Help me upgrade from NAD 3020v2.

[Bassett53]

Thank you for your guidance. I think I need new speakers for classical and opera for clarity and dynamics, I gave a hard listen to Beethovens 9th today and my speakers were quite poor compared to headphones but I prefer speakers. For vocals and jazz my existing system was still reasonable so I have choices to make. Anyway now I have amphion 3s and kef 3 to audition with the possibility of a REL 7x but I am not sure yet if a subwoofer is needed until I have sat with a replacement speaker. Then I can also figure out if a new amplifier is needed. Unfortunately France is almost devoid of hifi shops so I will probably have to take the plunge based on reviews but I am sure speakers are all of better musical quality now and really it is clarity, dynamics and ease of room placement that are my chief goals. 5 minutes with both speakers will be emough, I do not need extensive testing to be able to exclude a speaker it is pretty much an instant black and white choice for me with no greys. Between you, you have stopped me chasing my own tail.

 

[nygafre]

Thank you for your guidance. I think I need new speakers for classical and opera for clarity and dynamics, I gave a hard listen to Beethovens 9th today and my speakers were quite poor compared to headphones but I prefer speakers. For vocals and jazz my existing system was still reasonable so I have choices to make. Anyway now I have amphion 3s and kef 3 to audition with the possibility of a REL 7x but I am not sure yet if a subwoofer is needed until I have sat with a replacement speaker. Then I can also figure out if a new amplifier is needed. Unfortunately France is almost devoid of hifi shops so I will probably have to take the plunge based on reviews but I am sure speakers are all of better musical quality now and really it is clarity, dynamics and ease of room placement that are my chief goals. 5 minutes with both speakers will be emough, I do not need extensive testing to be able to exclude a speaker it is pretty much an instant black and white choice for me with no greys. Between you, you have stopped me chasing my own tail.

Great start if you can demo both the Amphions and KEFs. Amphion is not easily found in stores, at least here in Norway.

Yes, worry about the sub and/or amp later. You have the NAD D3020 now, right?

 

[Bassett53]

Yes. I have had this version 1 of the NAD 3020 D Class since it came out decades ago (the teac speakers a few years longer). I was impressed with it then and I still think it is good. It is small enough for me to carry to any shop selling speakers so that I can test other speakers against my known amplifier. After getting speakers I can take the new speakers to other shops to test against different amplifiers to see if that gets me to an improved system. I listened to a sound test on the internet with amphion and rega brio which seems a similar sort of setup and it sounded good through my headhones. I cannot believe I have had this system for well over 20 years and it has moved house several times! If I had not become so interested in classical music I would not have thought about upgrading - the existing combination fills a whole house with music and is very listenable, it just lacks clarity and dynamics with big orchestral works. On my little journey I have to learn new words that you all use to describe sound and through this I now know that I do not like warm speakers and I do like clarity (I used to play the violin so I guess that makes me realize if violin and piano notes are correctly portrayed). I am less interested in soundstage but I require instruments to be seperated out. My first music test is to listen to interviews on BBC radio to see if the human voice suffers any sort of distortion - I really do not like to hear human speech modified in any way. Upgrading one piece at a time is the lesson I got from you and it makes sense. I had the non Class D NAD 3020 when it first came out ages ago and it was OK but the class D version is better for me and as a worst case scenario I could simply buy another so that I have 2 sets of speakers with the same amp - but I think I can eventually do better than that and have agreeable systems in my two houses.

 

[nygafre]

Yes. I have had this version 1 of the NAD 3020 D Class since it came out decades ago (the teac speakers a few years longer). I was impressed with it then and I still think it is good. It is small enough for me to carry to any shop selling speakers so that I can test other speakers against my known amplifier. After getting speakers I can take the new speakers to other shops to test against different amplifiers to see if that gets me to an improved system. I listened to a sound test on the internet with amphion and rega brio which seems a similar sort of setup and it sounded good through my headhones. I cannot believe I have had this system for well over 20 years and it has moved house several times! If I had not become so interested in classical music I would not have thought about upgrading - the existing combination fills a whole house with music and is very listenable, it just lacks clarity and dynamics with big orchestral works. On my little journey I have to learn new words that you all use to describe sound and through this I now know that I do not like warm speakers and I do like clarity (I used to play the violin so I guess that makes me realize if violin and piano notes are correctly portrayed). I am less interested in soundstage but I require instruments to be seperated out. My first music test is to listen to interviews on BBC radio to see if the human voice suffers any sort of distortion - I really do not like to hear human speech modified in any way. Upgrading one piece at a time is the lesson I got from you and it makes sense. I had the non Class D NAD 3020 when it first came out ages ago and it was OK but the class D version is better for me and as a worst case scenario I could simply buy another so that I have 2 sets of speakers with the same amp - but I think I can eventually do better than that and have agreeable systems in my two houses.

