Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo My NAD's exploded!

Hi,

I have a NAD C370. My NAD C370 exploded. Fire and smoke kind of exploded. Run around in circles looking for the power cord to pull to stop the fire and smoke exploded. Find a towel to beat-out out the fire engulfing the window drapes kind of exploded.

Sort of pissed me off because no music was playing; it was simply on. It was evening and I would have been in bed an hour later. I then would have written "My NAD's killed me and my family in a blazing inferno."

OK; I'm better now. Took my meds.:-)

I opened up the C370 and found one of the 4 10,000uF/80VDC 'lytics had blown, the venting cap gasses melted the insulation on the adjacent 115VAC power cord which then proceeded to arc, flame and smoke mightily. Vent slots in the top of the C370 cover helpfully transferred the sparks and flames to the drapes a foot away. The fuse never blew because the venting cap comprimised the power cord before the fuse. Before you ask; I'm a EE and I am absolutely anal about having anything on an amp or even around it that would obstruct convective air-flow.

Good amp though. I'm going to repair it.

Got 10 some DigiKey 10,000uF/80VDC (P10645-ND) coming in. I'll replace all 4 caps, check the torroid xformer and bridge rectifiers before I do. My wife does not want in the house anymore, repaired or not. She's skittish that way.

Anyone have a similar experience? Anything else I should be checking? Close call; I don't want a repetition.

Mariss

Well heck that sure sucks.It's good to hear that you were able to contain the fire right away.I haven't had anything burst into flames like that.I did have a Rotel RB 1080 loose the left channel at only 5 hours old.I was lucky it didn't harm the M80 it was connected to cause when it went there was a loud POP.Everything here turned out ok with a brand new replacement amp.

How old was the amp ?

Yikes! It's a good thing you were still up and about when this happened. Do you normally leave your equipment on? A freak accident like that would leave me paranoid and shutting everything that was plugged in off when I wasn't using it.

I used to (as of 2 days ago) leave my equipment on. I don't anymore. My wife is skittish about that also now.

Mariss

About a 18-months new to me, bought it used. Serial# H37C37024366, made in China. The date code is probably hidden in the serial #.

Mariss

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I did have a Rotel RB 1080 loose the left channel at only 5 hours old

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This seems a very common problem with Rotel RB-1080, as I often read in at Club Rotel. It seems that it is caused by using the 12V trigger option. I do use it with my 1080, and haven't had any problem so far (crossing the fingers!!!)

Yikes, Cap exploding like that sure doesnt seem too common. In any peice of gear. Sorry to hear your NAD blew up like that, sure hope mine doesnt. Hopefully once you change out those caps and stuff it will be all good though

Mariss, congratulations on being delivered from the explosion and fire.

I had an Anthem PVA 5, new out of the box, first time powered on I saw a great honking lavender arcing spark from under the vent grate, and a great whomping noise. No fire. I think I'll make sure all my amps are power off before going to sleep tonight.

well thank God everything's all right. you're extremely lucky you caught it when you did! i respect your idea to rebuild it, but I think at this point I'd be jumping to another brand!

also I'm surprised no one's noticed that it's quite possible that this thread had one of the all-time funniest subject lines ever.

I didn't use the 12 V trigger on the amp and it wasn't a fuse.The dealer check for bad fuses and found that they were all ok.I never did find out what went wrong with the amp.I have had the second one for nearly 2 years now without one little problem.

Any chance you had excess slack in your speaker wires at the terminals? Stray strands, anything like that? If they had an opportunity to touch each other that might make your amp go up in smoke, but I'd imagine that would be more likely to happen if you were driving some sort of load at the time.

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also I'm surprised no one's noticed that it's quite possible that this thread had one of the all-time funniest subject lines ever.

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Been laughing about it since it appeared. Fortunately, there is an apostrope present which removes any possibility of medical attention being required.

"Any chance you had excess slack in your speaker wires at the terminals?"

Not a chance; I'm a EE! EEs don't make mistakes or overlook anything. Wait..EEs designed the C370. Ah, I don't think I had any stray strands shorting things.:-)

Mariss

Mister, you're a few stray strands short of a short.

jack-yeah i know, but we're not grammer and spelling Knotzis around here.

Actually, he's got it in the right place. "My NADs exploded!" would indicate that he had multiple NAD units which exploded. His "My NAD's exploded!" translates to "My NAD has exploded!"

See this cartoon as well, for a less family friendly option.

I try to be precise with my grammar.:-)

Like many guys here I have two NADs. I dearly love both of them and on a very visceral level I strive to keep both of them safe, knowing I will feel great pain if either comes to harm.

Despite that, one NAD, the one I call C370, has exploded. My other NAD, affectionately named T742, still functions but it's just not the same. I miss having a full set.

I would be grateful if anyone knows where I can get a C370 schematic. It seems the exploded 10,000uF/80VDC cap of the pair had 87VDC on it while the other pair shows 28VDC. Otherwise I have to draw the schematic by tracing the circuit out, then analyze schematic why that is happening. I would have expected symmetrical +/- supply voltages.

Mariss

I can pop open the hood on mine and check out some values for you. I Can just send you a pic and you can highlight what you want values on and i'll take a look in mine this weekend. Let me know. But then again im only An electonics tech not an EE so if it were me id just throw a new cap in there and call her good if i was getting acceptable readings.

"Like many guys here I have two NADs. I dearly love both of them and on a very visceral level I strive to keep both of them safe, knowing I will feel great pain if either comes to harm.

Despite that, one NAD, the one I call C370, has exploded. My other NAD, affectionately named T742, still functions but it's just not the same. I miss having a full set. "

i was gonna use it as a punch-line too.. but, you did a much better job than i could have!!

bigjohn

Hey bigjohn!
Hows it going?
Beat my record at that McKinney course.
-8

It really is old home week! Hey, Sushi, we know you're out there! Welcome back, John.

Miss your presence, Mr. Coad.

I've seen sushi over at AVS a couple of times in the last 4-5 months, but he hasnt posted here since I joined.
Hope it isnt something I said. JK