#96 - Servicing NAD C350 stereo integrated amplifier

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I love amplifiers and I always learn something when you put your hands on it. I also really love your work in this channel. Great videos. Even when things look simple you explain every step and something interesting emerge. Favourite channel.

I would suggest you to make your own bank of capacitors, I understand that there are some space constraints however, it might be your best option due to the scarcity of high-capacitance ones on the market at the moment

Have you ever used DeOxit5? I swear by that stuff.

с ебея привезли неликвидные конденсаторы к сожалению

Very interesting, buying capacitors is tricky, nice explanation...cheers.

I would never buy any capacitors or transistors from China. They are all fake for sure.

Very nice bit of maintenance. How do you find the TongHui? I am just about to purchase an LCR meter and am wondering if a Hantek at 1/3 of the price will be just as good.

Don’t be afraid they are fake, they are... being half the rated value tells you for sure they aren’t from Nippon...

Enjoyed your service video. Very technical.

I was going to skip the vid when it was only a scratchy pot, but it got good with the cap repair.

I would not waste my time putting in cheap capacitors from China I have but the older Capacitors from China before and open them up and there was a chance it capacitor inside of a cardboard container stay away from Chinese stuff it’s all cheap crap

I tend to snag the stuff bigger than 10000uf on eBay.

For me, the primary filtercaps are fine. Even the rattling sounds more like a loose plastic disc on the top of the cap, then a broken or defect cap. Normaly they wont fail, even after all the years of usage.

A DC voltage across the pot due to a leaky cap can also cause scratching noises when the pot is turned.

just buy a new one, NAD have been junk for years. switch to Marantz, the high end

I enjoyed the video. Thanks!

There are fake branded cheap capacitors around the world..guess where they are from?

I have this amp. I love it. It's run flawlessly for years until 'something happened to it'... and I had to have it repaired. Cost me a $120 to get repaired. If I'd seen your videos I probably could have done it for nothing.

Nad is a word in itself, the letters do not form initials.

Please use another microphone; this one sounds too muffled... 😢
BTW, there is no such thing as 'supper contact cleaner. 😂

I'd of rearranged the vertical circuit board to where the original main filter caps are and put a capacitor bank in it's place. Possibly the standby transformer would be better (heat) yet I'm guessing it's wires aren't long enough

no final sound test?!

Those capacitor on eBay from china are not original ( fake) , they put plastic sleeve the same as original and sell it as original

Never buy filter caps off of Ebay or Ali Express. They are knockoffs and although some will measure well, they will not last and even worse, may blow up during use. Ask me how I know...

NAD kept/keeps costs down by manufacturing in China. The problem is a lot of the caps they used were no-name junk like "Giant" brand.

Out of interest, what is the DC voltage of the power supply i.e. what voltage does the power supply put across the main smoothing capacitors?

Thanks for the very informative video. I have recapped the same amp and also searched everywhere for the 2 buffer caps. I seems that even NAD service-centers replaced them with 15000uF 63V 105DG's because of the limited space. 30KuF total is easily enough I think for this amp. I bought 2x EKMH630VSN153MA63T at Mouser. Please make sure to order the VSN version, I had made a mistake at first and ordered the VND version with the wrong pin-spacing and 2 extra pseudo pins. Good luck man and thanks again.

Do you have schematics and/or service manual for NAD C350? Searching over the web but found nothing :/

HOW is it possible that the 22,000mF caps tested within spec, even though there is literally something loose and knocking around inside them??

Can you please feature my Tektronix 465 on your channel? It just quit working 2 days ago.

The power led is green but The input source led not light? Help me,bro

Its ABS plastics, fatigue cracking under constant load if normal after that time span.
Drop of superglue behind, after drying aply dental repair cold acryl two part resin (powder and liquid).
Budget repair is cotton and superglue, old t-shit piece or a raw fibers, poor mans composite.

Often the physically large caps will last a very long time. As we all know heat is what kills most of the smaller ones. In an amp it's hard to find anywhere that's really cool.

Thankyou for this video!
I have the c352 and have recapped it as the old ones were totally shot. Huge difference in performance. Very happy.

I haven't done the large caps which are identical to the ones in your video. Hard to find them so ordered two 'jccon' Chinese ones which are on a rowing boat making there way across the ocean as we speak!!
So after watching this there's no way I will use them. Why can't anyone make genuine ones? And why did nad put such crap into such a capable amp?!
Tempted to make an external power supply with banks of caps. But I would rather stick to original setup.
Awesome video - 👍👍

I've got two of these on my bench at the moment and all the capacitors are garbage. NAD does make nice sounding gear but their design quality is junk. Cheap components and very poor heat dissipation management, plastic front panel to name a few.
I noticed that resistor R227 on your amp. is the under rated type. There was a service bulletin about replacing this resistor with a 560 ohm 2W fusible.
Also, there was another service bulletin for caps C511, C512 and C513 that need to be changed from ceramic disc to film
Thanks for the awesome repair video, Cheers

ОТЛИЧНЫЙ УСИЛОК

The reason it doesn't have a switch for 4 or 8 ohms is because it doesn't need it. The older version obviously couldn't (properly) handle 4 ohms loads, so NAD added a current limiting switch (4 ohm setting) which actually produces less power on a bench test than the 8 ohm setting. You have to be smart about it if you use 4 ohm speakers on the 8 ohm setting so you don't push the amp too hard and blow transistors. However, it should perform better with dynamics on the 8 ohm setting.

Great video! I also have this amp, i bought it new in around the same time as you (2001 ish).
Mine still works great, but as you mention, i have problem with channels, the sound is lounder on the left channel.
If i turn up the volum on the source (my pc) i can get the sound to come back for a little while. The volume knob is working fine, i think the balanse knob is my problem. I think i will try to clean all the pots just to be sure.

Not sure if i will try to change the caps, i have to look into it tho, cause it is tempting. I will probably open and clean it and have a look and go from there.

Sweet, I have a Quad 303, and a Leak Stereo 30 Plus to restore, appreciate the tips.

Cut that 22000uF cap from China open, you'll probably find a smaller electrolytic 12k uF inside lol

If you're doing a repair video, you should show a teardown too so those of us with the same amp or with one in the same range will have an idea of how they come apart

For anyone looking to replace the main power supply filter capacitors on this amp I can confirm the following ones from mouser will fit (just): United Chemi-Con 22000uF 63 Volt (SMH Series), MFG Part No: ESMH630VSN223MA65S
I used these in a recap and they tested well and a have good ripple tolerance, just over six dollars each.