problem with NAD 525 BEE AMP

moktan

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problem with NAD 325 BEE AMP

dear sirs,
of late i have been spooked by a problem with my amps.
i have no clue as to what is happening so i would really appreciate it if you could kindly take some time out to enlighten me on what is going wrong here.

THE PROBLEM
(i) About a fortnight ago, i found that my system (amp, cd player, speakers) was playing fine when suddenly the sound went very soft. i cranked up the volume and could make out some faint hint of music from the speakers. i put the power off, changed CDs, tried adjusting the cables etc. Now the sound came alright but then i realized only one speaker was playing, the other was as soft. intrigued i just shut the system off and went to sleep.
next morning, hoping for the best, i put the system on and then lo behold it played alright.
(ii) But then just this evening the problem repeated. the sound just went very soft. i tried the same ritual (putting the power off, changing cds, readjusting cables and interconnects etc) as before but this time it was as if the system had just clamped itself shut.
(iii) then as i let the system off for about half an hour and put it again, the sound was alright.... but my joy was short lived because in a few seconds it was as if the everything was again shutting off and there was just a whisper of Herbie Hancock from the speakers.

I am absolutely a novice in these matters so I have no clue as to how to diagnose this problem let alone think of any solutions.
The only thing i can say is that i have never had this problem for the past two years even though the voltage in my area has always been fluctuating.
I would be very grateful if someone could kindly figure out what i need to do so that i can get back to listening music again.
Thanks for your patience
moktan
 
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Re: problem with NAD 325 BEE AMP

I think you meant 325bee not 525. I too had the problem once around January. Volume levels suddenly dipped by 90% and I could get only a faint level of sound with volume knob @10 O'Clock.

Thankfully it went away after I switched it off and on and reconnected the wires the next morning. But that night it haunted me.

Dont have clue what caused it - protection mode maybe?

Regards
 
I think this problem is to do with voltage fluctuations and their effect on the amplifier itself. I have a NAD C372 and I faced exactly the same problem. I installed a Servo Stabilizer the same week and there has been no trace of the problem since then.

One suggestion to try out. If your amp has options for Speaker A and Speaker B, try connecting your speakers to the Speaker B's posts and see if you can get the amp to perform well.

I wonder if NAD is unique in facing this problem. Or has anybody else seen this happen with other brands of amplifiers as well? My earlier Marantz AVR had zero issues of this sort.
 
Re: problem with NAD 325 BEE AMP

I think you meant 325bee not 525. I too had the problem once around January. Volume levels suddenly dipped by 90% and I could get only a faint level of sound with volume knob @10 O'Clock.

Thankfully it went away after I switched it off and on and reconnected the wires the next morning. But that night it haunted me.

Dont have clue what caused it - protection mode maybe?

Regards
thanks for the correction..and yes it does make you sleepless...
 
I think this problem is to do with voltage fluctuations and their effect on the amplifier itself. I have a NAD C372 and I faced exactly the same problem. I installed a Servo Stabilizer the same week and there has been no trace of the problem since then.

One suggestion to try out. If your amp has options for Speaker A and Speaker B, try connecting your speakers to the Speaker B's posts and see if you can get the amp to perform well.

I wonder if NAD is unique in facing this problem. Or has anybody else seen this happen with other brands of amplifiers as well? My earlier Marantz AVR had zero issues of this sort.

thank you.
i just checked the back of the amps ..and guess there is only one way to connect the speakers..i too have an inkling that it has to be voltage fluctuations...but to complicate matters further, there is a friend who has the same amps (maybe six months younger than mine) and he has never faced this issue..but then six months ago i too didn't....
hope my problem too will go away with the help of the stabilizer...
 
thank you.
i just checked the back of the amps ..and guess there is only one way to connect the speakers..i too have an inkling that it has to be voltage fluctuations...but to complicate matters further, there is a friend who has the same amps (maybe six months younger than mine) and he has never faced this issue..but then six months ago i too didn't....
hope my problem too will go away with the help of the stabilizer...

Does this friend also live in the same area with the voltage fluctuations? If you have only a single speaker input, then I dont know if the problem can be resolved just by adding a servo stabilizer unit. You may need to take it to your dealer to take a look at it.
 
yes he too lives in the same town..i may well have to give the stabilizer a try..unfortunately i live more than a thousand km away from mumbai (the amps were bought off Lakozy)..maybe there are folks in Kolkata(the nearest hifi city ) who can fix the problem..anyway if the problem persists, i may have to make good out of a bad situation and hunt around for a new amp..preferably going for an upgrade...but then it would be really bad since i had not expected the NAD to conk out so soon....
 
i may have to make good out of a bad situation and hunt around for a new amp..preferably going for an upgrade...but then it would be really bad since i had not expected the NAD to conk out so soon....

