How can a 30 watt, 28 year old amp sound more

Have a NAD 7140 that I have not used in over two years sitting on top of an excellent sounding Sansui AU 919.
Decided to run the 7140 for a while after playing with another recent find that surprised me.
I revived a thread I wrote about the 7140 in comparison to a Nakamichi Stasis 2 which it easily thumped, and had better build quality.
It's right up there with the Sansui on both power, and sound quality.
Using a pair of Yamaha NS 1000's with it.

Ddd1 has hit the nail on the head - synergy - that component combination where the stars align and everything comes together.

Matching components is much more than watts, high current designs and efficiencies.

Each component impacts the other components it is connected too

It even includes cables - e.g. naim amps require (as stated on their web site) that the speaker cables be low capacitance.

I've read that they sound pretty bad if high-cap cables are used

Also, that 28 year old amp used exceptional components - andNAD had a great design and quality reputation back then. Once the bean counters take over then component quality often suffers.

Also - not all watts are equal - line up any number of amps with the same output rating in the same setup and you will get differing results in the system performance

When I bought my existing speakers I took my naim 5i amp and speaker cables to the store because of concerns about their ability to control them - turns out 50 watts (of naim power) was more than enough. Some brands my work better and some not as well - you have to hear them

When I first started this hobby, matching components was far more critical - things like input and output voltages had to be matched- then the manufacturers got together and settled on standard input and output specs, but even today other factors still come into play, which make certain component combinations excel in their performance - yours is one such case.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know what combinations excel, other than plowing through forums like Agon and soliciting advice and then try some options.

But bottom line - 28 year old NAD's were an exceptional design and a quality build.

After 28 years... maybe it's time to get the caps replaced?

If you think it's good now... get the caps upgraded to mundorf or even something even more exotic?

I re-cap'd my speaker crossover with mundorf - they now perform so much better than the originals

I think that after 28 years the NAD has finally broken in. The less patient than you will never know how good the amp is.

BTW, if you sell the amp on Audiogon anyone can quickly search your posts and find out that a lowly NAD amp sounds better than what you're selling, at least in your opinion.

Recently I came into possession of a Sansui receiver from the mid 70s, an HK integrated from about 82 and an Onkyo integrated from 85. They all had this in common, they were calibrated or voiced to work well with sources such as tape decks and turntables, both much less dynamic than the modern cd player.

For that reason they gave the impression with a CD player that was punchier and more dynamic. I'm sure the NAD is much the same. The more dynamic and higher voltage cd player made the difference. BTW, turntables sounded really nice on this old gear.