Best price for NAD T762 Receiver? (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Yes it has an RS232 port. The remote is called the HTR-2, and it's an all-hard-button learning remote. Took me about 5 minutes to teach it all four remotes (TV, DVD, CD & Cable). You can download the manual from www.nadelectronics.com - I think you click on support, product manuals, and then look for the HTR-2 download (it's a PDF).

Not sure of the reason why it doesn't support 96/24 DTS (in fact I didn't know this until Reggie pointed it out as I don't own any).

 

[John Garcia]

After asking Yawa about the remote, I read the review on NAD's site, and it mentioned the HTR-2, but gave no pics. I found the info on their site about the HTR-2 (thanks Carlo). It looks OK, but my Marantz RC2000 MkII seems to have all of the functions of the HTR-5 (which looks like a very nice remote), except pre-programmed codes for other brands, so I will probably stick with it for now.

I own 3 96/24 DTS discs, and my DVD player will pass both 96/24 or a down converted signal. I don't listen to these discs very often, and with SACD, I expect that will only lessen.

 

[Carlo_M]

Try this PDF link for the English Manual for the HTR-2. It has a drawing of the HTR-2 at the front page.

Yes it is a total hard button remote that is not super-advanced. But let me tell you, after dealing (actually NOT dealing, since I stopped using it years ago) with the Sony 555ES LCD remote, I am as happy as a lark with the HTR-2.

Still I understand that my uses for the remote are very unsophisticated, since I prefer hard buttons and don't really do much macro usage. The HTR-2 may not be for everyone. But for the simpleton like me, it's perfect!

 

[kevitra]

My understanding of the RS232 is that it is not for software upgrades, but for home automation. The T762 had a software upgrade to fix bugs in the first runs and it was a chip that your dealer (or you) had to install. From what I read it was very easy to do, but not very convienient.

I just setup my Zone 2 this past weekend. I have to say that I am very impressed with NADs implementation of zones. You can power on the receiver with the 2nd remote, and only zone 2 will be running. The OSD shows the 2nd zone in a box with the selected input highlighted. The only thing it is missing is the volume setting.

I use a 2 channel Rotel amp for my main speakers, and having the ability to run the 2nd zone off of the internal amps is great. The fact that you can use ANY of the internal amps for zone 2 (not just a preset set of amps) is great. In the future if I add a 5 channel amp, I can run more rooms off of the other internal amps.

The extra remote that came with the T762 is great. It is very small and easy to use.

The unit has been very impressive. This is my first NAD product (I am a Rotel fan), and this probably won't be my last.

Question for Carlo: why not post a price? The point of these forums is to help people out. It isn't hurting Yawa (unless someone isn't smart enough to know to ask for a better price).
I am not familiar with Yawa's brick n mortar stores? Are they similar to Abt Electronics (if you are familiar with them)? Abt is 5 minutes from my work. They are a great store. They offer good prices and the salespeople are not pushy.

 

[Carlo_M]

Kevitra, to answer your question requires knowledge of the manufacturer/authorized dealer relationship. First off, we can all acknowledge it's best to buy from authorized dealers as most companies now will NOT honor their warranties from non-authorized (grey market) sales.

Okay, so we've established that you want to buy from an authorized dealer (and if you're a dealer you want to be authorized for the products you sell).

Most manufacturers give dealers three prices: dealer price (price dealer pays), MAP - minimum advertised price (the price below which a dealer CAN NOT advertise for), and MSRP.

Some companies, let's take Energy Speakers because this really did happen a few years ago, do not like dealers to sell below MAP. In fact, they don't like dealers to even advertise below MSRP (their MAP may even be equal to the MSRP, not sure). In the mid-late 90's, Energy speakers could be had online for way below MSRP, a $1000 Good Guys speaker could be had online for $750. Well dealers like Yawa, who discounted, had their quotes printed out and taken to Good Guys. They in turn complained to Energy. Well Good guys being the 800lb gorilla, got Energy to crack down on below-MSRP sales. Nowadays? most online dealers won't post their prices on Energy. A lot of former Energy dealers dropped the company altogether. The sales we used to have are a thing of the past now.

