!The owner asked if the price was too high, I gave him 200 crowns and clapped his shoulder!I had one of those in about 1980 or so and it was great.A friend of mine was more than average utdatert on Hi Fi electronics, he insisted this was great stuff.It was stolen in a house robbery,the thieves grabbed what they thought was quality.Yes,you are right,in Norway people believed it was worse than Phillips at their worst!Nic is not a very flashy name,right?
I have a 600 watt Kenwood amp from the 80's I think with two huge transformers that looks like the same layout inside. I dont know if there are any connections between the two companies but I can testify that the Kenwood I talked a friend out of when it was having some scratchy intermittent pot problems. after fixing it is a freaking monster. I need to save up to buy speakers that can take the juice that old beast pumps out.
Nice amp! I am currently restoring a NAD 7240 and referring to your videos, Dave, which you did last year on that model. I received it with all of the output transistors removed on both channels so I am testing the surrounding driver circuits for problems before deciding if I will get new outputs.
I was thinking Nad when I seen but have never seen a NEC amp. It looks live a Sansui integrated amp-very impressive. I remember NEC made a VCR that had alot of guidepost problems.
@@audiogear474 it's only rated at like 20 watts per channel ! Id have to say it does a solid 65 watts per channel though if i were to guess. It's a 7220pe .
@@audiogear474 NAD headroom came from rising up the low end cutoff fz. Instead of the amp playing from 20-20 let's say 50-20 hz when the button was push in. As bass demands power
when u took the cover off that baby i said woohoo what monster!! nice i heard that nec made stereo gear for a few companies way back in the 80s i had an all in one stereo made by them rebranded curtis mathes very good sounding it fooled me ! the hi fi world and stereo nuts went to sleep on nec hifi i couldn't believe the specs on thier cassette decks crazy amazing nice to see this one again .
I caught this because I have a JC Penney MCS 3285 Receiver from 40 years ago. It was great for its time. Unfortunately I let a friend work on it and he messed up the input board and then (says he) lost it. I only recently found out that it was made by NEC for JC Penney.
My dual monobloc has toroidal tx with dual secondary's. The components are on the same board but it's split down the middle. It was a UK design by Graham Nalty and available as a kit. Sounds great. Seek DM30 from Everyday Electronics. Good luck.
I once bought a marantz 2385 in excellent condition for 5 bucks at a garage sale. at another garage sale a lade gave me a excellent fisher 400 sold them together for 500 bucks cash about 15 years ago. the new texas instruments class T amps work so great they sound as good as vacuum tubes. my garage stereo is a RCA MX7 got it for free. In the past great stuff was cheap or free not any more.
It made me feel really good when I said “looks like 2 mono blocks” just a moment before I heard you say the same thing!! I’ve really put time in on learning about electronics over what seems a week but has truly been ten + years. I think today I’ve got much more of the theory under my belt than practice and repairs. But just understanding that theory, and speaking the language of electronics is one of the most rewarding parts of my life. The people who are fluent speakers are some of the brightest and greatest most valuable assets relationships wise. At least it has been this way for me. Damn!?! That crazy transducer contraption in that meter would be fun to try and rig up to a spring reverb unit, I might guess?!! Hey, THANKS for sharing about this!!
There was a time that blinking lights did something for me. Now I just like to see the analog meters dance. That or no meters at all. I'm listening to a Russian guitarists on that fancy Sony brushed aluminum system i had fun changing a belt on last week as I write this. Bloody system has fantastic sound.
We had an ITT stack system in the eighties which was mostly all NEC Japan OEM, bar the turntable which was a Mitsubishi OEM. The speakers were most likely the only European thing about it, and had Audax drivers with 'real--wood veneer' cabinets. Looking at the behemoth that is the Modular Component Systems 3275 receiver (an NEC AUR-8075 in disguise), it has some very minor cosmetic similarities that remind me of the ITT receiver originally in our setup..
Some JC Penny house brand stuff was made by NEC. I had a Modular Component Systems (MCS) 3847, which is the same as a NEC AUA 7000e. I recognized the one you were working on based on the knobs alone :-D
i had one a couple of years ago but it was a overeas unit its power was 220 vac but it was the same desighn as this one your working on except i dought it was a dual mono amplifier, it had the same issue right channnel meter was stuck , but yes a great piece in deed
NEC made high quality reliable electronics, not just in the consumer division, also in the broadcast industry. Their TV transmitters are engineered for the upmost reliability and outstanding quality, there are a few stations here in Australia that ran NEC Television transmitters from the start of colour in 1975 till analogue switch off in 2013 with very little issues. That is outstanding performance. I would have no problem buying NEC products if they were still manufacturing consumer electronics,unfortunately they are not in my part of the world, they still make TV transmitters.
NEC made some VHS VCR's for Pioneer I believe. My brother had a Kenwood TV, it was made by NEC. Their use of separate power supplies for each channel was a great design. This way if you have a problem in one channel you would have a good one to compare it to when you don't have a schematic. Try this amp with a pair of Klipsch horns and you'll blow yourself out of the room with 65 wpc being more than enough!
I have a NEC AUA 8000E that had similar problem with the VU meter, shame this wasn't posted years ago, accidently broke the meter while trying to fix it
Hi, I had the same problem, bought a meter on aliexpress ( 7 euro) and swapt the New meter in the old housing. You need a Dremmel to make it fit but it works!
