I worked for NEC in Hillsboro, Oregon. Then it became NatSteel, then Solectron, then they outsourced everything to China, then laid off everybody, then closed.
Oh HECK yeah!!!! Gotta story I just gotta share about a nice NEC product I "found" YEARS ago----a 25" monitor and the tag on the front says c25-900a. I'll keep it short. So back in the day I worked for my local parking outfit downtown which covered three large parking ramps and several lots. Doing my daily morning drive through of one of the ramps I came across a large gray box somebody dumped off. Upon further inspection it was an NEC 25" tube color monitor set. Loaded it up and brought it down to the shop. Only thing it was missing was it's computer style power cord. Right then and there I decided to bring it home. Found the tube needed to be degaussed and some of the controls cleaned and that was it. This was back in roughly 1995-ish and I'm STILL using it to this day :)
Nice amp! I am currently restoring a NAD 7240 and referring to your videos, Dave, which you did last year on that model. I received it with all of the output transistors removed on both channels so I am testing the surrounding driver circuits for problems before deciding if I will get new outputs.
It made me feel really good when I said “looks like 2 mono blocks” just a moment before I heard you say the same thing!! I’ve really put time in on learning about electronics over what seems a week but has truly been ten + years. I think today I’ve got much more of the theory under my belt than practice and repairs. But just understanding that theory, and speaking the language of electronics is one of the most rewarding parts of my life. The people who are fluent speakers are some of the brightest and greatest most valuable assets relationships wise. At least it has been this way for me. Damn!?! That crazy transducer contraption in that meter would be fun to try and rig up to a spring reverb unit, I might guess?!! Hey, THANKS for sharing about this!!
A couple of years ago I bought a turntable that was bundled with an amp and speakers. I was after the turntable (Technics SL-Q303 in black) and the amp was an NEC V111E of the 'Authentic Series' . It is a combined receiver/cassette player rated at only 20 watts rms per channel. The speakers were in need of repair so I didn't bother with them and connected the NEC to a spare pair of 100 watt speakers. WOW!!! I couldn't believe the strength of the output and a very pleasing sound. A very good second system that I use most often.
When the Title states "Under Rated" it doesn't mean the Power of the Amps were under rated. More it means "Not Recognized" or "Over looked" But your remarks about loudness just shows that Power and Loudness aren't equal. The dB scale of loudness is Logarithmic, so the loudness difference between 20w and 100w isn't 5 times louder, probably just 1.5 times. 20w = 43 dBm and 100w = 50 dBm But Pushing a 20w amplifier to it's 20w max will have more distortion than pushing a 100w amplifier to the same 20w output. This is the main reason you use a higher Power Amplifier. at Louder Listening Volumes, you don't have to Push it in to it's distortion range. or so, that is what has been explained to me..
So this NEC amp sounds pretty incredible. It seems like it really is/was a hidden gem. I probably would have gotten this to build my first stereo system when I was young.
I have this amp and matching tuner. All the meters were stuck. Its probably the only weakpoint. The amp had no relais cover when i bought it! Love your video's .
Wow does that remind me of my workbench when I was doing electronic repair. Covered with junk and just barely enough space for the product! Memories! :)
that's a slick amplifier for sure. I'm an 80's kid that had a Pioneer SX-727 growing up and I miss the smell of the wooden chassis cover when it was warm
@@12voltvids Hi 12voltvids. I really enjoy your videos you have so much learned knowledge. I have a broken power supply in my Sharp Optonica SA 5101. It made a noise and blew some smoke through the headphone socket. I think a rifa capacitor failed situated by a couple of fuses but not sure what to replace with.
How's this for a goody, I have a Harman Kardon CITATION TWELVE power amp in working condition. It was my uncles who had it for many years. In the early 70's I would ride my bicycle 12 miles to the other side of town to a home stereo shop named Modern Sound. The guys there would let "play" with the equipment that was on display. They had all the good stuff, notably the JBL Paragon, Linear power amp (model number excapes me but it was BIG!) various other book shelf speakers and intergrated stereos. What caught my eye was the Dynaco line of stereos, very affordable in kit form. Over the next two years I got the PAT 4 preamp, ST120 power amp and the FM5 tuner as Christmas and birthday gifts. When I got the PAT 4 preamp my parents didn't see me for three days, it took me that long to assemble it and it was fun! This was when I got really good at soldering. I still have this equipment as well. I also got a Acoustic Research fully manual turntable with a Shure M91ED cartridge from the same place. The 70's was a great era to grow up!
NEC is big into PBX switches, Microwave radio, light wave MUX, etc. so it is not surprising the can produce a quality audio product. Wouldn’t mind running into one of these.
when u took the cover off that baby i said woohoo what monster!! nice i heard that nec made stereo gear for a few companies way back in the 80s i had an all in one stereo made by them rebranded curtis mathes very good sounding it fooled me ! the hi fi world and stereo nuts went to sleep on nec hifi i couldn't believe the specs on thier cassette decks crazy amazing nice to see this one again .
I work at a TV station that back in the analog days, had an NEC transmitter. On the EEV blog, you saw Dave do a teardown of an NEC "exciter" that would have been similar to ours. They also tried to make professional videotape machine with little success.
I had a NEC VCR that was unbelievable for it's time. Still have the TV from around 85 and it works perfectly. I use it about everyday and I have never fixed a thing on it.
