[Review] NAD S300 First impressions.

Hopefully they will agree to have it sent back to NAD to be checked over and repaired if necessary.

 

FWIW I asked the guy from whom I just bought an S300 (on behalf of a friend here in Portugal) if he had experienced the same power LED issue and he said that he had. He sent it back to NAD (via dealer) and it was repaired under warranty and hasn't had a problem since.

Looks like it might be a fairly common fault.

Michael.

 

Hmm... I wasn't being particularly inteligent when I posted the end of yesterday...

I am though a little concerned about this polarity issue, because as I said not all my IEC leads are the same (although I can't remember which was which). Could someone tell me which way round they're supposed to be? If I'm looking at the end of an IEC lead, with the earth hole at the top, which should be live and which should be neurtal?

Oh, and if someone could explain why this matters, given they clearly work both ways round, I'd be very interested.

Martin

p.s. sorry to hear of your amp concerns Isaac, I hope NAD sort it out for you. I'm not meaning to hi-jack your thread but as it cropped up here I hope you don't mind me asking my dumb questions.

 

If you're looking at the end of an IEC lead (ie, "into" the holes of the plug) then the earth is at the top, live should be on the right and neutral on the left...so, if you stick a polarity checker into the right side hole of the plug it should light up (and not the other side obviously).

Not quite sure why it matters and TBH I couldn't swear I've ever heard a difference but there's no harm in getting it right.

Michael.

 

Cheers Michael. I don't have a "polarity checker" but a multimeter will do the job. I'll have an investigate tonight.

Martin

 

The seller of mine has said he's looking into it, and if there is something amiss, he will have it picked up and fixed.

Here's the obligatory picture, which demonstrates the scale somewhat...

 

That does make your DAC look a little on the small side doesn't it Isaac .

Testing my mains leads last night I found, as I suspected but wanted to be sure, that my two US terminated Shunyata leads are wired up with neutral and live the opposite way round to all the UK leads I have. Possibly all US leads are wired this way round? Pondering if this is a problem or not I'm still rather unsure. I mean, if I consider a component as a two terminal network, isn't the effect of the live AC signal is to produce an AC potential difference between the two terminals? Surely an identical p.d. is generated whichever input the live is connected to?

 

It looks great Isaac, I havent say nothing about it but the S300 is also a great looking piece of high end.

Hope your problems will solve soon.

By the way, congratulations for the hi fi system, What is in the upper part of the rack?

 

Marantz CD-16 and heavily modded M-audio superdac.

In the background you can see the trichord powerblock, and to the side the olson mains board.

 

I spoke directly to NAD technical support today, and they said that the amp's behaviour was normal.

I did, however, order the service manual to see what that says, and will go from there...

 

Hmm....sounds a bit suspect to me. The manual says it shouldn't do it and at least two people I know now have had theirs repaired for the same "fault".

I'd want to get some kind of assurance from NAD or the dealer that they'd be willing to sort things out if the output stage does go pop in the near future.

Michael.

 

Indeed. I will get the service manual tomorrow, and then decide where to go from there.

 

Well, I got the service manual which didn't really say anything about it (but does show how to set the bias current, so I will check that it is set properly and adjust if necessary).

I spoke to NAD again, and they assured me again that it's acting completely normally. I've spoken to the dealer, and he is very helpful and I am assured that should any problem arise he will sort it out. I have nothing but praise for Dave at hifi exchange.

 

Isaac,

I reckon its time to kick back and enjoy the music

 

Indeed.

When I'm not at work that is...

See you at the show!

 

Tis truem, seems these big multi nationals have to keep blagging kit from us poor souls in the Plinque room

 

Hum

Isaac,

I've owned the S300 on 2 separate occasions and both of them hummed. Slightly annoying for those late night listening sessions when you want things down low, but you soon learn to ignore it. Its not a fault you've got, just a slightly noisy design.

Jack