Hello all, sorry for my delayed post. Due to official work and travels I never seem to find time these days but I though the relevance of this initiative is so great that I must sit down and write a note.
It all began some time ago when friends used to bring NAD 3020s to me for repairs. I noticed some of them had damaged faceplates which really took away the real pleasure of owning one of these. I used to wonder whether there was a way to recreate faceplate clone and tried locally, however was unable to find anyone who (1) would really bend their back on it, (2) could create something like the original. Then I tried my luck with other sources across India, again with no luck. I always believed that being a very simple design, there could definitely be someone, somewhere who can pull this off. Then one day, while looking up NAD 3020 repairs online, I came across the famed leesonic (audiokarma forum member) who is considered by many to be one of the leading experts on the 3020 amplifier. While checking out several of his posts, I discovered that he had actually re-created the NAD 3020 faceplate, which i found pretty cool. This is the
original article which I ran into. Though personally I am a traditionalist and not a fan of hot-rod gear, i fell in love with his faceplate design as it was the only thing i ever found on this.
I went on to contact him and shared some conversations with him, however (and probably rightly so) he was not forthcoming on any of the design tips behind the faceplate (he is entitled to his intellectual property and we must respect that). However he did give me a quote of $500 for a replacement faceplate like the one which he fabricated. At that price point, obviously it did not make commercial sense and hence I politely declined. And that was that. Tried several others who had machine shops and the expertise but again, it was becoming a "labour of love" vs a "commercial" decision in most cases. I usually had to go back with answers like "how many would you need, I can only do large numbers" or "I am quite busy with other projects and can't really take this up now" or "just glue the old faceplate together, its not really worth making one" or "i will do an acrylic one for you but getting it like the original is too much of a task" and many more. I thought, well lets leave it at that. I was very happy with my 3020 as it had a great faceplate and all these trials were basically for friends who brought me 3020s for repair with damaged faceplates.
Some time after that, FM Kannan sent me this parcel, for many perhaps scrap, but for me an exciting project. A NAD 3020 in scrap condition, parts missing and only about 1/3 of the faceplate on it
. He had sent me this amplifier for salvaging parts to fix another FMs 3020 amplifier which incidentally also had a demolished faceplate. I managed to fix both amplifiers but the faceplate challenge still remained unsolved.
That's when my interest in faceplate re-creation was re-kindled. But the question was, who would undertake this challenging task. While skimming through some of the articles on the DIY section of our forum, i came across some conversations featuring amplifier cabinets. i noticed that they looked really good and not like the locally made tin cabinets which we can buy in friendly neighbourhood electronics components stores. The faceplate and back plates of these designs looked really good both from a design and quality perspective. I researched who made these and discovered that it was our FM Beginner_N. I wrote to him expecting the excuses which I was so used to receiving, however to my delight he actually agreed to take up the challenge. Wow!! i thought but it was just the beginning. Over nearly 6-7 months we exchanged several design elements, samples, etc and slowly, the clone evolved and took shape. It was clearly a labour of love (what I was initially looking for) and make no mistake about this, labour of love does not mean "FREE", it means, someone who understands audio, has the love for audio equipment and someone who cares about the value, functionality, cosmetics and condition of his/her audio equipment.
And so when that packet finally arrived, i was more than excited. Honestly I could not believe what I saw. Why don't you see for yourself. The amplifier in question was that same scrap amplifier which FM Kannan sent to me (thanks Kannan, i will always remember that gesture).
Rightly said. I think if ordered & delivered in UK/US, we can get three!