👍🏾👍🏾Enjoyed this video, you may have answered an old mystery of mine from years ago, I do believe I had the black J.C. Penney MCS version of the old black NEC tuner that would went with that amp
We had an ITT stack system in the eighties which was mostly all NEC Japan OEM, bar the turntable which was a Mitsubishi OEM. The speakers were most likely the only European thing about it, and had Audax drivers with 'real--wood veneer' cabinets. Looking at the behemoth that is the Modular Component Systems 3275 receiver (an NEC AUR-8075 in disguise), it has some very minor cosmetic similarities that remind me of the ITT receiver originally in our setup..
That Nec fasia just reminds me of my pioneer Sa-706, it's like nec looked at pioneer and copied the basic look. I do like the seperate p.a modules and access :-D I have also loosened the bearing on many meters that got sticky, i think the bearing surfaces corrode. C.b/ham radios also suffered from the same problem.
In the UK we used to aspire to the Quad 405 current dumping AMP -- trouble was you had to buy the whole Quad ensemble to use them, this amp does look nice for normal household use and after all tnhere are many amps that punch above their stated weight on paper.
I don't know about " underrated " but the Carver M1 magnetic field amp was mind blowing . massive power and very clear. I had one back in the 80s that drove the original polk SDA 1 speakers . the speakers could handle 500 watts a channel and i think the amp put out that much also . Still my all time favorite amp and speakers to this day.
Close to my Rotel RA-1412, also not a "popular" brand but a fantastic amp. I bought it in 1977 in Japan when I was stationed there in the Air Force. It is also two mono amps in one. Except it has all the inputs on the right side, the speaker outputs on the left side, and the power transistors all the way across the back. Extreme heavy due to the two massive power transformers and caps. And it was rated at 110 watts per channel... but at 0.001% distortion!!!
Very interesting, I've never seen anything from NEC for audio, don't think it ever came to the UK. I wonder if they used their own transistors in the PA section. As NEC were a big player in transistors and mosfets.
I have a NEC HIFI system - AUTHENTIC series (bought it back in late 1988? ) Amplifier is NEC A730E with 2x70RMS - Inside it there is a TOROIDAL transformer (supposed to be better - lower noise) I am still using it! Combined with KEF C40 speakers its great!
dual mono could drive 4 ohm loads and back then that meant the amp could produce twice the rated power. The old brochures would have mentioned that, those outputs where probably rated for 25 amps and at least 150 wts. Pioneer used something similar in their amps from the same time period that they call ring emitter transistors that where very durable and you will notice they are attached with 2 screws per which gave the transistor a better contact area for the compound to fill in intern providing better heat dissipation. With a little modification to the heat sinks they will accommodate To3 outputs which are more common . 10 thousand mics is plenty and won't overload the fuses when she powers up from dead most of the amps I have restored her the last 40 years have had caps with similar capacities to this the only time you would see ripple would be at clipping and I'd worry more about the high frequency drivers when driven to clipping as that can ruin them.
I have a 600 watt Kenwood amp from the 80's I think with two huge transformers that looks like the same layout inside. I dont know if there are any connections between the two companies but I can testify that the Kenwood I talked a friend out of when it was having some scratchy intermittent pot problems. after fixing it is a freaking monster. I need to save up to buy speakers that can take the juice that old beast pumps out.
I once bought a marantz 2385 in excellent condition for 5 bucks at a garage sale. at another garage sale a lade gave me a excellent fisher 400 sold them together for 500 bucks cash about 15 years ago. the new texas instruments class T amps work so great they sound as good as vacuum tubes. my garage stereo is a RCA MX7 got it for free. In the past great stuff was cheap or free not any more.
It’s interesting to see some of you guys go to heroic lengths to reclaim older solid state audio gear. Most of the stuff, even the better quality stuff, was never really designed with repair or long-term viability/reliability as an imperative, and it’s only gotten to be more and more difficult with contemporary designs. I’ve nearly completely thrown in the towel with messing with repairing solid state gear, except for very basic repairs on otherwise good condition equipment. Endless online “Easter egg hunts” trying to find and stockpile obsolete semiconductor devices etc, storing stacks of dead donor carcasses to have a source of now near impossible to find NOS replacement parts…. I just hit my limit. Hats off to you guys still fixing the solid state stuff. Personally, I’ve gone straight back to working with tube amplifiers and preamplifiers ONLY, and life has been much easier and more relaxing since then.
I hear you. Tubes are so much simpler to work with and they sound a whole lot better then most solid state gear, but they are incredibly inefficient, waste a ton of electricity which is getting expensive and operate at very high voltage which requires utmost attention when servicing as they can kill you in an instant.
Some JC Penny house brand stuff was made by NEC. I had a Modular Component Systems (MCS) 3847, which is the same as a NEC AUA 7000e. I recognized the one you were working on based on the knobs alone :-D
Yes, the speakers' relay did originally have a clear plastic cover. I used to be a hi-fi dealer, here in the UK in the 1980s, but NEC gear was seldom seen on these shores. Much was due to the snobbishness of the British hi-fi press towards Japanese equipment. When I moved to Italy there were more but still a rare find.
Curious what the harmonic distortion level be? I have a Sansui 6 reciever/ amp I bought in 1974...it still works...the volume potentiometer wiper is worn making for spotty function.
Back in its day, NEC audio equipment was much more expensive than the run of the mill Technics, Pioneer, etc. but was extremely reliable and sounded great. The problem was NEC didn't have the "brand" recognition and the profit margin wasn't there, and stores wouldn't haggle with customers on the price as they would with other brands. Plus, as you pointed out, customers wanted higher power.
