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NAD 1000 pre amp - advice on servicing please...

HarryCrumb

HarryCrumb

pfm Member
Hello,

I bought myself a couple of pre amps this year; an Audiolab 8000c and a NAD 1000. The Audiolab has been great but I only got around to trying the NAD this week and it sounds like it's draining the life from the music to me. I took a quick look inside and one of the caps had frothed over, so I replaced that, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

I'm just wondering whether anyone has serviced one of these, or if someone has any general pointers?

The capacitor circled in red below is the one I replaced. Looking on the schematic it's electrolytic, so I was thinking about just replacing the electrolytic caps one area at a time and seeing how that goes.

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Sounds like it needs a proper service. It’s a brilliant pre amp. I used one for a bit and really enjoyed it. Worth spending some money on even if it’s not worth that much overall. Different league to the 8000C in my view.
 
pocketkitchen said:
Sounds like it needs a proper service. It’s a brilliant pre amp. I used one for a bit and really enjoyed it. Worth spending some money on even if it’s not worth that much overall. Different league to the 8000C in my view.
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Thats positive, I'll consider that. I got one of my Quad 405's slightly upgraded a few months ago by someone who specialises in them, and he also works on NAD, so the thought was in my mind...
 
pocketkitchen said:
I used it with a 405! Worked well. Really good system for buttons.
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More good vibes... I've just replaced the rest of that row, and cleaned the board up a bit. I'll go as far as I'm comfortable doing and if it's not perked up I will take a drive just up north of the border and drop it in for a service.
 
If it was my preamp and would keep it on the long term, I would replace all the electrolytic capacitors if the preamp is 15 years old or more. Easy to do when the main board is removed and not a major expense. I would replace with good quality Nichicon as they will be better than the actual ones.
If the little capacitors near the input signals (such as C101 for example) are polystyrene caps, this tells me it’s a good quality preamp and really worth the repair.
I would also clean and lube all pots and switches with a silicone based cleaner as well as applying some Deoxit contact cleaner on all connectors to give it a second life.
I don’t know this particular preamp from Nad but I know for sure that sometimes, some apparently entry level preamp (like maybe this one) will give you 95% of the performance of a preamp that costs 4 times more.
 
Gervais Cote said:
If the little capacitors near the input signals (such as C101 for example) are polystyrene caps, this tells me it’s a good quality preamp and really worth the repair.
I would also clean and lube all pots and switches with a silicone based cleaner as well as applying some Deoxit contact cleaner on all connectors to give it a second life.
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Thanks, thats good advice. I can certainly manage that level of work.

In terms of pots and switches, I do hear a few people mention Deoxit... I've got Servisol Super 10 switch cleaning lubricant. Would that do?
 
HarryCrumb said:
Thanks, thats good advice. I can certainly manage that level of work.

In terms of pots and switches, I do hear a few people mention Deoxit... I've got Servisol Super 10 switch cleaning lubricant. Would that do?
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Some people get all worked up about Deoxit being the only thing that works. Meh. I have Servosol myself and used it to clean a noisy pot in a Nait 2. It's fine.
 
Just updating this. I changed all the electrolytics, except for two little ones on the headphone card which I missed when ordering the new ones. It sounds absolutely fine now so I'm happy. I flushed the pots with Servicol as well.

As always, thanks for all the help!

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