Best Television I ever had was an NEC. I bought it in college in 1985 and it finally died in 2004 after nonstop use and being dragged across the country twice.
That Nec fasia just reminds me of my pioneer Sa-706, it's like nec looked at pioneer and copied the basic look. I do like the seperate p.a modules and access :-D I have also loosened the bearing on many meters that got sticky, i think the bearing surfaces corrode. C.b/ham radios also suffered from the same problem.
Hi, I have BASF D-6075. The sound is a bit harsh, metal treble. Being dual mono, could have been a bit more powerful than 75W at 4 ohm. Bass is nice, short, deep. Clear sound overall.
The composer is Jack waldenmaier and his production company is musicbakery. It's royalty free production music and you have heard it before in TV shows, radio commercials, and other productions.
It’s just the jewels in the meters and I’d turn the jewl set screw to the left to break the glue loose. Then tighten it just enough to drag when turning to the right and tighten but just until the meter starts dragging to full scale then loosen it just enough to release it back to zero. And then another 1/4 turn to the left. It loosens the stuck jewl in the meter. A little of the glue dries and a piece breaks off and floats into the bearing. And needs cleaned and tension adjustment needed. That’s all that’s needed time and patience and knowing what to do. It doesn’t take as long! Lol
@@12voltvids Hi 12voltvids. I really enjoy your videos you have so much learned knowledge. I have a broken power supply in my Sharp Optonica SA 5101. It made a noise and blew some smoke through the headphone socket. I think a rifa capacitor failed situated by a couple of fuses but not sure what to replace with.
Looks similar like a old Philips design, which I'm building at this very moment, two real monoblocks with Toroidal transformers, almost the same voltage. I think also specs around 50 or 60watts output. But if I see one on my bench will surely look at it closely.
I had a NEC integrated amp from 1989 or so. Rated at ? I used it to power a pair of subs. What was I thinking ? It was way better than my main amp and switched it over for the Pioneer. Too bad a spilled beer on it....should have had it repaired. Currently have the Adcom 555 ( used ) doing the subs and a Parasound 750 A as main. Been working for around 30-25 years. There’s something to be said for quality.....
Watts and sound level are not directly related except by marketing.paired with the high efficient speakers and you would have to be out side to keep from being deafened by 98DB worth of sound. That is a pretty nice Amp no doubt about it.
I remember the first transistor radios,a sailor came back from the seven seas and brought with him a small Italian radio,in a neat leather holster,so small people believed it was an Electric shaving machine.
Not the straight wire with gain, audiophile approach, like my 1990's AVI S2000MI's amplifiers, and using each of the amplifiers as separate monoblocks, using one channel of each of the amplifiers, as separate monoblocks, for midrange / high frequencies, with very low noise and 0.003 % distortion, plus the amplifiers have far more heatsinking, for the large sanken transistors.
A lot of good reasonably priced audio gear was made in the late 70s to early 2000s until the consumer electronics trend became driven by smart phones, internet streaming, Bluetooth speakers and making stuff small. The average audio fidelity of the home has gone downwards in the last couple of decades.
NEC made electronic components as well! I loved them as well as Toshiba and good ol MGA or better known Mitsubishi. Love this stuff! Right away you look at that power supply! That’s right only a 60w supply a channel! The separate transformers and caps! The relay cover was bad speaker wires or to small or load. They forced the protect on to jam! Ya got both channels? Hell yeah! Just esr those caps and replace if anything. Clean her controls up and you got a excellent pice of electronic history! I can get the original mount style but they are subs but better than other subs due to matching the spec of the original components. Huaggo semiconductor in China has allot of them great subs. But on USA soil I’d try east coast transistor for the hard to find stuff!
Underrated indeed. The specs for it show 0.1% THD and 95dB SNR, which is what lower end equipment performs at. Those specs don't match the design and quality put into this. They did make other models, like the A-10, that seem more appropriately rated (0.003% THD, 110dB SNR, 5Hz - 300kHz frequency response).
@@marvinmartian7281 Higher damping factor numbers don't always translate to "better sound". It's all about the speaker/amp relationship and personal preference. You can boost the damping of the amplifier just by switching to higher impedance speakers if you enjoy a tighter, more controlled bass. Lower impedance for warmer, softer low frequencies.
@@FellOnMyKeys Yes! indeed. My SAE 2400L with(8 ohms) JBL 4411 Studio Monitors is a good example. These kind of vintage speakers like Altec A7 Valencia (846B) or electro voice need big damping factor amplifiers. I like the Phase Linear 700B amp the damping factor is 1000 Perfect for big JBL L200 L300 or 4435.
@@marvinmartian7281 your 4411s must be rare speakers since I could only find one on ebay listed at $1000 buy it now. What kind of material are your drivers made of?
I had a Luxman L-58A - I was second owner, it was all original - which also had no cover on the output relays. A really nicely built amp - seems they can be all original without them.
NEC is one of the manufacturers of best and most expensive projectors, 'til this day. But I did not know they have manufactured any home audio gear. Even today, some of the largest and most expensive LCD TVs are made by NEC.