I had loan of a Sharewood black amp around 1988 and playing Macdonnas Laisa boneta "the sound was magical" and full - a cut above any amp I had before and since.
I remember the first transistor radios,a sailor came back from the seven seas and brought with him a small Italian radio,in a neat leather holster,so small people believed it was an Electric shaving machine.
I had a Luxman L-58A - I was second owner, it was all original - which also had no cover on the output relays. A really nicely built amp - seems they can be all original without them.
Looks similar like a old Philips design, which I'm building at this very moment, two real monoblocks with Toroidal transformers, almost the same voltage. I think also specs around 50 or 60watts output. But if I see one on my bench will surely look at it closely.
I was thinking Nad when I seen but have never seen a NEC amp. It looks live a Sansui integrated amp-very impressive. I remember NEC made a VCR that had alot of guidepost problems.
@@audiogear474 it's only rated at like 20 watts per channel ! Id have to say it does a solid 65 watts per channel though if i were to guess. It's a 7220pe .
@@audiogear474 NAD headroom came from rising up the low end cutoff fz. Instead of the amp playing from 20-20 let's say 50-20 hz when the button was push in. As bass demands power
I stumbelled over one when I was exploring a neighbour fleemarket, 100 Norweigian crowns!The owner asked if the price was too high, I gave him 200 crowns and clapped his shoulder!I had one of those in about 1980 or so and it was great.A friend of mine was more than average utdatert on Hi Fi electronics, he insisted this was great stuff.It was stolen in a house robbery,the thieves grabbed what they thought was quality.Yes,you are right,in Norway people believed it was worse than Phillips at their worst!Nic is not a very flashy name,right?
Nicely laid out, easy to work with. My dual mono Sansui is literally crammed together, there's not a centimeter of free space inside. Even inspecting a PCB requires a lengthy stripdown. This NEC is probably rated for far less watts, but so service-friendly.
I caught this because I have a JC Penney MCS 3285 Receiver from 40 years ago. It was great for its time. Unfortunately I let a friend work on it and he messed up the input board and then (says he) lost it. I only recently found out that it was made by NEC for JC Penney.
i had one a couple of years ago but it was a overeas unit its power was 220 vac but it was the same desighn as this one your working on except i dought it was a dual mono amplifier, it had the same issue right channnel meter was stuck , but yes a great piece in deed
Can anyone here tell me how to hook up my vintage Onkyo A-25 integrated stereo amplifier. I have a Sanyo flatscreen that is not smart, and a Sony CD/DVD player. I am totally ignorant about how to go about it. Any help would be appreciated greatly!
You mentioned the Hafler series 200. I purchased a pre/power combination when they were new in the 80s (dh110 and the dh220). Although musical it didn't have much Headroom. I ended up having to pair it with an NAD / subwoofer to get what to my ears was full dynamic range
NEC made electronic components as well! I loved them as well as Toshiba and good ol MGA or better known Mitsubishi. Love this stuff! Right away you look at that power supply! That’s right only a 60w supply a channel! The separate transformers and caps! The relay cover was bad speaker wires or to small or load. They forced the protect on to jam! Ya got both channels? Hell yeah! Just esr those caps and replace if anything. Clean her controls up and you got a excellent pice of electronic history! I can get the original mount style but they are subs but better than other subs due to matching the spec of the original components. Huaggo semiconductor in China has allot of them great subs. But on USA soil I’d try east coast transistor for the hard to find stuff!
Does it run on like 24 volts AC most 125 volt ac house powered stuff does . I had a sears radio alarm clock with cassette player it ran off 12volts dc . I found out with a meter inside off the transformer. The reason was I bought a new head unit and it went out was under warranty. So it was gonna be 3 weeks before I would get it back, it was longer . So I hooked up the clock radio in my truck used rca jacks ran it to my amplifiers and I was musical agin . So I check out a lot of equipment that’s why I said about the 24volts ac . So what kills me is if your gonna take 125 volts ac from 12 volts dc inverted . I’m thinking would it be a whole lot more efficient to make 24volts ac from 12 volts dc ? I figured some one like you could help answer my question . Love the video I’ve always wanted to know more about electronics . I’m always into so many things to have time to get in to another ! My hats off to you people like you are my hero’s ! I have an old jvc super A amplifier intergraded with inputs no built in radio it says 265 watts by the 125 power plug I watched a Video one guy said 2x65 watts no way not even 132.5 x2 ! I had a 100x2 kenwood the jvc would blow it out the water it’s gotta be 265 x2 ! For what it puts out I can tell the speakers I had the kenwood on was close to perfect match , but 1/3 the way with the jvc and they were begging for mercy so it has to be 265 a side ! That’s unreal for home stereo to me ! I’ll keep watching and liked already and will subscribe! Thanks again !
My dual monobloc has toroidal tx with dual secondary's. The components are on the same board but it's split down the middle. It was a UK design by Graham Nalty and available as a kit. Sounds great. Seek DM30 from Everyday Electronics. Good luck.
What is the advantage of a dual mono design over that of a typical stereo amp? Are there any practical differences between two separate PSUs vs a single larger PSU?
you can have the both PSU working in a better way because they re moving 1 channel each one, less heat, less stress. If you dont know how to work Grounding techniques you may be causing GND Loops, but is a safer way to have a amplifier if i dont understand wrong
Nice Amp and great build quality. Not to sound critical but from a service perspective observations. (1) Is it possible to calibrate the meters ? The meter on the right Channel seemed to be demonstrating a higher output. I suspect it required matching calibration as it’s unlikely the balance was off or the inputs to the amplifier or the gain were imbalanced. (2) A little screwlock glue should be applied to the pivot screw after adjusting. These screws can vibrate loose and move. Great Video. Love your work.