I would like that not to happen to NAD, or any other brands.

Deals are good, and people can call around and compare all they want! But keep that info to yourself. Post that a good deal can be had at xxxxx dealership. But don't post the actual price as that's potentially damning information, here's why:

HTF is frequented not just by normal buyers, but manufacturers as well. And anything posted below MSRP can put a dealer in danger of having their authorized dealership revoked.

[note: this is an oversimplification of the situation but I'm trying to help make the "average person" understand]

 

[John Garcia]

So tell me about the HTR-2. Does it have the same memory backup that the HTR-5 does? I didn't know that my MkII had this as well, until I took the batteries out for almost 2 days, and when I popped them back in, all of my programming was still there! The HTR-2 looks OK to me, and meets my most basic requirements - ergonomic hard buttons of different size/shape that can be used by touch, and it is backlit. I prefer hard button remotes to touchscreen, because I don't want to have to look at it every time I want to do something. The MkII and HTR-5 have macros and page functions for each device too though, as some devices require more than the buttons allowed, or do not have the "right" button for a function.

 

[kevitra]

I don't see why a post about a price is going to put the store in jeopardy, as they are not the ones that posted it hence they are not the ones doing the 'advertising'.
If a manufacturer is concerned about the price a merchant is selling an item for, there are plenty of other ways besides reading posts to determine it. It wouldn't be hard them to email the merchant like I did and ask 'what price can you do on xyz?' If the price was below what they wanted their product selling for, I would assume they would issue the merchant a warning.

On another issue with manufacturers: there are so many websites selling grey market items for certain brands that it is hard to believe that the manufacturers really care how their products are distributed and what price they are sold at. Take Rotel for example. I have yet to find one place selling grey market Rotel (not that I would buy it). NAD on the other hand is a different story. Do a google search and you will find plenty of unauthorized sellers. Denon and Pioneer are the same way - they have warnings about unauthorized sellers but it seems that they don't do anything to stop them (it isn't hard to find them). I'm sure there is a lot going on with the distribution channels that is out of their control, and there is a lot going on that us 'average' consumers don't know about, but it seems like if they really wanted to crack down they could. Rotel seems to have figured it out.

Anyway, that is this 'average' consumers point of view. I'd really like to know why the grey market is so large, but that seems like it should be another thread. I'm sure what is really going on isn't what I think, but to most audio enthusiasts I think my views are shared (I've seen the same comments more than one time).

 

[Carlo_M]

Kevitra, a manufacturer in and of itself probably does NOT care too much about the price a dealer sells at (hey, they get the same amount no matter what, "dealer cost").

It's when the low prices attract the attention of larger distributors, like a Good Guys or Best Buy, and they provide pressure to the manufacturer to "get the other dealers in line" - GG moves a lot of equipment, and so in the case of Energy it was in their interest to listen to GG's complaints.

Not saying it will happen here, but it CAN and HAS happened.

I know we are all on the lookout for great deals, and I don't have a prob with that at all. In fact even naming names of dealers is a good thing. But putting a price w/ a specific dealer can be detrimental, and I'd rather not lose the discounts we can get now like we did w/ Energy a few years ago. All it takes is a little discretion.

I'm not even going to touch the "grey market" aspect of it.

 

[kevitra]

Thanks for the reply. I see your points, it is just that posting prices is so common on the forums. I'll say that next time I'll think about posting the price before I do.

Back to how great the T762 is...

The remote: Even though I have a Pronto which I like, the NAD remote is nice. It is very simple, but that is actually a nice 'feature' compared to the monster remotes by brands like Denon. The NAD remote does what it needs to do without getting overly complex. I do wish there were up-down arrows for each channel's adjustment and not just the sub/center/surrounds.