13:05 You receive one gold star for adjusting the VU needle pivot-point... But I will now immediately take that star back since you scratched the paint on the meter backplate while testing said repair. 😅
I had to go look at my Adcom GFA-535 mk2, it is 60 watts a channel and dual mono. There are 4 x 6,800 mfd 63v caps and two smaller E core transformers that you got there. Also the output devices on the Adcom do not have as much heat dissipation as the ones on this NEC, those have big wings and dual screws, where as the Adcom has a single screw per output device. The AVR series receiver model number, the first two to three digits are the wattage per channel, something like Marantz did. I could not find this one in my 1997 Orion Audio Bluebook, but I bet it is 80 watts per channel more likely.
I work at a TV station that back in the analog days, had an NEC transmitter. On the EEV blog, you saw Dave do a teardown of an NEC "exciter" that would have been similar to ours. They also tried to make professional videotape machine with little success.
The realisitsic SPA 100 is avery "dynamic ". It has an EQ on the front that is by passable. the thing is built like a tank. It does not have balanced inputs and has push type speaker outputs only. I read somewhere that it actually puts out 150 wpc. It is only 8 ohm compatable?
I’m not sure if you could get NEC gear in the USA, but this was available through JCPenney as a Modular Component Systems 3865 amplifier. Was MCS available up in Canada?
Great piece. For now, I think it would be useful to add "NEC Authentic Series AUA8000" to the name of your video. I own a NEC A10II Amp with a NEC T-6 tuner, but more on that later. I'm an old fan of NEC audio-I also once owned their AV-300E Surround Sound amp.
The style of the front panel reminds me a lot of an older Sansui AU-20000 amplifier I've got around here somewhere. It is really heavy (170 W x 2 ??), but I believe there is only a single large transformer.
It's practically impossible in my experience to judge an amp by hooking it up to one set of speakers. I have had many different speakers and amps in my time as an audio nut and I have heard amazing amps that sound terrible with amazing speakers (with matching specs). I have had a cheap amp that sounded better with an expensive set of speakers than an expensive amp. I have learned that it is as important if not more important that the dynamic power output of the AMP match the demands of the speaker and design of the crossover within the speakers. I still have no idea what phenomenon causes this. In some cases, I think raw amperage is what speakers want, while others demand pure watts of power. The more puzzling part is that I have put bright amps with bright speakers and gotten a warm sound and vice versa. I had a set of B&W 801 S3 that absolutely SLAMMED and sounded like heaven with an old Yamaha DSP-A1. It sounded better than a Threshold, a Krell, a Yamaha MX1000 and PA-7. It is inexplicable. I have an NEC AVR-1000E though and it sounds very good. Not sure how many watts it puts out but it sure seems like it's in a Pioneer sx-1280 range despite the stated specs being much lower than that.
The mechanical construction of these older amps is way superior to todays flimsy designs 60 watts may not seem a lot, but for normal listening levels with efficient speakers is enough. If ever i see one of these i will give it serious consideration.
Depends on what you're looking at. My Yamaha CD player/DAC weighs over 30 pounds. Dual power supply (one for the sound processing and one for everything else) copper coated chassis, the works. Definitely not flimsy and sounds amazing too.
I used to work for NEC Australia. It was a fun company to work for, good times.
I worked for NEC in Hillsboro, Oregon. Then it became NatSteel, then Solectron, then they outsourced everything to China, then laid off everybody, then closed.
I always preferred NEC to Sony in the late 1980's. NEC delivered what Sony only promised.
I am totally happy with my nikko
I own the NEC AUA8000E and I consider it one of my best vintage discovery. Built like a tank, it sounds powerful and neutral but never loses details.
The term neutral is different to everyone's ears but I always thought that the Yamaha series was a very neutral sounding amplifier
dual mono could drive 4 ohm loads and back then that meant the amp could produce twice the rated power. The
old brochures would have mentioned that, those outputs where probably rated for 25 amps and at least 150 wts.
Pioneer used something similar in their amps from the same time period that they call ring emitter transistors
that where very durable and you will notice they are attached with 2 screws per which gave the transistor a better
contact area for the compound to fill in intern providing better heat dissipation. With a little modification to the heat sinks they will accommodate To3 outputs which are more common . 10 thousand mics is plenty and won't overload
the fuses when she powers up from dead most of the amps I have restored her the last 40 years have had caps
with similar capacities to this the only time you would see ripple would be at clipping and I'd worry more about the
high frequency drivers when driven to clipping as that can ruin them.
NEC is big into PBX switches, Microwave radio, light wave MUX, etc. so it is not surprising the can produce a quality audio product. Wouldn’t mind running into one of these.
Agree 100% NEC made rock solid equipment had an early 90"s IA sounded great
Oh HECK yeah!!!! Gotta story I just gotta share about a nice NEC product I "found" YEARS ago----a 25" monitor and the tag on the front says c25-900a. I'll keep it short. So back in the day I worked for my local parking outfit downtown which covered three large parking ramps and several lots. Doing my daily morning drive through of one of the ramps I came across a large gray box somebody dumped off. Upon further inspection it was an NEC 25" tube color monitor set. Loaded it up and brought it down to the shop. Only thing it was missing was it's computer style power cord. Right then and there I decided to bring it home. Found the tube needed to be degaussed and some of the controls cleaned and that was it. This was back in roughly 1995-ish and I'm STILL using it to this day :)
Nec was one well built piece of audio gear. I had a beautiful nec that today I don't remember now the model number. In silver.