The style of the front panel reminds me a lot of an older Sansui AU-20000 amplifier I've got around here somewhere. It is really heavy (170 W x 2 ??), but I believe there is only a single large transformer.
I had a NEC integrated amp from 1989 or so. Rated at ? I used it to power a pair of subs. What was I thinking ? It was way better than my main amp and switched it over for the Pioneer. Too bad a spilled beer on it....should have had it repaired. Currently have the Adcom 555 ( used ) doing the subs and a Parasound 750 A as main. Been working for around 30-25 years. There’s something to be said for quality.....
Yup I own a Onkyo M8000 also a true dual monoblock amp and the sound stage is insane. Also have the preamp that comes with it but it sounds like crap... So i just use the poweramp as a standalone with a decent dac.
This is awesome design! My Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amplifier has dual mono configuration with two separate toroïdal transformers and i don't want to sell it. 85 Watts per channel for 8 Ohms load and 170 Watts on 4. Keeper for sure! "Everybody like's to see meter's bouncing" Hell yeah. It's hypnotizing.
@@rc6717 Posting a ridiculous, subjective comment like that I can easily infer you are the one with significant mental impairment. I recommend you abstain from eating anymore paint chips. Now, when it comes down to performance specs of audio equipment, the best numbers will be found on amps, preamps, integrated, receivers, etc built circa 1980 to 1999. We can all agree lower distortion, lower noise floor, higher damping, and greater power output is desirable. Let's take the very top tier "mid-fi" amplifier (Almost hi-fi @ $799) the PM6007 by Marantz currently in production. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.08%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 45W, Damping factor: 100, SNR: 102dB. Nothing impressive. Now let's take the well known Yamaha M-85 for example made from 1986-1988. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.002%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 260W, Damping factor: 230, SNR: 122dB. Nice. Bottom line, today's equipment is still outperformed by the older gear. When the demand for feature rich AV receivers started around 1999, companies started cramming in Bluetooth, wifi, 7+ channels, HDMI, ATMOS, and on and on. The focus was no longer on musical fidelity and now on the number of features it had. I recommend listening to your favorite Raffi songs on freshly serviced Yamaha MX-1, then judge for yourself 🖕🖐️
Great piece. For now, I think it would be useful to add "NEC Authentic Series AUA8000" to the name of your video. I own a NEC A10II Amp with a NEC T-6 tuner, but more on that later. I'm an old fan of NEC audio-I also once owned their AV-300E Surround Sound amp.
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I used to work for NEC Australia. It was a fun company to work for, good times.
I worked for NEC in Hillsboro, Oregon. Then it became NatSteel, then Solectron, then they outsourced everything to China, then laid off everybody, then closed.
Rockin' out! Nice amplifier is right. Great job on the meter fix!
Oh HECK yeah!!!! Gotta story I just gotta share about a nice NEC product I "found" YEARS ago----a 25" monitor and the tag on the front says c25-900a. I'll keep it short. So back in the day I worked for my local parking outfit downtown which covered three large parking ramps and several lots. Doing my daily morning drive through of one of the ramps I came across a large gray box somebody dumped off. Upon further inspection it was an NEC 25" tube color monitor set. Loaded it up and brought it down to the shop. Only thing it was missing was it's computer style power cord. Right then and there I decided to bring it home. Found the tube needed to be degaussed and some of the controls cleaned and that was it. This was back in roughly 1995-ish and I'm STILL using it to this day :)
Nice amp! I am currently restoring a NAD 7240 and referring to your videos, Dave, which you did last year on that model. I received it with all of the output transistors removed on both channels so I am testing the surrounding driver circuits for problems before deciding if I will get new outputs.
It made me feel really good when I said “looks like 2 mono blocks” just a moment before I heard you say the same thing!! I’ve really put time in on learning about electronics over what seems a week but has truly been ten + years. I think today I’ve got much more of the theory under my belt than practice and repairs. But just understanding that theory, and speaking the language of electronics is one of the most rewarding parts of my life. The people who are fluent speakers are some of the brightest and greatest most valuable assets relationships wise. At least it has been this way for me. Damn!?! That crazy transducer contraption in that meter would be fun to try and rig up to a spring reverb unit, I might guess?!! Hey, THANKS for sharing about this!!
A couple of years ago I bought a turntable that was bundled with an amp and speakers. I was after the turntable (Technics SL-Q303 in black) and the amp was an NEC V111E of the 'Authentic Series' . It is a combined receiver/cassette player rated at only 20 watts rms per channel. The speakers were in need of repair so I didn't bother with them and connected the NEC to a spare pair of 100 watt speakers. WOW!!! I couldn't believe the strength of the output and a very pleasing sound. A very good second system that I use most often.
When the Title states "Under Rated" it doesn't mean the Power of the Amps were under rated.
More it means "Not Recognized" or "Over looked"
But your remarks about loudness just shows that Power and Loudness aren't equal.
The dB scale of loudness is Logarithmic, so the loudness difference between 20w and 100w
isn't 5 times louder, probably just 1.5 times.
20w = 43 dBm and 100w = 50 dBm
But Pushing a 20w amplifier to it's 20w max will have more distortion than pushing a 100w amplifier to the same 20w output.
This is the main reason you use a higher Power Amplifier.
at Louder Listening Volumes, you don't have to Push it in to it's distortion range.
or so, that is what has been explained to me..
