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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
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
3,109 posts
 
ejilf  +1
erik_squires
16,821 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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onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,345 posts
 
Sorry for your loss.  The picture was truly worth a thousand words.  NAD should give you some help.  They might not replace it, but should offer you a steep discount on a current production model.  Keep us informed.
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