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Beware of NAD M3 Fire Hazard

My $3k NAD M3 started shooting sparks out the top and burned the shelf that was 8" above. Luckily I was home and not sleeping or the house would have burned down. If anyone has one of these I advise them to unplug it when not in use. I took it to two different repair shops and they said it would be about $800 to just get it running and there may be board issues. They advised not to take the gamble. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with it?
pwb
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,377 posts
 
I had an Innersound amp completely melt down.  Luckily it was in a pretty heavy chassis so the fire stayed inside and didn't burn my house down.  Innersound was out of business so no recourse but on something like that NAD should just get you set up with a new amp, doesn't matter if it's in warranty or if you bought it used.  That should not happen and if it does they should cover it, they are a big company.  Let us know what they say. 
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
The local line voltage is 110
The unit is rated 120v. Nominal is ±5% - 114v to 126v.

Running on 110v increases cap ripple if load high current delivery is required. Ripple increases heat. By chance did the unit smell hot?

Diodes usually fail open circuit
ESD often causes devices to fail as a short. A puddle of molten silicon makes an excellent conductor.

The only caps I've ever seen 'blow' have been due to reversed polarity. 

Failure analysis is often pure speculation... unless someone 'fesses up <:-0


jetter
3,108 posts
 
ejilf  +1
erik_squires
16,806 posts
 
I won't derail the thread, but .... this is the perfect example of why you should never remove the ground pin on an AC plug.

Failures are rare but they do happen.

This case wasn't probably caused by a bad ground pin, but this kind of failure can happen and you want the chassis to be grounded by a big beefy conductor when it does.
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