Thanks for sharing. Very insightful. And from you makes it that much more.... better. 👍
So this NEC amp sounds pretty incredible. It seems like it really is/was a hidden gem. I probably would have gotten this to build my first stereo system when I was young.
Owner of it loves the sound. Says it sound better than some of his other vintage Amps.
I still use my NEC Authentic series turntable i bought in the late 70's . AUP 7000 FE. Its a great turntable !
Nec built some good stuff ! I bought My Mom a NEC cell phone yrs ago & It was a very well built one & worked really well !
I have this amp and matching tuner. All the meters were stuck. Its probably the only weakpoint. The amp had no relais cover when i bought it!
Love your video's .
I did a tuner with a stuck meter too.
Wow does that remind me of my workbench when I was doing electronic repair. Covered with junk and just barely enough space for the product! Memories! :)
that's a slick amplifier for sure. I'm an 80's kid that had a Pioneer SX-727 growing up and I miss the smell of the wooden chassis cover when it was warm
I just got a NEC A820E amplifier. 80w/channel. Love the sound! Wasn’t expecting much for $30 with a cassette, turntable and tuner.
I always preferred NEC to Sony in the late 1980's. NEC delivered what Sony only promised.
I am totally happy with my nikko
My MCS version also has stuck meters both being pegged out at the 65 w mark.....thank you for the meter repair tutorial!
Agree 100% NEC made rock solid equipment had an early 90"s IA sounded great
Nice piece! I always look for Nec equipment but only have found a handful of pieces in the last 14 years of collecting.
don't expect that in all the Authentic Series amps. really sweet thanks for sharing. love dual mono blocs.
As i said, under rated. People saw the name and passed. It was a solid design.
@@12voltvids Hi 12voltvids. I really enjoy your videos you have so much learned knowledge. I have a broken power supply in my Sharp Optonica SA 5101. It made a noise and blew some smoke through the headphone socket. I think a rifa capacitor failed situated by a couple of fuses but not sure what to replace with.
How's this for a goody, I have a Harman Kardon CITATION TWELVE power amp in working condition. It was my uncles who had it for many years. In the early 70's I would ride my bicycle 12 miles to the other side of town to a home stereo shop named Modern Sound. The guys there would let "play" with the equipment that was on display. They had all the good stuff, notably the JBL Paragon, Linear power amp (model number excapes me but it was BIG!) various other book shelf speakers and intergrated stereos. What caught my eye was the Dynaco line of stereos, very affordable in kit form. Over the next two years I got the PAT 4 preamp, ST120 power amp and the FM5 tuner as Christmas and birthday gifts. When I got the PAT 4 preamp my parents didn't see me for three days, it took me that long to assemble it and it was fun! This was when I got really good at soldering. I still have this equipment as well. I also got a Acoustic Research fully manual turntable with a Shure M91ED cartridge from the same place. The 70's was a great era to grow up!
NEC is big into PBX switches, Microwave radio, light wave MUX, etc. so it is not surprising the can produce a quality audio product. Wouldn’t mind running into one of these.
I own the NEC AUA8000E and I consider it one of my best vintage discovery. Built like a tank, it sounds powerful and neutral but never loses details.
The term neutral is different to everyone's ears but I always thought that the Yamaha series was a very neutral sounding amplifier
when u took the cover off that baby i said woohoo what monster!! nice i heard that nec made stereo gear for a few companies way back in the 80s i had an all in one stereo made by them rebranded curtis mathes very good sounding it fooled me ! the hi fi world and stereo nuts went to sleep on nec hifi i couldn't believe the specs on thier cassette decks crazy amazing nice to see this one again .
Yes very good and built like a tank. They are available for very little money because so many don't know what they have.
I work at a TV station that back in the analog days, had an NEC transmitter. On the EEV blog, you saw Dave do a teardown of an NEC "exciter" that would have been similar to ours. They also tried to make professional videotape machine with little success.
I had a NEC VCR that was unbelievable for it's time. Still have the TV from around 85 and it works perfectly. I use it about everyday and I have never fixed a thing on it.
👍🏾👍🏾Enjoyed this video, you may have answered an old mystery of mine from years ago, I do believe I had the black J.C. Penney MCS version of the old black NEC tuner that would went with that amp
Thank you for giving me confidence in repairing my meters on my fisher RS-2003 by just loosening the screws 👍
Brilliant. Who woulda thunk.
Very well done. Thank you!
You have a new subscriber!
We had an ITT stack system in the eighties which was mostly all NEC Japan OEM, bar the turntable which was a Mitsubishi OEM. The speakers were most likely the only European thing about it, and had Audax drivers with 'real--wood veneer' cabinets.
Looking at the behemoth that is the Modular Component Systems 3275 receiver (an NEC AUR-8075 in disguise), it has some very minor cosmetic similarities that remind me of the ITT receiver originally in our setup..
NEC back in the 1980's, made very high quality and reliable commercial analogue telecommunications equipment.
They made many tv transmitters too.
That Nec fasia just reminds me of my pioneer Sa-706, it's like nec looked at pioneer and copied the basic look.
I do like the seperate p.a modules and access :-D
I have also loosened the bearing on many meters that got sticky, i think the bearing surfaces corrode.
C.b/ham radios also suffered from the same problem.
In the UK we used to aspire to the Quad 405 current dumping AMP -- trouble was you had to buy the whole Quad ensemble to use them, this amp does look nice for normal household use and after all tnhere are many amps that punch above their stated weight on paper.
