As promised in the review of NAD M27 7-channel amplifier, here is a teardown of the unit. Here is an overall shot of it (click on the image to make it larger):
At the bottom center is the power supply. To the left is the input filter and soft power-on circuit. To the right bottom is the regulated power linear power supply. On top, you see an array of 7 amplifiers, neatly arranged vertically with their input and outputs in the back.
Note that the rightmost amplifier is not vented as well as the rest of the channels (not visible above with the lid open). So you may want to dedicate that channel to surround or back channels that get less use.
Drilling down, the amplifier modules are Hypex N400 OEM ones:
A bit concerning to see version 0.1 of anything! But I guess it worked before they had to spin it all the way to version 1.0. To the left is the input buffer and output routing to speaker terminals.
There is a backplane where everything plugs into. I thought the insulated copper busbar was a nice touch:
At first I thought the power supply was designed by NAD but it is not the case. It is a hypex module but I can't find it online. So perhaps Hypex designed it just for NAD?
Typical of Hypex builds, the capacitors are not tier one. They are made by Korean company SAMWHA:
Fortunately they are all rated at 105 degree C which is as it should be (rather the lower grade 80 degree C).
Overall, it seems that all the heavy lifting is performed by Hypex designed and manufactured modules. This explains the excellent performance. Only ancillary circuits are designed by NAD and of course, the mechanicals. In this regard, it is well designed integration work.
At the bottom center is the power supply. To the left is the input filter and soft power-on circuit. To the right bottom is the regulated power linear power supply. On top, you see an array of 7 amplifiers, neatly arranged vertically with their input and outputs in the back.
Note that the rightmost amplifier is not vented as well as the rest of the channels (not visible above with the lid open). So you may want to dedicate that channel to surround or back channels that get less use.
Drilling down, the amplifier modules are Hypex N400 OEM ones:
A bit concerning to see version 0.1 of anything! But I guess it worked before they had to spin it all the way to version 1.0. To the left is the input buffer and output routing to speaker terminals.
There is a backplane where everything plugs into. I thought the insulated copper busbar was a nice touch:
At first I thought the power supply was designed by NAD but it is not the case. It is a hypex module but I can't find it online. So perhaps Hypex designed it just for NAD?
Typical of Hypex builds, the capacitors are not tier one. They are made by Korean company SAMWHA:
Fortunately they are all rated at 105 degree C which is as it should be (rather the lower grade 80 degree C).
Overall, it seems that all the heavy lifting is performed by Hypex designed and manufactured modules. This explains the excellent performance. Only ancillary circuits are designed by NAD and of course, the mechanicals. In this regard, it is well designed integration work.
