NAD 3080

NAD 3080 purchased in 1978....the amplifier was one of the best I've ever listened to, created by the legend Bjørn-Erik Edvardsen. The amplifier delivered 2 x 80 watts which was more than enough to drive my speakers with 12” JBL 2203A/124A / 8F60/ Dynaudio D54/ Dynaudio D28A.

The mentioned speakers could play loud, but it was the sound that the NAD 3080 produced that was interesting. The NAD 3080 was a very good-sounding amplifier back then and it still is today.

Unfortunately, I sold the 3080 in 1983 and I have regretted the sale ever since.

A few years ago I managed to get a vintage 3080, which now after more than 40 years required an overhaul and new capacitors. After the repair it still sounds good and drives a pair of AR11s nicely with good attack in the bass.

If you don't need that much power, the NAD 3020 with its 20 watts does it just as musically. NAD's philosophy at the time was that the money on the internals of the amplifiers, while The covers and front panels were more spartan to look at. Most people, like me, went for the NAD sound and an amplifier they could afford.

NAD 3080 renovation

Complete renovation of the 39 year old amplifier still working!

More pictures of the renovation on the link below.

New Acoustic Dimension

NAD 3080

Produced 1978 - 1982

NAD 3080 bought by the author the 24.october 2014

The NAD 3080 was one of the first amplifiers which offered high quality sound to a reasonable price, and that the NAD 3080 also was one of the first amplifiers designet to deliver full power in 2 Ohm's load.

New Acoustic Dimension milestones:

1977: NAD 3020 launches the famous 20 Watt amplifier NAD 3020

1977: NAD 3080 first amplifier that could deliver full power at 2 ohms impedance.

1992: NAD 3020 sold 1,000,000 copies

The 40 year old NAD 3080 needs cleaning.

Secondly the 15.000uF/63V Nichicon power capacitors have to be changed together with all the small light blue capacitors, which seems to be from the Philips economy line series.

The NAD 3080 would have a nicer appearance if the wires were reorganized better.

There are more than one Philips economy capacitor in the signal path, and this have to be changed.

According to the NAD philosophy which was to keep the amplifiers at reasonable prices,

the use of the Philips economy line series was one way to reduce sales price.

Idle current and power meter alignment for NAD 3080 above.

After 4 minutes of warm up

8,1VDC across R637 and R638 ..between 6-9 says the manual!

The 3080 has a special type of bias alignment to be found in the service manual.

NAD used two resistors in parallel to reach the wanted bias current, instead of the usual pcb

potentiometers which are shown on the driverboard.

Besides being cheaper with the two resistors in parallel, the current flow seems to be very stable measured on the output transistors.

NAD 3080 pdf schematic: Link coming later

Short history of the company New Acoustic Dimension (NAD):

The company was founded in UK ,1972 by Dr. Martin L. Borish, who was electrical engineer.

Two of the most famous products in the late seventies was the NAD 3080 and NAD 3020, both integrated amplifiers designed by Bjørn Erik Edvardsen, who was a highly regarded design engineer, passed away December 16, 2018, Bjørn-Erik Edvardsen ("Erik").

"Erik", one of NAD Electronics' foundational personalities.

NAD was bought by the Danish firm AudioNord in 1991 and later sold in 1999 to the Lenbrook Group of Pickering in Canada.

The idea was to change all capacitors , double the main capacity from 15.000uF/80V to 30.000uF/80V and

at the same time change some af the Philips 10uF signal low price capacitors to better types.

"Muse" Nichicon and Nippon Chemicon capacitors mostly used as replacement.

Nichicon powercaps are leaking electrolytic fluid after more than 40 years. This is why even high quality capacitors have to be changed after 40 years.

Back in 1979 the 15.000uF Nichicon was top of the line, and despite the high standard from Nichicon the caps has dried out.

Remember to change the rectifiers as well as the power capacitors. New caps in the phono section.

Before the 45 year old NAD 3080 is ready for a test with new capacitors there are some work ahead:

New caps in the intire amplifier, wires rearranged, new speaker relay, all amplifier PCB's cleaned. Switches and potentiometers cleaned with Contact A60 and lubricated with ECSP. Quality signal capacitors used between the pre - and poweramplifier section.

The NAD 3080 is back to factory standard! NAD 3080 driving approx. 5 watt RMS on JBL120Ti.. sounds great!After 5 hours of burn-in the NAD 3080 just sounds very nice! It is vey satisfying to listen to a restored NAD 3080

Black polyester felt cut to size and mounted below the buttons on NAD3080. The volume control , potentiometers and switches are completely silent after cleaning.

nad 3080 service manual.pdf

NAD 3080 service manual

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