How's this for a goody, I have a Harman Kardon CITATION TWELVE power amp in working condition. It was my uncles who had it for many years. In the early 70's I would ride my bicycle 12 miles to the other side of town to a home stereo shop named Modern Sound. The guys there would let "play" with the equipment that was on display. They had all the good stuff, notably the JBL Paragon, Linear power amp (model number excapes me but it was BIG!) various other book shelf speakers and intergrated stereos. What caught my eye was the Dynaco line of stereos, very affordable in kit form. Over the next two years I got the PAT 4 preamp, ST120 power amp and the FM5 tuner as Christmas and birthday gifts. When I got the PAT 4 preamp my parents didn't see me for three days, it took me that long to assemble it and it was fun! This was when I got really good at soldering. I still have this equipment as well. I also got a Acoustic Research fully manual turntable with a Shure M91ED cartridge from the same place. The 70's was a great era to grow up!
A couple of years ago I bought a turntable that was bundled with an amp and speakers. I was after the turntable (Technics SL-Q303 in black) and the amp was an NEC V111E of the 'Authentic Series' . It is a combined receiver/cassette player rated at only 20 watts rms per channel. The speakers were in need of repair so I didn't bother with them and connected the NEC to a spare pair of 100 watt speakers. WOW!!! I couldn't believe the strength of the output and a very pleasing sound. A very good second system that I use most often.
When the Title states "Under Rated" it doesn't mean the Power of the Amps were under rated.
More it means "Not Recognized" or "Over looked"
But your remarks about loudness just shows that Power and Loudness aren't equal.
The dB scale of loudness is Logarithmic, so the loudness difference between 20w and 100w
isn't 5 times louder, probably just 1.5 times.
20w = 43 dBm and 100w = 50 dBm
But Pushing a 20w amplifier to it's 20w max will have more distortion than pushing a 100w amplifier to the same 20w output.
This is the main reason you use a higher Power Amplifier.
at Louder Listening Volumes, you don't have to Push it in to it's distortion range.
or so, that is what has been explained to me..
that's a slick amplifier for sure. I'm an 80's kid that had a Pioneer SX-727 growing up and I miss the smell of the wooden chassis cover when it was warm
NEC back in the 1980's, made very high quality and reliable commercial analogue telecommunications equipment.
They made many tv transmitters too.
I have a NEC HIFI system - AUTHENTIC series (bought it back in late 1988? ) Amplifier is NEC A730E with 2x70RMS - Inside it there is a TOROIDAL transformer (supposed to be better - lower noise) I am still using it! Combined with KEF C40 speakers its great!
So this NEC amp sounds pretty incredible. It seems like it really is/was a hidden gem. I probably would have gotten this to build my first stereo system when I was young.
Owner of it loves the sound. Says it sound better than some of his other vintage Amps.
Even by today's standards , it's a great amplifier with a looks to match .
This is awesome design! My Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amplifier has dual mono configuration with two separate toroïdal transformers and i don't want to sell it. 85 Watts per channel for 8 Ohms load and 170 Watts on 4. Keeper for sure! "Everybody like's to see meter's bouncing" Hell yeah. It's hypnotizing.
Yes hang on to it! It has extremely low distortion (0.008%) for an amp rated at 85w/8Ω. The best audio equipment came from the 80s and 90s.
@@rc6717 Posting a ridiculous, subjective comment like that I can easily infer you are the one with significant mental impairment. I recommend you abstain from eating anymore paint chips. Now, when it comes down to performance specs of audio equipment, the best numbers will be found on amps, preamps, integrated, receivers, etc built circa 1980 to 1999. We can all agree lower distortion, lower noise floor, higher damping, and greater power output is desirable. Let's take the very top tier "mid-fi" amplifier (Almost hi-fi @ $799) the PM6007 by Marantz currently in production. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.08%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 45W, Damping factor: 100, SNR: 102dB. Nothing impressive.
Now let's take the well known Yamaha M-85 for example made from 1986-1988. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.002%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 260W, Damping factor: 230, SNR: 122dB. Nice.
Bottom line, today's equipment is still outperformed by the older gear. When the demand for feature rich AV receivers started around 1999, companies started cramming in Bluetooth, wifi, 7+ channels, HDMI, ATMOS, and on and on. The focus was no longer on musical fidelity and now on the number of features it had. I recommend listening to your favorite Raffi songs on freshly serviced Yamaha MX-1, then judge for yourself 🖕🖐️
Close to my Rotel RA-1412, also not a "popular" brand but a fantastic amp. I bought it in 1977 in Japan when I was stationed there in the Air Force. It is also two mono amps in one. Except it has all the inputs on the right side, the speaker outputs on the left side, and the power transistors all the way across the back. Extreme heavy due to the two massive power transformers and caps. And it was rated at 110 watts per channel... but at 0.001% distortion!!!
Sounds pretty good to me and 65watts per channel is plenty enough for most speakers.
Very interesting, I've never seen anything from NEC for audio, don't think it ever came to the UK. I wonder if they used their own transistors in the PA section. As NEC were a big player in transistors and mosfets.
In the UK we used to aspire to the Quad 405 current dumping AMP -- trouble was you had to buy the whole Quad ensemble to use them, this amp does look nice for normal household use and after all tnhere are many amps that punch above their stated weight on paper.
I think if you look inside other audio equipment from that era, you'll find NEC parts. That speaks volumes about what a trusted name they were.
