I love my NAD 7600

[inspiredsports]

Through the years I've tried many different amps and receivers, but I keep coming back to my NAD 7600 Receiver. I have threatened to sell it, but have always gotten cold feet whenever it came down to listing it.

I bought it brand new in 1987 and it still doesn't sound tired, but I'm going to have it brought into the 2010's with modern caps, a power supply upgrade and an IEC outlet so I can experiment with my power cord collection when it returns.

I just dropped off the 45 lb box at Fedex and sent it on it's way to Wayne at In House Stereo Repair in Setauket.

I guess I'm just a sentimental fool, but I think the amp section in that beast provides way more clean power (less than .003 thd average, and .0067% at max) than the 190 wpc @ 8 ohm / 255 wpc @ 4 ohm (max at clipping ) specifications state. I think this might still be the most powerful receiver ever built that had audiophile characteristics.

I'll post impressions and photos when it returns.

[inspiredsports]

The box arrived and I had the 7600 up and running in minutes. (I think my rebuilt 2600A Amp and matching 1700 Tuner/Pre will be up for sale soon).

Here's perhaps my favorite feature of this receiver; its A/B speaker connections so I can drive either my SDA 2B's or SDA SRS 2's (or any 2 different sets of speakers) for direct comparisons at the touch of a button.

The 7600 has standard RCA female "Pre Out" / "Normal In" jacks on back with a jumper that I have removed so I can feed just the amp section directly with my CJ PV-5 preamp.

I'd been listening carefully to the 2600A while the 7600 was away and have to say right out of the box the 7600's bass is much more authoritative. The rebuild components are essentially the same, but I had Wayne trash the factory power cord and insert an IEC female connector so I can experiment with my heavier, higher quality power cords. My initial thoughts are that the unit may have not been getting as much power as it wanted from the stock cord.

At any rate, I'm happy to have the setup I've been seeking to compare speakers as I can send an identical source signal to either set in a split second :)

[agfrost]

Glad to hear that you're pleased with it! I'm also running a 1700/2600A combo, but I've got a tube pre on my radar and my 2600A is in need of some TLC (the old speaker-relay issue these are famous for). I've been thinking about sending it in for some time, either to Wayne, or there's a place right in my neighborhood... I've gotta decide if I want to invest in refresh/upgrades, or whether to go another direction.

Keep updating if anything strikes you, I'm reading!

Jay

[inspiredsports]

Glad to hear that you're pleased with it! I'm also running a 1700/2600A combo, but I've got a tube pre on my radar and my 2600A is in need of some TLC (the old speaker-relay issue these are famous for). I've been thinking about sending it in for some time, either to Wayne, or there's a place right in my neighborhood... I've gotta decide if I want to invest in refresh/upgrades, or whether to go another direction.

Keep updating if anything strikes you, I'm reading!

Jay

I think the 2600/7600's are worth the approx $300 you will spend for upgrade/shipping when you look at what it costs to buy comparable quality watts new or just a few gently-used years old.

As noted, I'm not using the 7600's also excellent tuner/pre section, but am feeding it with my Music Technology rebuilt/upgraded/re-tubed Conrad Johnson PV-5 preamp taking advantage of the 7600's A/B speaker switch as I have 2 sets of side-by-side SDA's

After just 3 days the 7600's amp section is already blossoming and I am going to experiment with power cables soon, again thinking the addition of an IEC cord connector was perhaps the secret to the enhanced sound as the 7600 truly sounds more controlled and authorative than the 2600A upgraded by the same man. I did not think to have him add an IEC last year when the 2600 was redone and may add it myself just to see if that explains the difference.

I just bought an excellent MIT Z Cord II from a fellow Polkie (1 still available in the classifieds?) that I'm anxious to try. http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103504

These old NAD's sure seem to match up well with SDA's, especially with tubes on the front end :).

I have my system stabilized now to the point that I am going to start thinking about plugging in other amplifiers in the not too distant future. I love what a tube pre does and am thinking along the lines of a good quality vintage tube amp now.

The method to my rebuild madness is that I love the way the big NAD amps sound, and the 7600 was my first decent piece back in the day so I have an attachment to it and it will never go away. I plan to pass it down to my son if I find a new favorite as it now has another good 20 years in it.