I don't know about " underrated " but the Carver M1 magnetic field amp was mind blowing . massive power and very clear. I had one back in the 80s that drove the original polk SDA 1 speakers . the speakers could handle 500 watts a channel and i think the amp put out that much also . Still my all time favorite amp and speakers to this day.
Close to my Rotel RA-1412, also not a "popular" brand but a fantastic amp. I bought it in 1977 in Japan when I was stationed there in the Air Force. It is also two mono amps in one. Except it has all the inputs on the right side, the speaker outputs on the left side, and the power transistors all the way across the back. Extreme heavy due to the two massive power transformers and caps. And it was rated at 110 watts per channel... but at 0.001% distortion!!!
Very interesting, I've never seen anything from NEC for audio, don't think it ever came to the UK. I wonder if they used their own transistors in the PA section. As NEC were a big player in transistors and mosfets.
I have a NEC HIFI system - AUTHENTIC series (bought it back in late 1988? ) Amplifier is NEC A730E with 2x70RMS - Inside it there is a TOROIDAL transformer (supposed to be better - lower noise) I am still using it! Combined with KEF C40 speakers its great!
I recall NEC made televisions too
Nice unit, quality build
I serviced and nec plasma a few years ago.
dual mono could drive 4 ohm loads and back then that meant the amp could produce twice the rated power. The
old brochures would have mentioned that, those outputs where probably rated for 25 amps and at least 150 wts.
Pioneer used something similar in their amps from the same time period that they call ring emitter transistors
that where very durable and you will notice they are attached with 2 screws per which gave the transistor a better
contact area for the compound to fill in intern providing better heat dissipation. With a little modification to the heat sinks they will accommodate To3 outputs which are more common . 10 thousand mics is plenty and won't overload
the fuses when she powers up from dead most of the amps I have restored her the last 40 years have had caps
with similar capacities to this the only time you would see ripple would be at clipping and I'd worry more about the
high frequency drivers when driven to clipping as that can ruin them.
Wow, you weren't kidding. That is definitely a wolf in sheep's clothing. I guess I'll be looking for this wolf on E-Bay now.
Very under rated and very worth while seeking these ones out because they go cheap.
I have a 600 watt Kenwood amp from the 80's I think with two huge transformers that looks like the same layout inside. I dont know if there are any connections between the two companies but I can testify that the Kenwood I talked a friend out of when it was having some scratchy intermittent pot problems. after fixing it is a freaking monster. I need to save up to buy speakers that can take the juice that old beast pumps out.
I once bought a marantz 2385 in excellent condition for 5 bucks at a garage sale. at another garage sale a lade gave me a excellent fisher 400 sold them together for 500 bucks cash about 15 years ago. the new texas instruments class T amps work so great they sound as good as vacuum tubes. my garage stereo is a RCA MX7 got it for free. In the past great stuff was cheap or free not any more.
It’s interesting to see some of you guys go to heroic lengths to reclaim older solid state audio gear. Most of the stuff, even the better quality stuff, was never really designed with repair or long-term viability/reliability as an imperative, and it’s only gotten to be more and more difficult with contemporary designs.
I’ve nearly completely thrown in the towel with messing with repairing solid state gear, except for very basic repairs on otherwise good condition equipment. Endless online “Easter egg hunts” trying to find and stockpile obsolete semiconductor devices etc, storing stacks of dead donor carcasses to have a source of now near impossible to find NOS replacement parts…. I just hit my limit.
Hats off to you guys still fixing the solid state stuff. Personally, I’ve gone straight back to working with tube amplifiers and preamplifiers ONLY, and life has been much easier and more relaxing since then.
I hear you. Tubes are so much simpler to work with and they sound a whole lot better then most solid state gear, but they are incredibly inefficient, waste a ton of electricity which is getting expensive and operate at very high voltage which requires utmost attention when servicing as they can kill you in an instant.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching you, 12voltvids, troubleshoot that NEC analog right channel power meter! Great job indeed...
Some JC Penny house brand stuff was made by NEC. I had a Modular Component Systems (MCS) 3847, which is the same as a NEC AUA 7000e. I recognized the one you were working on based on the knobs alone :-D
Yes, the speakers' relay did originally have a clear plastic cover. I used to be a hi-fi dealer, here in the UK in the 1980s, but NEC gear was seldom seen on these shores. Much was due to the snobbishness of the British hi-fi press towards Japanese equipment. When I moved to Italy there were more but still a rare find.
Ive got an NEC a10 that sounds very good without any updates to it. Great amps
The NEC A10 is one of the best integrated amp ever built! It's rare and very expensive.
I've tried to repair and flip gear but by the time I'm finished I've become so emotionally attached I can't let it go . . .
Curious what the harmonic distortion level be?
I have a Sansui 6 reciever/ amp I bought in 1974...it still works...the volume potentiometer wiper is worn making for spotty function.
Back in its day, NEC audio equipment was much more expensive than the run of the mill Technics, Pioneer, etc. but was extremely reliable and sounded great. The problem was NEC didn't have the "brand" recognition and the profit margin wasn't there, and stores wouldn't haggle with customers on the price as they would with other brands. Plus, as you pointed out, customers wanted higher power.
NEC made incredible quality in many of their products. Also Hitachi, Nikko and Mitsubishi.
I had loan of a Sharewood black amp around 1988 and playing Macdonnas Laisa boneta "the sound was magical" and full - a cut above any amp I had before and since.