Not really. I am sure Lakozy will happily repair the amp, if needed. You may have to bear the courier charges.

Also, as a absolutely silly point, check that the speaker cables are bound tightly to the amp. Remove the cables, insert them again, and twist the binding post as tight as you can with you hand. Sometime a loose connection could create trouble.

Cheers
 
thank you.
will surely follow your suggestion, since that at least seems eminently doable.. and maybe call Lakozy up too and see what they have to say...
 
i did everything suggested..and yet the issue was not resolved..the amp played for 5minutes and them dropped volume...just to experiment..i let the amp run..and then after say another 10minutes of silence, the volume returned perfect as usual...i intend to play it for a long time, probably all night and see what happens...
 
it has been almost two hours and the amps have played like a dream..relieved i am going to bed...
thanks all for your kind support and cooperation..maybe someday i will figure out what happened...but at the moment i can only recommend putting the amp on and then hoping that it comes to life again whenever a hapless NAD owner has to confront this confounding issue...
 
it has been almost two hours and the amps have played like a dream..relieved i am going to bed...
thanks all for your kind support and cooperation..maybe someday i will figure out what happened...but at the moment i can only recommend putting the amp on and then hoping that it comes to life again whenever a hapless NAD owner has to confront this confounding issue...

If still under warranty get it to Lakozy and have it checked. Could be one of:

1. Capacitor that is semi dried or leaking
2. Loose soldering
3. Issue with volume control
 
Thanks M.
sadly they are no longer under warranty..
the amps are going through the same process again..they play then stop for a while and then start again.....and then they do fine...
should i live with this, or should i take that extreme step of packing the amps and then sending on a three day journey to lakozy??

i mean if things don't deteriorate any further..i can live with that two minute window of silence before the amp starts kicking in again...
 
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Thanks M.
sadly they are no longer under warranty..
the amps are going through the same process again..they play then stop for a while and then start again.....and then they do fine...
should i live with this, or should i take that extreme step of packing the amps and then sending on a three day journey to lakozy??

i mean if things don't deteriorate any further..i can live with that two minute window of silence before the amp starts kicking in again...

You do have to get it fixed. Even if it costs a bit it will offer peace of mind and that's what you want right?

Like the Americans says "Don't fix what's not broken"...

But do fix what is broken!
 
There is definitely a problem if all your connections are okay. It could be caused by your speakers too. I once had a similar issue with a marantz amp when one of my tweeters in an older pair of speakers had an issue. I replaced the tweeter and the issue was resolved. Do get it checked. It could be the caps or some issue in the power supply board.
I have used two nad amps and never had an issue like this. They are usually bullet proof.

Get some sort of protection for the fluctuation.
 
Does any orange LED glow when it is not performing properly? Or is it green for On?

Regards
 
I'm sure the amp is giving you an indication just like your body does!
Nothing haapens in life without a reason!!

Please get it diagnosed
 
This happened to my NAD 325 once on Jan-Feb. If this were bad soldering or defect in capacitors, then the problem should have recurred. It has never and is performing beautifully ever since. I wonder if a servo-stabilizer might improve the situation, considering you have an incessant voltage problem. Maybe the amp cannot cope with the continuous fluctuations?

If it is out of warranty, you should open it and check for capacitor leakages.

Regards
 
it has been almost two hours and the amps have played like a dream..relieved i am going to bed...
thanks all for your kind support and cooperation..maybe someday i will figure out what happened...but at the moment i can only recommend putting the amp on and then hoping that it comes to life again whenever a hapless NAD owner has to confront this confounding issue...

Moktan - this sounds eerily like the situation I was facing. If you have a control for selecting speaker inputs or even turning the speaker input on (Speaker A, B etc), try switching that button on or off. In my NAD I have a speaker input selector and when I toggled that, the sound came back on.

But after the Servo stabilizer installation there have been zero problems. This problem seems to be related to the Speaker input selector. At least that is what I faced a few months back.
 
hey vortex, the C325BEE has only one set of speaker connections, so this may not be a solution for moktan, but a servo stabiliser i am sure is worth trying.

Moktan - this sounds eerily like the situation I was facing. If you have a control for selecting speaker inputs or even turning the speaker input on (Speaker A, B etc), try switching that button on or off. In my NAD I have a speaker input selector and when I toggled that, the sound came back on.

But after the Servo stabilizer installation there have been zero problems. This problem seems to be related to the Speaker input selector. At least that is what I faced a few months back.
 
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