Nec made millions of parts. They were one of the big 3 in Japan. The other 2 being Matsushita and Toshiba.
I have this amp and matching tuner. All the meters were stuck. Its probably the only weakpoint. The amp had no relais cover when i bought it!
Love your video's .
I did a tuner with a stuck meter too.
It’s interesting to see some of you guys go to heroic lengths to reclaim older solid state audio gear. Most of the stuff, even the better quality stuff, was never really designed with repair or long-term viability/reliability as an imperative, and it’s only gotten to be more and more difficult with contemporary designs.
I’ve nearly completely thrown in the towel with messing with repairing solid state gear, except for very basic repairs on otherwise good condition equipment. Endless online “Easter egg hunts” trying to find and stockpile obsolete semiconductor devices etc, storing stacks of dead donor carcasses to have a source of now near impossible to find NOS replacement parts…. I just hit my limit.
Hats off to you guys still fixing the solid state stuff. Personally, I’ve gone straight back to working with tube amplifiers and preamplifiers ONLY, and life has been much easier and more relaxing since then.
I hear you. Tubes are so much simpler to work with and they sound a whole lot better then most solid state gear, but they are incredibly inefficient, waste a ton of electricity which is getting expensive and operate at very high voltage which requires utmost attention when servicing as they can kill you in an instant.
have the same problems with some cb radio meters,,, i just back off the needle screw a tad
Back in its day, NEC audio equipment was much more expensive than the run of the mill Technics, Pioneer, etc. but was extremely reliable and sounded great. The problem was NEC didn't have the "brand" recognition and the profit margin wasn't there, and stores wouldn't haggle with customers on the price as they would with other brands. Plus, as you pointed out, customers wanted higher power.
I had a NEC VCR that was unbelievable for it's time. Still have the TV from around 85 and it works perfectly. I use it about everyday and I have never fixed a thing on it.
NEC made incredible quality in many of their products. Also Hitachi, Nikko and Mitsubishi.
Yes, the speakers' relay did originally have a clear plastic cover. I used to be a hi-fi dealer, here in the UK in the 1980s, but NEC gear was seldom seen on these shores. Much was due to the snobbishness of the British hi-fi press towards Japanese equipment. When I moved to Italy there were more but still a rare find.
I recall NEC made televisions too
Nice unit, quality build
I serviced and nec plasma a few years ago.
I've tried to repair and flip gear but by the time I'm finished I've become so emotionally attached I can't let it go . . .
Nec built some good stuff ! I bought My Mom a NEC cell phone yrs ago & It was a very well built one & worked really well !
My MCS version also has stuck meters both being pegged out at the 65 w mark.....thank you for the meter repair tutorial!
Hi 12V nice vids sir 👍🏼
Just wondering what your opinion is of Onkyo stuff? They seem pretty well made to me but I’m not a tech.
I do have an AV Receiver/Amp TX-SR606 that I just love, it’s huge by today’s standards but the audio output on all channels is clean and pure.
Keep on keeping on good sir. 👍🏼
I just found one of your older vids fixing an Onkyo dsp chip, fingers crossed mine holds out.
Wow does that remind me of my workbench when I was doing electronic repair. Covered with junk and just barely enough space for the product! Memories! :)
Nice Amp and great build quality. Not to sound critical but from a service perspective observations. (1) Is it possible to calibrate the meters ? The meter on the right Channel seemed to be demonstrating a higher output. I suspect it required matching calibration as it’s unlikely the balance was off or the inputs to the amplifier or the gain were imbalanced. (2) A little screwlock glue should be applied to the pivot screw after adjusting. These screws can vibrate loose and move. Great Video. Love your work.
Wow, you weren't kidding. That is definitely a wolf in sheep's clothing. I guess I'll be looking for this wolf on E-Bay now.
Very under rated and very worth while seeking these ones out because they go cheap.
I'm a tech and never had the pleasure of servicing nec equipment. That unit looks like a beast
That's because they never break down.
I don't know about " underrated " but the Carver M1 magnetic field amp was mind blowing . massive power and very clear. I had one back in the 80s that drove the original polk SDA 1 speakers . the speakers could handle 500 watts a channel and i think the amp put out that much also . Still my all time favorite amp and speakers to this day.
I stumbelled over one when I was exploring a neighbour fleemarket, 100 Norweigian crowns!The owner asked if the price was too high, I gave him 200 crowns and clapped his shoulder!I had one of those in about 1980 or so and it was great.A friend of mine was more than average utdatert on Hi Fi electronics, he insisted this was great stuff.It was stolen in a house robbery,the thieves grabbed what they thought was quality.Yes,you are right,in Norway people believed it was worse than Phillips at their worst!Nic is not a very flashy name,right?
Another sleeper is an Optonica SM 4646. Also a dual monoblock but with a third transformer for the class A preamp stage AKA Delta Power.
I have a 600 watt Kenwood amp from the 80's I think with two huge transformers that looks like the same layout inside. I dont know if there are any connections between the two companies but I can testify that the Kenwood I talked a friend out of when it was having some scratchy intermittent pot problems. after fixing it is a freaking monster. I need to save up to buy speakers that can take the juice that old beast pumps out.
Nice amp! I am currently restoring a NAD 7240 and referring to your videos, Dave, which you did last year on that model. I received it with all of the output transistors removed on both channels so I am testing the surrounding driver circuits for problems before deciding if I will get new outputs.
