nad 3020 overhaul/mod questions

[deanbo2]

I was given a pretty old nad 3020 a while back,circuit board was really grotty and vol pot scratched,bit dodgy on the speaker terminals too...anyway i fixed all that pretty easy and want to get onto recapping this amp and modding it.

been reading a lot of the info on here about the nad

http://web.archive.org/web/200304172...hau/audio.html

has anyone here followed any of this information for the 3020? if so any problems?
i understand guitar valve amps pretty well,so i do understand amps,but i've got no experience with hifi or ss-just good old valves.Just have to get my head around a ss schem.I've got decent multimeters and i've worked on and modded several guitar valve amps,but that's guitars not hifi
something thats puzzling me?
there's something like 18 electrolytics in it and some are low volt low mf and could be substituted for a poly instead.i haven't checked the schem too see if the signal runs thru em as it's a bit late now.apart from cost or they don't matter i can't see why not?

anyway i'll be pressing on and order the parts soon as.So if any of you peeps have any comments can be of help[especially IDing the relevant caps in power section],i'll be most obliged.
thanks

[Ian Finch]

Hi Deanbo,
Before your post slips off the radar, just a comment:
Beyond recapping with good, industry quality caps, there's not a lot of worthwhile mods IMO you can do to 3020s as their sound is related to the bog-standard parts and inherent distortion of the design. Start adding gilt edged boutique parts or bodging the electronics and you get wasted money, erratic effects or failures.

You may want this anyway, but other forums probably attract more guys who are into audio "mods" for sonics etc, if that's you interest.

[wrankin]

Just found this thread - I'm working at an older first generation 3020 myself. Any updates?

BTW, the 3020 mod page you referenced moved to http://gnu.295.ca/peak/audio.html so you don't have to use archive.org to find it.

-bill

[chrisb]

Another thing to keep in mind with the 3020 is that it was built to a bargain entry level price point, and that in addition to the age of the parts in the first generations of these (now well over 30yrs) the quality of the PCBs and contacts / controls leave a lot to be desired.

Beware of susceptibility of PCB foil traces and solder eyelets to lift/break, and note that some of the PCB mounted switches and pots may be hard to find replacements for.

[deanbo2]

well i've had a good think and thinking about it,it's probably not worth modding it.

so i've decided top build myself either a gainclone type amp or a really interesting looking one with 2 class d monoblocks poowered by switched mode ps.

i should start a new thread really but any thoughts on either of these 2 designs? DIY Audio Projects Forum • Class D Amp with Laptop SMPS

Synergy - LM3875 Gainclone Amplifier (Chip Amp)

the class d one sounds really good and a reasonably simple build by the look of it