I remember the first transistor radios,a sailor came back from the seven seas and brought with him a small Italian radio,in a neat leather holster,so small people believed it was an Electric shaving machine.
My father had a NEC cd player back in 1984 bought on a trip to the US. But as you say not too common generally as a brand.
What's with the cardboard tube around the left channel capacitor?
Even by today's standards , it's a great amplifier with a looks to match .
Thanks for the video, I enjoyed your commentary.
everything is clear with this arrow indicator, but what to do if one channel in the LCD indicator does not work?
have the same problems with some cb radio meters,,, i just back off the needle screw a tad
I had a Luxman L-58A - I was second owner, it was all original - which also had no cover on the output relays. A really nicely built amp - seems they can be all original without them.
Great-Video-very-Informative,Thank-You.
Looks a lot like my old SAE TWO integrated from the late 70’s! A great little 50 wpc amp!
Great video! Question, what song is being played at the end?
Looks similar like a old Philips design, which I'm building at this very moment, two real monoblocks with Toroidal transformers, almost the same voltage. I think also specs around 50 or 60watts output. But if I see one on my bench will surely look at it closely.
I have an nec a10ii amplifier and it has to be one of the best sounding amp I’ve had the pleasure to listen to
I was thinking Nad when I seen but have never seen a NEC amp. It looks live a Sansui integrated amp-very impressive. I remember NEC made a VCR that had alot of guidepost problems.
I have a small nad power envelope amp that kicks ass !
@@chrisristau8803I agree. Nad had such high headroom that many of their receivers/amps could keep up with more powerful competition.
@@audiogear474 it's only rated at like 20 watts per channel ! Id have to say it does a solid 65 watts per channel though if i were to guess. It's a 7220pe .
@@audiogear474 NAD headroom came from rising up the low end cutoff fz. Instead of the amp playing from 20-20 let's say 50-20 hz when the button was push in. As bass demands power
i had a single cassette player that had the same black front but also had rackmount handles it could be carried by. NEC made beautiful equipment.
I think if you look inside other audio equipment from that era, you'll find NEC parts. That speaks volumes about what a trusted name they were.
Nec made millions of parts. They were one of the big 3 in Japan. The other 2 being Matsushita and Toshiba.
Just found your channel so far so good subscribed. Do you repair vintage Harmon Cardon
I stumbelled over one when I was exploring a neighbour fleemarket, 100 Norweigian crowns!The owner asked if the price was too high, I gave him 200 crowns and clapped his shoulder!I had one of those in about 1980 or so and it was great.A friend of mine was more than average utdatert on Hi Fi electronics, he insisted this was great stuff.It was stolen in a house robbery,the thieves grabbed what they thought was quality.Yes,you are right,in Norway people believed it was worse than Phillips at their worst!Nic is not a very flashy name,right?
Another sleeper is an Optonica SM 4646. Also a dual monoblock but with a third transformer for the class A preamp stage AKA Delta Power.
Nicely laid out, easy to work with. My dual mono Sansui is literally crammed together, there's not a centimeter of free space inside. Even inspecting a PCB requires a lengthy stripdown. This NEC is probably rated for far less watts, but so service-friendly.
I caught this because I have a JC Penney MCS 3285 Receiver from 40 years ago. It was great for its time. Unfortunately I let a friend work on it and he messed up the input board and then (says he) lost it. I only recently found out that it was made by NEC for JC Penney.
Was this made for NEC or by NEC, if so would there be any other companies using the same design?
i had one a couple of years ago but it was a overeas unit its power was 220 vac but it was the same desighn as this one your working on except i dought it was a dual mono amplifier, it had the same issue right channnel meter was stuck , but yes a great piece in deed
Can anyone here tell me how to hook up my vintage Onkyo A-25 integrated stereo amplifier. I have a Sanyo flatscreen that is not smart, and a Sony CD/DVD player. I am totally ignorant about how to go about it. Any help would be appreciated greatly!
I loved their TV's and VCR's
You mentioned the Hafler series 200. I purchased a pre/power combination when they were new in the 80s (dh110 and the dh220). Although musical it didn't have much Headroom. I ended up having to pair it with an NAD / subwoofer to get what to my ears was full dynamic range
I have the same amp and preamp also. Bought them new. They drove my Magnepan III B.
Sounds pretty good to me and 65watts per channel is plenty enough for most speakers.
NEC made electronic components as well! I loved them as well as Toshiba and good ol MGA or better known Mitsubishi. Love this stuff! Right away you look at that power supply! That’s right only a 60w supply a channel! The separate transformers and caps! The relay cover was bad speaker wires or to small or load. They forced the protect on to jam! Ya got both channels? Hell yeah! Just esr those caps and replace if anything. Clean her controls up and you got a excellent pice of electronic history!
I can get the original mount style but they are subs but better than other subs due to matching the spec of the original components. Huaggo semiconductor in China has allot of them great subs. But on USA soil I’d try east coast transistor for the hard to find stuff!
great amps. and great video.
Great Amp. Looks great, and it is great. Professional meter repair.