Rockin' out! Nice amplifier is right. Great job on the meter fix!
I was thinking Nad when I seen but have never seen a NEC amp. It looks live a Sansui integrated amp-very impressive. I remember NEC made a VCR that had alot of guidepost problems.
I have a small nad power envelope amp that kicks ass !
@@chrisristau8803I agree. Nad had such high headroom that many of their receivers/amps could keep up with more powerful competition.
@@audiogear474 it's only rated at like 20 watts per channel ! Id have to say it does a solid 65 watts per channel though if i were to guess. It's a 7220pe .
@@audiogear474 NAD headroom came from rising up the low end cutoff fz. Instead of the amp playing from 20-20 let's say 50-20 hz when the button was push in. As bass demands power
i had a single cassette player that had the same black front but also had rackmount handles it could be carried by. NEC made beautiful equipment.
when u took the cover off that baby i said woohoo what monster!! nice i heard that nec made stereo gear for a few companies way back in the 80s i had an all in one stereo made by them rebranded curtis mathes very good sounding it fooled me ! the hi fi world and stereo nuts went to sleep on nec hifi i couldn't believe the specs on thier cassette decks crazy amazing nice to see this one again .
Yes very good and built like a tank. They are available for very little money because so many don't know what they have.
I still use my NEC Authentic series turntable i bought in the late 70's . AUP 7000 FE. Its a great turntable !
There is a Pioneer SX or SA with two separate amp for the left and right channels too. If I'm not wrong, it was the SA9500II
I caught this because I have a JC Penney MCS 3285 Receiver from 40 years ago. It was great for its time. Unfortunately I let a friend work on it and he messed up the input board and then (says he) lost it. I only recently found out that it was made by NEC for JC Penney.
My dual monobloc has toroidal tx with dual secondary's. The components are on the same board but it's split down the middle. It was a UK design by Graham Nalty and available as a kit. Sounds great. Seek DM30 from Everyday Electronics. Good luck.
That doesn't count. Single transformer. Heavy load on one channel will influence other winding. Dual monoblock has seperate everything.
I once bought a marantz 2385 in excellent condition for 5 bucks at a garage sale. at another garage sale a lade gave me a excellent fisher 400 sold them together for 500 bucks cash about 15 years ago. the new texas instruments class T amps work so great they sound as good as vacuum tubes. my garage stereo is a RCA MX7 got it for free. In the past great stuff was cheap or free not any more.
I just got a NEC A820E amplifier. 80w/channel. Love the sound! Wasn’t expecting much for $30 with a cassette, turntable and tuner.
Thank you for giving me confidence in repairing my meters on my fisher RS-2003 by just loosening the screws 👍
It made me feel really good when I said “looks like 2 mono blocks” just a moment before I heard you say the same thing!! I’ve really put time in on learning about electronics over what seems a week but has truly been ten + years. I think today I’ve got much more of the theory under my belt than practice and repairs. But just understanding that theory, and speaking the language of electronics is one of the most rewarding parts of my life. The people who are fluent speakers are some of the brightest and greatest most valuable assets relationships wise. At least it has been this way for me. Damn!?! That crazy transducer contraption in that meter would be fun to try and rig up to a spring reverb unit, I might guess?!! Hey, THANKS for sharing about this!!
They switched at one time to peak meters, which I notice that amp does not have. I was hoping you could make a comment on that.
There was a time that blinking lights did something for me. Now I just like to see the analog meters dance. That or no meters at all. I'm listening to a Russian guitarists on that fancy Sony brushed aluminum system i had fun changing a belt on last week as I write this. Bloody system has fantastic sound.
Ive got an NEC a10 that sounds very good without any updates to it. Great amps
The NEC A10 is one of the best integrated amp ever built! It's rare and very expensive.
My father had a NEC cd player back in 1984 bought on a trip to the US. But as you say not too common generally as a brand.
We had an ITT stack system in the eighties which was mostly all NEC Japan OEM, bar the turntable which was a Mitsubishi OEM. The speakers were most likely the only European thing about it, and had Audax drivers with 'real--wood veneer' cabinets.
Looking at the behemoth that is the Modular Component Systems 3275 receiver (an NEC AUR-8075 in disguise), it has some very minor cosmetic similarities that remind me of the ITT receiver originally in our setup..
Some JC Penny house brand stuff was made by NEC. I had a Modular Component Systems (MCS) 3847, which is the same as a NEC AUA 7000e. I recognized the one you were working on based on the knobs alone :-D
i had one a couple of years ago but it was a overeas unit its power was 220 vac but it was the same desighn as this one your working on except i dought it was a dual mono amplifier, it had the same issue right channnel meter was stuck , but yes a great piece in deed
NEC made high quality reliable electronics, not just in the consumer division, also in the broadcast industry. Their TV transmitters are engineered for the upmost reliability and outstanding quality, there are a few stations here in Australia that ran NEC Television transmitters from the start of colour in 1975 till analogue switch off in 2013 with very little issues. That is outstanding performance. I would have no problem buying NEC products if they were still manufacturing consumer electronics,unfortunately they are not in my part of the world, they still make TV transmitters.
NEC made some VHS VCR's for Pioneer I believe. My brother had a Kenwood TV, it was made by NEC. Their use of separate power supplies for each channel was a great design. This way if you have a problem in one channel you would have a good one to compare it to when you don't have a schematic. Try this amp with a pair of Klipsch horns and you'll blow yourself out of the room with 65 wpc being more than enough!