Hmm, a D 3020 that came out decades ago? I believe the first one came put in 2013 (well, that is one decade at least). Do they have an older iteration of the 3020, which is class D?

 

[Bassett53]

Hmm, a D 3020 that came out decades ago? I believe the first one came put in 2013 (well, that is one decade at least). Do they have an older iteration of the 3020, which is class D?

Maybe I am wrong on the date, I got it the year it first came out and I have kept it ever since. I also got the first non D class 3020 the year it came out but sadly I gave it away (plus tape deck and rega planar turntable) when I replaced it in about 2000 with teac series 300 components (silver with gold trim - shop display/demo, end of series I guess) comprising amp, tape deck, CD player and receiver which were better but I also gave them all away when I replaced them with the class D NAD 3020 and ripped all of my CDs to my PC. I wish I had kept the teac too! Now that I have 2 houses I will not give this one away. Unfortunately I am better at buying than selling - foolish with hindsight but they went to good homes. I was very busy at the time upgrading my career and with only a small house I did not have the storage space. I am pretty sure that covers about 30 or 40 years. They were not so cheap when new, but they gave me pleasure over many years and are now very cheap second hand.

 

[nygafre]

Maybe I am wrong on the date, I got it the year it first came out and I have kept it ever since. I also got the first non D class 3020 the year it came out but sadly I gave it away (plus tape deck and rega planar turntable) when I replaced it in about 2000 with teac series 300 components (silver with gold trim - shop display/demo, end of series I guess) comprising amp, tape deck, CD player and receiver which were better but I also gave them all away when I replaced them with the class D NAD 3020 and ripped all of my CDs to my PC. I wish I had kept the teac too! Now that I have 2 houses I will not give this one away. Unfortunately I am better at buying than selling - foolish with hindsight but they went to good homes. I was very busy at the time upgrading my career and with only a small house I did not have the storage space. I am pretty sure that covers about 30 or 40 years. They were not so cheap when new, but they gave me pleasure over many years and are now very cheap second hand.

No problem at all, just to avoid confusion I take it is the 2013 version then.

Yeah, in hindsight one should always have kept a pair of speakers or an amp that was perfectly fine. But we live and learn! Regardless, you are in a great position to upgrade both speakers, and possibly amp later on to something with near SOTA performance. Let us know when/if you audition the Amphions/Kefs.

 

[Bassett53]

No problem at all, just to avoid confusion I take it is the 2013 version then.

Yeah, in hindsight one should always have kept a pair of speakers or an amp that was perfectly fine. But we live and learn! Regardless, you are in a great position to upgrade both speakers, and possibly amp later on to something with near SOTA performance. Let us know when/if you audition the Amphions/Kefs.

I know they predate February 2016 by a number of years because that is when I retired. Somehow I thought it was much longer. But version 1 definitely and it is a keeper. And I will update you in due course especially now that I have discovered active speakers by Bouchard and Genelec to throw into the mix. I will be visiting Paris, London and Rome within the next 6 months so hopefully I can find shops in a big city to hear them. In the meantime I will upgrade my disintigrating headphones as a portable, quick and easy first step.

 

[ivayvr]

I believe that the first version of NAD D3020 has been released in recognition of 35th anniversary of the original 3020. That was back in 2013 and I believe that the original came out in 1978.

 

[Bassett53]

That sounds about right, I would have been 25 at the time. Wow, how time flies! I am not a frequent audiophile up grader by any means which is why I am very grateful for everyone's advice. Technological changes are amazing. My first radio was an early 1950s model - a present from my pop when I was about 10-14 I think, I picked up radio Luxembourg and a bit later radio Caroline. I think it was about that time I also scanned the European airwaves and was introduced to local french music and classical music from Germany. My very first record was a 78 - Bolero and our family hifi at the time was a reel to reel Grundig tape recorder and a very old gramophone. Now I am streaming to a mobile phone!