NAD 3020A Integrated Amp

The caps in that Nad are good 30 years old, generally the life of caps is about 15 years before they start to wear out and change the sound of a particular amp. The real character of this little beauty may not be what you are hearing so making a judgment after 30 years on the sound of the amp is kind of unfair.

In its day it was a great sounding amp and I had the pleasure of listening to one brand new bought by a very close friend who continued to own it for next decade or so driving his Wharfrdale Diamond initially and later the Wharfdale E40's. I had owned the Nad 3225PE which essentially was the same amp albeit with "Power Envelope" circuitry incorporated.

The Nad 3020A was the poor audiophiles integrated amp as I remember it being dubbed by the press.

Just my 0.02

Quadophile:
Do you know if it is possible to replace the capacitors or is that prohibitively expensive to do? I love the design of this amp and a lot of the NAD stuff esp. from this era, so I'd like to stick with it. Looking for a NAD tuner now as well.

Iamnate, most likely not all caps need replacing, just all the electrolytics. Unless you can get a copy of a service manual to identify their location and values and have some de-soldering and soldering skills, you will be advised to find a tech to do this. The labor will be much more than the parts cost.

I have a 3020A I use in with my TV. I replaced the speaker spring clips with mini-binding posts and that is also recommended.

Iamnate,

In my humble opinion the parts and labor will be more than the amount you may have paid for this amp so it is not me who decides. If you are handy with a soldering iron and know a bit about electronics you can do that yourself as suggested by Pryso. If not you need to consider your options

I know exactly what you mean about sound from that era, yes it was musical and warm. I have progressed to tubes and I am blessed with the same kind of sound I used to get from the equipment in question, I owned Quad equipment back in the days and upgraded with another Quad later on.

Here is an option for you to consider in future, as I am very satisfied with what I have now, it gives me the same musical sound as if I was transported back in the 70's and 80's.

What you need to be on the lookout is tube amps from Dared, they are extremely reasonable in price and have the best price/performance ratio under $1000. You can get a used Dared on Audiogon as well as on other sites. I currently use a Dared VP-16 in my bedroom and it is in one word "sweet"

You can get a Dared VP-16 for as little as $350 used (price for new is $895. Another great little model from them is MP-5 (brand new around $550 or thereabouts), You can get them used at much less than a VP-16. Dared has other offerings as well so I suggest you first check out their site when you have time and see what you fancy.

If you have questions or need to know more let me know and I will oblige.

I used to won two of these back when you could buy them new for under $200.00.

They were a refeshing change of pace from most of the over priced stuff in it's day.It was a no frills unit that delivered the goods, and I'll bet it would still compete today with some maintenance.

I'll take a good sounding no frills amp any day to one that is nothing but a collection of knobs and dials and options that degrade the sound.

This is one component from that era that never seems to appreciate in price like some of the other gear from that era, you know the stuuf with knobs and dials and switches and meters.

I used to run a pair of Swisstone 15 ohm Roger's Ls3/5a with one of my 3020's.
This made for some very nice listening.

The Rogers cost $400.00 new back then and the 3020 was $200.00 new.

Both I would consider classics,yet the 3020 somehow never gets any respect, yet it was the amp that was the real competition to all that 1970's Japanese stuff that was more show than go in my opinion.
Most of that gear that is so sought after today,granted was built better than the Nad,but sonically, the 3020 put the money into the parts that made it sound good.
So good in fact, that around the time of the 3020, those big heavey brutes from Japan started to disappear.

You have a nice piece of audio history in the 3020, and it is as deserving of upgrades as any other amp from that era or any other.