I have a NEC AUA 8000E that had similar problem with the VU meter, shame this wasn't posted years ago, accidently broke the meter while trying to fix it
Hi, I had the same problem, bought a meter on aliexpress ( 7 euro) and swapt the New meter in the old housing. You need a Dremmel to make it fit but it works!
Best Television I ever had was an NEC. I bought it in college in 1985 and it finally died in 2004 after nonstop use and being dragged across the country twice.
That Nec fasia just reminds me of my pioneer Sa-706, it's like nec looked at pioneer and copied the basic look.
I do like the seperate p.a modules and access :-D
I have also loosened the bearing on many meters that got sticky, i think the bearing surfaces corrode.
C.b/ham radios also suffered from the same problem.
We have a company here in Australia called ALTRONICS. They sell amplifier kits configured the same way as this one.
Hi, I have BASF D-6075. The sound is a bit harsh, metal treble. Being dual mono, could have been a bit more powerful than 75W at 4 ohm. Bass is nice, short, deep. Clear sound overall.
Could I ask what artist we were listening to? It sounded familiar to these old ears.
The composer is Jack waldenmaier and his production company is musicbakery. It's royalty free production music and you have heard it before in TV shows, radio commercials, and other productions.
@@12voltvids Thank you sir.
They made excellent TVs back in the day
It’s just the jewels in the meters and I’d turn the jewl set screw to the left to break the glue loose. Then tighten it just enough to drag when turning to the right and tighten but just until the meter starts dragging to full scale then loosen it just enough to release it back to zero. And then another 1/4 turn to the left. It loosens the stuck jewl in the meter. A little of the glue dries and a piece breaks off and floats into the bearing. And needs cleaned and tension adjustment needed. That’s all that’s needed time and patience and knowing what to do. It doesn’t take as long! Lol
They were sold under the BASF brand in Europe but hardly any on Hifishark, not even many sold ones.
don't expect that in all the Authentic Series amps. really sweet thanks for sharing. love dual mono blocs.
As i said, under rated. People saw the name and passed. It was a solid design.
@@12voltvids Hi 12voltvids. I really enjoy your videos you have so much learned knowledge. I have a broken power supply in my Sharp Optonica SA 5101. It made a noise and blew some smoke through the headphone socket. I think a rifa capacitor failed situated by a couple of fuses but not sure what to replace with.
Looks similar like a old Philips design, which I'm building at this very moment, two real monoblocks with Toroidal transformers, almost the same voltage. I think also specs around 50 or 60watts output. But if I see one on my bench will surely look at it closely.
I had a NEC integrated amp from 1989 or so. Rated at ? I used it to power a pair of subs. What was I thinking ? It was way better than my main amp and switched it over for the Pioneer. Too bad a spilled beer on it....should have had it repaired. Currently have the Adcom 555 ( used ) doing the subs and a Parasound 750 A as main. Been working for around 30-25 years. There’s something to be said for quality.....
Watts and sound level are not directly related except by marketing.paired with the high efficient speakers and you would have to be out side to keep from being deafened by 98DB worth of sound. That is a pretty nice Amp no doubt about it.
Speaker efficiency has dropped like a rock over the past 40 years.
I have some big efficient speakers that shake the walls with only a few watts.
I remember the first transistor radios,a sailor came back from the seven seas and brought with him a small Italian radio,in a neat leather holster,so small people believed it was an Electric shaving machine.
Not the straight wire with gain, audiophile approach, like my 1990's AVI S2000MI's amplifiers, and using each of the amplifiers as separate monoblocks, using one channel of each of the amplifiers, as separate monoblocks, for midrange / high frequencies, with very low noise and 0.003 % distortion, plus the amplifiers have far more heatsinking, for the large sanken transistors.
A lot of good reasonably priced audio gear was made in the late 70s to early 2000s until the consumer electronics trend became driven by smart phones, internet streaming, Bluetooth speakers and making stuff small. The average audio fidelity of the home has gone downwards in the last couple of decades.
Nec I have repaired a couple of those back when that unit was not that old .
The vu meter pivot screw was definitely over tightned as the tightening marks are visible in the screw slot...methinks.
No, plastic shrinkage pulled the clamp tighter over time.
NEC made electronic components as well! I loved them as well as Toshiba and good ol MGA or better known Mitsubishi. Love this stuff! Right away you look at that power supply! That’s right only a 60w supply a channel! The separate transformers and caps! The relay cover was bad speaker wires or to small or load. They forced the protect on to jam! Ya got both channels? Hell yeah! Just esr those caps and replace if anything. Clean her controls up and you got a excellent pice of electronic history!
I can get the original mount style but they are subs but better than other subs due to matching the spec of the original components. Huaggo semiconductor in China has allot of them great subs. But on USA soil I’d try east coast transistor for the hard to find stuff!
Nice amp
I have a nec a10ii and it's a beast of an amp but its only rated at 60 watts per channel
Don't forget to put on the last sleeve for the Tone switch!
Just making sure viewers are awake.
Underrated indeed. The specs for it show 0.1% THD and 95dB SNR, which is what lower end equipment performs at. Those specs don't match the design and quality put into this. They did make other models, like the A-10, that seem more appropriately rated (0.003% THD, 110dB SNR, 5Hz - 300kHz frequency response).
