[reeseboisse]

I happened to come upon an old NAD 7130 reciever today. Long since past prime, I quickly hooked it up just to see how it sounds. I used my pc as a source, and a fairly crappy 1/8-to-3.5 RCA to connect it to the "CD" input on the amp. I used my Grados as the testing devices.

What came out was not to my liking; barely audible, and with a decent amount of amp-noise (although that was most likely due to my having the volume up all the way trying to hear it). I have read people complaining about this before, although have not heard anything as to what it may be. I played with all the settings that were easily set, and nothing helped. I am a newbie to full sized equipment, which probably explains my naivette, but also means I need some help here, since my asinine current setup really isn't cutting it.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Edwood]

What's the noise? A low hum, white noise static sound, buzzing?

Try disconnecting all sourced from the amp, and crank the volume.
Do you hear it then? If so, It's your source.

It could be power related. Try another outlet. Turn off lights or other appliances on the same line.

-Ed

 

[reeseboisse]

The noise is a kind of crackle and hiss. Sounds worse than it is.

As for power, I have/had it plugged into a UPS which was shared with a good deal of computer equipment and such.

The noise isn't really the problem though, I don't mind it; the problem is more that I'm not getting any sound out of it...

 

[mkmelt]

He's dead Jim. Seriously, it sounds like you have a failed transistor or maybe more than one. Can the preamp be used separately from the power amp? If so, you can isolate the problem and see if it is only in the power amp section.

 

[reeseboisse]

Quote:

Originally posted by mkmelt Can the preamp be used separately from the power amp?

Damned if I know, but I'll try to find out without getting electrocuted.

 

[chillysalsa]

Sorry you are having a problem with your nad, just be glad it's not both your 'nads.

I couldn't resist, that one...

Anyway, you can try the pre-amp section if the back has a pair of plugs labelled "Pre-Out"... no need to risk electric shock!

 

[reeseboisse]

Don't worry, the innuendo was intentional.

*EDIT* I finally actually tried that, and lo and behold, the preamp section works. Does much more for the sound than I even expected, although that doesn't count for much when your soundcard puts out this horrendous white noise at anything above a low volume.... Peice of crap.


Who wants to buy me an M-Audio Audiophile 2496?

 

[Canman]

See if there are RCA inputs labeled "Main In". On my NAD receiver the preamp section and the amp section is separate so you have to use interconnects to connect the preamp out to the Main In.

I believe the headphone output is connected to the amp section so you won't get any sound unless you connect the preamp to the amp.

 

[reeseboisse]

That's actually what I'm doing. I have my PC connected to the Main In input, and my headphones connected to the headphone jack in front. It does work, although I'm having to make some drastic EQ changes to make the sound less tinny in the high end. Before, my PC's sound was going through this Sony "mini high-fi system" (read: oversized boombox) that had a "Groove" setting, which actually did some good. Added a little bass and lower midrange, and veiled the high end a bit. Now though, without that, it sounds very tinny and bassless, due to my having to compensate with EQ settings before. I have yet to actually hook it up to an amp, and use it as a true preamp, but for now it's doing fairly well.

But dammit I still need that soundcard.

 

[Hiker]

Quote:

Originally posted by chillysalsa Sorry you are having a problem with your nad, just be glad it's not both your 'nads.

You beat me to the punch on that one!

Quote:

Originally posted by Canman See if there are RCA inputs labeled "Main In". On my NAD receiver the preamp section and the amp section is separate so you have to use interconnects to connect the preamp out to the Main In. I believe the headphone output is connected to the amp section so you won't get any sound unless you connect the preamp to the amp.

I just checked on my NAD and I agree with this. Although it might be different since i just have an integrated, not a receiver.

 

[elrod-tom]

I think that Canman may be right on this one. Most NAD receivers and integrated amps have jumpers on the back that hook the pre-amp section to the power amp section. It allowed me to use my old 3020 as a preamp when I got a bigger power amp, for example.

If you don't see any jumpers anywhere on the back, check for a section that says "PRE OUT". If all you see are two pairs of empty RCA jacks, then grab a spare pair of interconnects and plug them in (L to L, R to R - should be right on top of each other).

Good luck...

 

[chillysalsa]

Quote:

Originally posted by reeseboisse That's actually what I'm doing. I have my PC connected to the Main In input, and my headphones connected to the headphone jack in front. ...

Now, unfortunately, I can't read the labels on the back panel from pictures of this 7130 on eBay , but I believe the jumpers are running from PRE-OUT ---> MAIN IN, over there just to the left of the speaker terminals, right?

I think the MAIN IN is to feed signal to the power amp portion of the unit. In that case, I don't think you're supposed to plug your computer signal into it if you want to hear it on the headphone jack.

What happens when you feed your computer signal right in to the RCA inputs like "CD" or "AUX", etc.. leave the jumper unplugged, and listen through the headphone jack?

 

[reeseboisse]

Well, you're correct in that the jumpers go from Pre Out to Main In. I have the jumpers out right now (obviously) so that I could plug in my pc to Main In. When I leave the jumpers out and then plug my pc into cd (or any other jack for that matter, save for phono), nothing happens. I got no sound at all. With my pc feeding into the Main In, I get sound. No amp functions like volume or EQ though, so I control volume in Windows.

 

[elrod-tom]

It seems to me that you need to plug your amp into the CD or AUX or TUNER jacks. The line level music from your sound card will require a preamp to amp it correctly. The volume control and other such amenities are a part of the preamp, not the power amp.

 

[mkmelt]

Now I'm confused. I thought at the beginning of this thread that your NAD receiver was not giving any sound.