NAD Electronics C420 User Manual download pdf (Page 1)

NAD C 420 stereo AM/FM tuner.

NAD Electronics International, 633

Granite Court, Pickering, Ontario,

Canada L1W 3K1, (800) 263-4641,

www.NADelectronics.com. $249

U.S. Dimensions: 435mm W

70mm H

285mm D. Net weight:

8.8 lbs (4kg). Warranty: two years

parts and labor.

Parasound TDQ-150 stereo tuner.

Parasound Products, Inc., 950

Battery St., San Francisco,

CA 94111, (415) 397-7100,

www.parasound.com. $269 U.S.

Dimensions: 9.5” W

1.75” H

7” D. Net weight: 4 lbs. Ten-year

limited warranty.

The NAD C 420 and Parasound TDQ-

150 AM/FM stereo tuners repre-

sent the budget end for high-end

tuners. These two manufacturers’

higher-priced tuners (NAD C 440,

$349; and the full-size Parasound

TDQ-1600, $400) offer better FM

sensitivity and lower audio distor-

tion specifications. However, if

you don’t require fringe area re-

ception, these two tuners repre-

sent excellent values.

NAD C 420

Photo 1

shows the C 420 front

panel. Just above the power switch

on the left is a small green LED in-

dicator, which turns amber in

Standby mode. A row of six push

buttons selects Blend, Memory, FM

Mute/Mono, AM/FM, Display

modes, and Preset/Tune functions.

The white fluorescent display

screen shows the band and fre-

quency of the station being tuned,

FM stereo, whether the station is a

memory preset, and whether Blend

and FM Mute are engaged. It also

has a vertical seven-bar-graph sig-

nal strength indicator.

Pressing the display button cy-

cles the display to RDS program

service. Another push cycles it to

RDS text. The display then returns

to the default mode after a few

seconds. The infrared sensor is lo-

cated on the left side of the dis-

play window. A rocker switch on

the right side of the unit is for the

Preset/Tune functions.

The tuner chassis is black paint-

ed steel, and the cover is held on

with five screws. The front bezel is

plastic and the unit sits on four

plastic feet with elastomer

rings on the bottom. There is

adequate finger space under

the unit to easily lift it.

The rear panel (not shown)

has the attached two-prong

polarized AC line cord, a +12V

trigger jack, the “NAD-Link”

input and output jacks,

stereo audio jacks with gold-

plated shells and tin center

contacts, a two-conductor AM

antenna connector, and a threaded

75Ω F-type FM antenna jack.

The C 420 provides up to 30 sta-

tion presets, which you can use in

any combination of AM and FM

stations. FM Mute and FM Blend

status information is stored with

each FM preset. Empty presets are

skipped over during tuning to pro-

vide quicker access to the stored

stations.

The preset information is stored

in non-volatile EEPROM memory,

which provides permanent power-

off storage. Many tuners use

“super capacitors” to hold the pre-

set memory in CMOS chips for a

limited time—maybe a month or

so. My own NAD 4155 uses a now-

tired super cap, and it must be

powered up at least once a week to

maintain all the presets.

FM Mute/Mode switches the C

420 to mono and disengages the

muting circuitry so you can manu-

ally tune weak stations. FM Blend

provides a means to automatically

reduce noise and hiss on weak sta-

tions while still retaining some

stereo separation. Once the signal

level drops below a certain thresh-

old, it will revert to mono. The

tuning increments for FM are in

FM Tuners:

NAD and Parasound

Reviewed by Charles Hansen and Nancy and Duncan MacArthur

PHOTO 2: Front view of Parasound TDQ-150.

PHOTO 1:

The NAD C 420

stereo tuner.

60 audioXpress 6/02 www.audioXpress.com

1 2 3 4 5

Summary of Contents

Page 1 - NAD and Parasound

NAD C 420 stereo AM/FM tuner.NAD Electronics International, 633Granite Court, Pickering, Ontario,Canada L1W 3K1, (800) 263-4641,www.NADelectronics.com

Page 2 - INSIDE THE NAD C 420

steps of 50kHz. The AM tuningsteps are 10kHz (9kHz for the230V version).The RDS PS (Program Service)automatically displays the name ofthe radio statio

Page 3 - CRITIQUE

62 audioXpress 6/02 www.audioXpress.com By Nancy and Duncan MacArthurSome years ago we moved toward a minimalist audiosystem: one source, one volume

Page 4 - FM SECTION

eight individual wires. The shieldedMOSFET RF front end sits just be-hind the two antenna connectors.A Sanyo LA7218 and LA1837 chipset handles PLL fre

Page 5 - MEASUREMENTS—

mance was 54dB at 1kHz. THD+N at 1kHz was 0.087%mono, and 0.29% stereo. Duringdistortion testing, I engaged thetest set 80kHz low-pass filter tolimit

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NAD Electronics C420 User Manual Page 1

Browse online or download User Manual for Musical Equipment NAD Electronics C420. NAD Electronics C420 User's Manual

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NAD Electronics C420 User Manual Page 1

Browse online or download User Manual for Musical Equipment NAD Electronics C420. NAD Electronics C420 User's Manual

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