Yes! but the damping factor of 30 is no enough.
@@marvinmartian7281 Higher damping factor numbers don't always translate to "better sound". It's all about the speaker/amp relationship and personal preference. You can boost the damping of the amplifier just by switching to higher impedance speakers if you enjoy a tighter, more controlled bass. Lower impedance for warmer, softer low frequencies.
@@FellOnMyKeys Yes! indeed. My SAE 2400L with(8 ohms) JBL 4411 Studio Monitors is a good example. These kind of vintage speakers like Altec A7 Valencia (846B) or electro voice need big damping factor amplifiers. I like the Phase Linear 700B amp the damping factor is 1000 Perfect for big JBL L200 L300 or 4435.
Muscle car amplifiers indeed!
@@marvinmartian7281 your 4411s must be rare speakers since I could only find one on ebay listed at $1000 buy it now. What kind of material are your drivers made of?
I thoroughly enjoyed watching you, 12voltvids, troubleshoot that NEC analog right channel power meter! Great job indeed...
I had a Luxman L-58A - I was second owner, it was all original - which also had no cover on the output relays. A really nicely built amp - seems they can be all original without them.
NEC is one of the manufacturers of best and most expensive projectors, 'til this day. But I did not know they have manufactured any home audio gear. Even today, some of the largest and most expensive LCD TVs are made by NEC.
13:05 You receive one gold star for adjusting the VU needle pivot-point... But I will now immediately take that star back since you scratched the paint on the meter backplate while testing said repair. 😅
Can't see it as it's covered by the cabinet.
I like the black Technics component systems that came out in the late 80s .. People dont know how good some solid state systems can sound
Thanks for sharing. Very insightful. And from you makes it that much more.... better. 👍
I had to go look at my Adcom GFA-535 mk2, it is 60 watts a channel and dual mono. There are 4 x 6,800 mfd 63v caps and two smaller E core transformers that you got there. Also the output devices on the Adcom do not have as much heat dissipation as the ones on this NEC, those have big wings and dual screws, where as the Adcom has a single screw per output device. The AVR series receiver model number, the first two to three digits are the wattage per channel, something like Marantz did. I could not find this one in my 1997 Orion Audio Bluebook, but I bet it is 80 watts per channel more likely.
That series of Adcom amps were designed by Nelson Pass.
@@milesdufourny4813 Yes they were, love his designs.
I work at a TV station that back in the analog days, had an NEC transmitter. On the EEV blog, you saw Dave do a teardown of an NEC "exciter" that would have been similar to ours. They also tried to make professional videotape machine with little success.
I was looking at some pics of the hafler 200 you mentioned.. It looks very similar to a realistic SPA100 on the inside.
The realisitsic SPA 100 is avery "dynamic ". It has an EQ on the front that is by passable. the thing is built like a tank. It does not have balanced inputs and has push type speaker outputs only. I read somewhere that it actually puts out 150 wpc. It is only 8 ohm compatable?
I’m not sure if you could get NEC gear in the USA, but this was available through JCPenney as a Modular Component Systems 3865 amplifier. Was MCS available up in Canada?
Great piece. For now, I think it would be useful to add "NEC Authentic Series AUA8000" to the name of your video. I own a NEC A10II Amp with a NEC T-6 tuner, but more on that later. I'm an old fan of NEC audio-I also once owned their AV-300E Surround Sound amp.
Enjoyed the VU Meter education. NEC incredibly rare here in the States.
The style of the front panel reminds me a lot of an older Sansui AU-20000 amplifier I've got around here somewhere. It is really heavy (170 W x 2 ??), but I believe there is only a single large transformer.
GAS Ampzilla is the most very under rated power amp.
Yes! indeed. James Bongiorno design like my SAE amps
It's practically impossible in my experience to judge an amp by hooking it up to one set of speakers. I have had many different speakers and amps in my time as an audio nut and I have heard amazing amps that sound terrible with amazing speakers (with matching specs). I have had a cheap amp that sounded better with an expensive set of speakers than an expensive amp. I have learned that it is as important if not more important that the dynamic power output of the AMP match the demands of the speaker and design of the crossover within the speakers. I still have no idea what phenomenon causes this. In some cases, I think raw amperage is what speakers want, while others demand pure watts of power. The more puzzling part is that I have put bright amps with bright speakers and gotten a warm sound and vice versa. I had a set of B&W 801 S3 that absolutely SLAMMED and sounded like heaven with an old Yamaha DSP-A1. It sounded better than a Threshold, a Krell, a Yamaha MX1000 and PA-7. It is inexplicable. I have an NEC AVR-1000E though and it sounds very good. Not sure how many watts it puts out but it sure seems like it's in a Pioneer sx-1280 range despite the stated specs being much lower than that.
I have an nec a10ii amplifier and it has to be one of the best sounding amp I’ve had the pleasure to listen to
The mechanical construction of these older amps is way superior to todays
flimsy designs
60 watts may not seem a lot, but for normal listening levels with efficient speakers
is enough.
If ever i see one of these i will give it serious consideration.
Gryphon amplifiers are solid build too
Depends on what you're looking at. My Yamaha CD player/DAC weighs over 30 pounds. Dual power supply (one for the sound processing and one for everything else) copper coated chassis, the works.
Definitely not flimsy and sounds amazing too.