NAD 3020 vs 3020a etc

[Mr Nad]

Sorry for the flurry of pro-NAD posts. This is the last one, I promise. ;)

It has come up on the forum before: what is the difference between the original 3020 and subsequent versions.

I knew I'd read it somewhere, but forgot where, but now I've found it. Have a read of this magazine (http://www.tonepublications.com/MAGPDF/TA_040.pdf).

"Peter Tribeman delights in revealing what he calls the
'Benign Error', which played a large role in the 3020’s allure. Strangely enough, it was a mistake in the layout of the original circuit board... the 'Benign Error' produced unintended “L-R crosstalk,” which somehow generated more low-level detail and ambience. [It] was eliminated in the second-generation 3020A model, and with it, some of the original’s appeal."

[istari_knight]

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=15005

[DSJR]

The first six month's production runs of the 3020 were extremely unreliable, with many coming back for service. I seem to remember that subsequent ones had a different board layout with much improved reliability.

We liked the 3020A very much and it was the arrival of the locally made Creek 4040, which itself needed a tweak or two in its early days, to show the 3020A the door. The then rapidly increasing price of the A&R A60 didn't help its cause as the budget leader either, sadly.

The one NAD I couldn't bond with was the straight-through 3120 model. Too stuffed-shirt I thought.