Does it run on like 24 volts AC most 125 volt ac house powered stuff does . I had a sears radio alarm clock with cassette player it ran off 12volts dc . I found out with a meter inside off the transformer. The reason was I bought a new head unit and it went out was under warranty. So it was gonna be 3 weeks before I would get it back, it was longer . So I hooked up the clock radio in my truck used rca jacks ran it to my amplifiers and I was musical agin . So I check out a lot of equipment that’s why I said about the 24volts ac . So what kills me is if your gonna take 125 volts ac from 12 volts dc inverted . I’m thinking would it be a whole lot more efficient to make 24volts ac from 12 volts dc ? I figured some one like you could help answer my question . Love the video I’ve always wanted to know more about electronics . I’m always into so many things to have time to get in to another ! My hats off to you people like you are my hero’s ! I have an old jvc super A amplifier intergraded with inputs no built in radio it says 265 watts by the 125 power plug I watched a Video one guy said 2x65 watts no way not even 132.5 x2 ! I had a 100x2 kenwood the jvc would blow it out the water it’s gotta be 265 x2 ! For what it puts out I can tell the speakers I had the kenwood on was close to perfect match , but 1/3 the way with the jvc and they were begging for mercy so it has to be 265 a side ! That’s unreal for home stereo to me ! I’ll keep watching and liked already and will subscribe! Thanks again !
My dual monobloc has toroidal tx with dual secondary's. The components are on the same board but it's split down the middle. It was a UK design by Graham Nalty and available as a kit. Sounds great. Seek DM30 from Everyday Electronics. Good luck.
That doesn't count. Single transformer. Heavy load on one channel will influence other winding. Dual monoblock has seperate everything.
What is the advantage of a dual mono design over that of a typical stereo amp? Are there any practical differences between two separate PSUs vs a single larger PSU?
you can have the both PSU working in a better way because they re moving 1 channel each one, less heat, less stress. If you dont know how to work Grounding techniques you may be causing GND Loops, but is a safer way to have a amplifier if i dont understand wrong
I liked this from seeing the explosive soldering intro.
I'm a tech and never had the pleasure of servicing nec equipment. That unit looks like a beast
That's because they never break down.
Nice Amp and great build quality. Not to sound critical but from a service perspective observations. (1) Is it possible to calibrate the meters ? The meter on the right Channel seemed to be demonstrating a higher output. I suspect it required matching calibration as it’s unlikely the balance was off or the inputs to the amplifier or the gain were imbalanced. (2) A little screwlock glue should be applied to the pivot screw after adjusting. These screws can vibrate loose and move. Great Video. Love your work.
The style of the front panel reminds me a lot of an older Sansui AU-20000 amplifier I've got around here somewhere. It is really heavy (170 W x 2 ??), but I believe there is only a single large transformer.
I had a NEC integrated amp from 1989 or so. Rated at ? I used it to power a pair of subs. What was I thinking ? It was way better than my main amp and switched it over for the Pioneer. Too bad a spilled beer on it....should have had it repaired. Currently have the Adcom 555 ( used ) doing the subs and a Parasound 750 A as main. Been working for around 30-25 years. There’s something to be said for quality.....
They made excellent TVs back in the day
Yup I own a Onkyo M8000 also a true dual monoblock amp and the sound stage is insane. Also have the preamp that comes with it but it sounds like crap... So i just use the poweramp as a standalone with a decent dac.
I like the black Technics component systems that came out in the late 80s .. People dont know how good some solid state systems can sound
This is awesome design! My Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amplifier has dual mono configuration with two separate toroïdal transformers and i don't want to sell it. 85 Watts per channel for 8 Ohms load and 170 Watts on 4. Keeper for sure! "Everybody like's to see meter's bouncing" Hell yeah. It's hypnotizing.
Yes hang on to it! It has extremely low distortion (0.008%) for an amp rated at 85w/8Ω. The best audio equipment came from the 80s and 90s.
@@rc6717 Posting a ridiculous, subjective comment like that I can easily infer you are the one with significant mental impairment. I recommend you abstain from eating anymore paint chips. Now, when it comes down to performance specs of audio equipment, the best numbers will be found on amps, preamps, integrated, receivers, etc built circa 1980 to 1999. We can all agree lower distortion, lower noise floor, higher damping, and greater power output is desirable. Let's take the very top tier "mid-fi" amplifier (Almost hi-fi @ $799) the PM6007 by Marantz currently in production. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.08%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 45W, Damping factor: 100, SNR: 102dB. Nothing impressive.
Now let's take the well known Yamaha M-85 for example made from 1986-1988. THD 20Hz-20kHz 8ohm both channels: 0.002%, RMS Power output 8ohms: 260W, Damping factor: 230, SNR: 122dB. Nice.
Bottom line, today's equipment is still outperformed by the older gear. When the demand for feature rich AV receivers started around 1999, companies started cramming in Bluetooth, wifi, 7+ channels, HDMI, ATMOS, and on and on. The focus was no longer on musical fidelity and now on the number of features it had. I recommend listening to your favorite Raffi songs on freshly serviced Yamaha MX-1, then judge for yourself 🖕🖐️
Enjoyed the VU Meter education. NEC incredibly rare here in the States.
Why does one of those big capacitors - the left one - have a brown thing on it?
What model is the amplifier?
Anyone know?
Thank you
Nice amp
I have a nec a10ii and it's a beast of an amp but its only rated at 60 watts per channel
Sir reg that open relay switch, I have one Sony TC 660 reel to reel it has 5 relays and all are without cover like this NEC authentic has.
crown makes make some amps that most people don't know about that are really good at their price point especially the XLS series
I got an NEC ds8000u mk2 at goodwill for 10$ it works great, really cool vcr!
Great piece. For now, I think it would be useful to add "NEC Authentic Series AUA8000" to the name of your video. I own a NEC A10II Amp with a NEC T-6 tuner, but more on that later. I'm an old fan of NEC audio-I also once owned their AV-300E Surround Sound amp.