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Submitted by
amateriat
a AudioPhileDate Reviewed: February 17, 2011
Bottom Line: When it comes to hi-fi, I'll simply say that I've been low, and I've been high. and now, many years later, I'm floating at the lower end (from necessity...little need to elaborate), but armed with most of the info-insight to make the most of a tight budget.
On the used/auction circuit, I've long noticed that NAD products, which, in another lifetime, I used to sell as a high-end retailer, have been relatively thin on the ground, compared to the usual mass-market suspects. This didn't surprise me, as I've long regarded NAD's components to be a cut above the "pack." I'e receommended them with little to no hesitation to friends, and their components grace the systems of more than a few ex-girlfriends who still marvel at how good their CDs, tapes, vinyl or even their iPods sound as a result.
Now came my turn. I needed, for a host of reasons, to reconstitute my hi-fi, which had been moribund for a number of years. The only components I had left that were worth the proverbial damn were my trusty (and truly high-end) Mission 775SM turntable, coupled with Missions John BIcht-designed 774 tonearm and Signet TK10ML cartridge, and my not-quite-high-end, but still useful NAD 616 dual-well cassette deck. (A notch or two down from my old Nakamichi Dragon and Luxman K-02 decks, but that was then, etc.). I needed new amplification and transduction (speakers), not to mention something to play my several hundred CDs through. For now, let's talk amplification.
I haven't had a receiver in a system of mine in the proverbial dog's age; it's not that I thought receivers were "bad" I knew otherwise, starting with NAD), but that I simply thought separates offered a better bang. Now, for various reasons, I decided a well-chosen receiver would work just fine, and the go-to choice was NAD, because (1) for one thing, very few mainstream electronics companies were even bothering to make audio-only receivers, offering instead gadget-rich multichannel AV receivers offering tons of things I wasn't interested in (hint: I don't own a TV), and offered mediocre audio quality as a result; and (2) I knew NAD's product DNA well enough to know that almost anything they made would be at least a notch above whatever the usual suspects were offering.
I went with a used (via a Certain Auction Site) NAD C740. An oldie by now, but a goodie by my lights, as it offered almost everything I wanted in a receiver: besides its audio performance (which is close to unassailable in its category), it offered the convenience of a remote control that not only handled, via NAD Link, my trusty NAD 616 cassette deck (the remote even has separate controls for each cassette deck well), but cold also handle the one CD changer I longed to have, but could never find an intact (read: working) example for love or money, until recently. The one thing it couldn't handle on its own was vinyl, a problem solved handily by running out ad buying (new, for a change), an NAD PP3i. I'll be talking about the PP3i in a separate review; suffice it to say that the photo preamp lives up to its billing, and is likely a better performer than anything NAD might have built into a receiver like the C 740.
Suffice it to say that, where and when it counts, the NAD C-740 simply does the business. With more than enough conservatively-rated power for driving most any speaker system to realistic sound-levels, an excellent tuner section, and preamplification that doesn't draw undue attention to draw attention to itself.
Highly recommended...if you can find one. :-)
Used product for: 1 to 3 months
Duration Product Used: AudioPhile
Product model year: 2000
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
duoaksea
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: March 13, 2004
Bottom Line: -
Used product for: 1 to 3 months
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Price Paid:
$339.00
Purchased At: Hawthorne Stereo - S
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Submitted by
russwollman
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: February 12, 2004
Bottom Line: The C740 has a room for multiple inputs, a pretty good tuner (though not quite as good as the old 7100 Monitor Series receiver with its Schotz tuner), and a clean, simple design suggestive of the clean output of which the C740 is capable. This receiver, as NAD claims, is powerful and capable well beyond its numbers.
For a while my C740 happily drove four elderly Advent Loudspeakers without a whimper. But now it's my preamp and drives an old NAD 2600 amp which sends 150 watts/channel to those Advents.
The sound is glorious, powerful, and stunning.
There's a great honesty and simplicity about NAD products that inspires my confidence.
Used product for: More than 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Price Paid:
$400.00
Purchased At: Spearit Sound
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
jvshort
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: January 22, 2004
Bottom Line: I've owned it for almost 5 years. As an amp it is smooth and powerful (much more than its 35 W per channel suggest, an evidence that volume is not a question of watts), it drives my floorstanding speakers fine. The radio receiver sounds nice too, if you have a good aerial (I have connected it to the TV/radio cable, it sounds great!). All the connects are gold plated. It's got two tape inputs, very useful if you have both a tape deck and a cd recorder and you like to make cds from analogue sources.
Used product for: More than 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 1999
Price Paid:
$700.00
Purchased At: Noir et Blanc, Bruss
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Submitted by
Donald Walters
a Audio EnthusiastDate Reviewed: December 27, 2003
Bottom Line: In general I love my NAD unit. I like the clean looks and it does perform very well.
Used product for: More than 1 year
Duration Product Used: Audio Enthusiast
Product model year: 2000
Price Paid:
$449.00
Purchased At: K&S Sound
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