One part of the the 762 that I didn't quite 'get' the first time around is the five different settings you can save. I figured 'I never change the speaker level settings, so why do I need this?' Well, with a Pronto (or without) it is quite handy. Each setting remembers it's last volume level, input source, and all speaker settings.
I have always found it annoying that the Tuner would be louder than my satellite receiver, and DVDs would be even softer. Having to change the volume when switching sources was a pain. If you use a preset to change sources, you don't have to worry about the volume since it remembers the last volume setting. I have settings for:

Satellite
Tuner
CD
DVD
VCR

As noted in other threads, there is a fairly large volume discrepancy between analog and digital inputs. Using the saved settings helps alleviate this problem (it is one of my gripes with the unit). When switching to my VCR I don't get blasted. This is very handy with the wife.

 

[John Garcia]

This is one of the features that interests me most about the 762, as well as dedicated settings for each source, the ability to assign all the amps to whatever you want, very flexible bass management, 4 and even 2 ohm stability...Holmgren torroidal transformer

 

[kevitra]

Bass management is non-existant for analog sources. The entire signal is passed to the main speakers. My understanding is that this is a 'true' direct mode.

 

[Carlo_M]

This is true. In fact, I have a separate setting for analog in (which my CD is) where I turn off the sub (you have to otherwise it gets a dup signal for the bass). It's under Preset 2 and it's a 2 button push to toggle back and forth.

 

[John Garcia]

I thought that is what it said about the analog inputs, but wasn't sure the full extent of what that meant. It is normal for the multi-channel inputs, but not so common for stereo analog inputs. The Crystal DACs in the NAD should work great for digital sources, and bass management is already handled by my player for SACDs, but this might be a problem for redbook/burned CDs.

The next question is, what speakers (& specs) are you using? I know Carlo is using the MBQs. I haven't settled on my next speakers, and I have been considering looking into floor standers for mains for music anyway...

 

[Carlo_M]

PS - I also have Energy C6s (from the mid-90s) and noticed a solid improvement on them from my old Sony 555ES receiver (hooked them up for a shootout between them and the 1030s with some friends over).

I think the true, clean power of the NAD really does translate over to the sound: effortless, never strained, didn't clip even at high volumes.

 

[John Garcia]

I have yet to clip my Marantz even at excessive levels also, but it still feels underpowered to me, in my current room.

One of the reasons I am lookint at the 762 is because one set of speakers I am considering is 6 Ohm, and another 4 Ohm. Since I already feel I am underpowered, I am looking to move up in terms of current capacity.

 

[Gerard Martin]

I am also interested in this receiver but have no dealers in my area, so for those of you lucky enough to have your T762 up and running please be so kind as to rate the performance of the T762 FM tuner, on a scale of 1 to 10. Thanks.

 

[Carlo_M]

John, FYI, the MB Quarts are all 4 ohms and I have had no probs driving them.

Gerard, I can't rate the tuner until I move apartments in September. My current building is apparently made of lead - no radio, tuner, cell phone or pager is active once they step inside! I keep having friends with "awesome" cell phones that they claim will work in my building, but as soon as they step foot inside, no bars of reception!

 

[John Garcia]

One more question: does anyone know if the NADs have the audio "dropout" issue with digital sources? Some receivers, including my Marantz, often have some difficulty locking onto the signal from a digital source when the player has a break in the signal sent (layer change, going menu to menu, etc...), and "lose" the first 1/2 second of sound.

 

[Carlo_M]

John, my Sony ES had this to the Nth degree, losing that much with a break, and much more initially detecting DTS signals (2-4 seconds!).

The T762 initially takes about 1/4 second or less, very little time at all - I only notice it on CDs where the music starts loud and right away. And I haven't noticed a layer change dropout yet (about 20 movies, all RSDL). I notice the pause from my RP91, but not any sound drop.

 

[ReggieW]

John and Carlo,

I took delivery of my T762 yesterday and it still has the audio dropout issue! This is disappointing, as I was told by Yawa that they received the new corrected batch a few days ago and I supposedly got one of them. They will definitely have to send me another unit as this one is going back. I just took down my much cheaper Denon 1802 which I had for two-years and it exhibited no problems whatsoever. Go figure. I do LOVE the sound of the NAD, but NAD's engineers must correct this problem. It just ticks me off that you spend hours setting things up and then something like this happens.

Reg