Investigation

The first NAD product to appear in these pages was the 300 receiver [HFN Apr '77] but it was the £69 3020 integrated amplifier [HFN Jan '80] that really set the brand alight, in the UK at least, courtesy of distributor Hi-Fi Markets who promoted it as part of a very successful budget turntable/amp/loudspeaker package. We revisited the 3020 as part of our unique Vintage Review series [HFN Nov '12] and followed this up with a full review of its illustrious forebear, having finally located a 'NOS' sample of NAD's 3030 some years later [HFN Dec '15 and inset].

The cheapest of three 3000 series amplifiers from 1976, the 3030's unusual split-rail phono stage and complementary Class AB power amp, using 2N3055/MJ2955 transistors, were carried over into the later 3020, although the latter was otherwise a more sophisticated design. Rated at 2x30W/8ohm, NAD's 3030 delivered a full 2x33W/8ohm and 2x48W/4ohm with 41W, 81W, 99W and 74W (8.6A) available under dynamic conditions into 8, 4, 2 and 1ohm loads. Naturally, with CD and the ensuing digital audio revolution a decade away, the 3030 was 'analogue' through-and-through. Despite its tone controls, loudness, mono, infrasonic and hi-cut filters, the 3030 was a simpler amplifier for simpler times and a lifetime away from the BluOS-equipped Class D C 3050 LE seen here. PM