Rear Panel Connections; Ground; Phono; Mm/Mc Selector - NAD 3020A Instructions For Installation And Operation Manual

EA'GL'SH
REAR PANEL CONNECTIOT{S
l. GFOUND. lf your turntable is equipped with a sep-
arale grounding wire, connect it here as follows. Turn the
thumb-nut counter-clockwise. lf the grounding wire is ter-
minated in a U-shaped spade lug, place it under the thumb-
nut and tighten lhe nut clockwise to secure the lug. lf the
grounding wire has no terminal lug, strip olf a halt-inch
(1 to 2 cm) of insulation to expose the bare wire, twist the
wire strands tightly together, insert the wire through the
small hole in the shatl of the Ground terminal, and tiqhten
the lhumb-nut.
2. PHONO. Plug the signal cables from your turntable
into these jacks. lf the cables or plugs are color-coded, reler
to your turntable's instructions to learn which cable or plug
is for the Lelt channel and which is for the Right channet.
Be carelul to inserl each plug fu,,y inlo lhe jack so that the
plug s metal skirt fils tighlly over the exlerior of the jack. lf
necessary, caretully crimp the plug's metal skirt slightly so
as lo obtain a tight fit with the jack.
.The impedance ot the phono input ls 4Z0OO ohms
resistance and 47 picolarads capacitance, which (when
considered together with the cable capacitance ol a typ-
ical lurntable) is suitable tor the maiority ol phono pick-
up cartridges.
3. MM/MC SELECTOR. This switch sets the inout
sensilrvity and gain ol the phono preampltfrer
circuit. Set it
according to lhe oulput level of your phono cartridge. Move
the switch DOWN (to MM) for cartridges of the moving
magnet, induced magnet, moving flux, and moving iron
(variable reluctance) types, and tor "high-output" moving-
coil pickups (i.e., those with a rated output ol 1.0 mV or
greater). lf your cartridge is a low-output moving-coil pickup
(rvilh a rated oulput of less than 1.0 mV), move the switch
U P ( t o M C ) .
Here is another way to determine the preferred setting
ot the MM/MC switch. Begin by setting it to MM. After you
have completed the installation and wiring of the amplitier,
play a rocord. You should obtain a satisfyingly loud volume
level wiih a VOLUME control setting beiween 9 o'clock
and 3 o'clock. ll you have lo turn up the VOLUME control
beyond 3 o'clock to get adequately loud sound, turn the
VOLUME back down and re-set the MM/MC switch to MC.
4. TUNER. Plug the signal cables from your radio tuner
into lhes€ iacks.
5. AUX. The auxiliary input jacks enable you to connect
any "line level" signal source to the system-such as an
eight-track lape player, a television sound tuner, a child's
record player with ceramic pickup cartridge, or the playback
signal from a second tape deck.
6. TAPE PLAY/RECOFD. Two types of conneclors are
provided for use with a Stereo tape recorder: separate pairs
ol FECORD and PLAY phono jacks, and a live-pin DIN
socket. lf your recorder has only DIN-type plugs, use the
DIN connector. It your rscorder has both a DIN plug and
pairs ol phono plugs, il is preferable to use the phono plug
connoctions. (Do not use bolh the phono plugs and the DIN
plug simultaneously.)
The tape connections may be used with tape recorders
ol all kinds: cassetle, open-reel, eighftrack, Elcaset, digital,
etc. To make recordings, connect a ster€o patch cord from
lhe BECORD jacks to the LINE or BADIO input jacks on lhe
recorder (not to its microphone inputs). To play back tapes,
connect a ster€o patch cord from the recorder's LINE output
iacks lo the 30204s PLAY inouts.
Z PRE-AMP OUT, NORMAL lN, LAB lN. Each channel
ol the amplifier is comprised ol two independent sections or
stages: the conlrol preamplifier (including the phono preamp
and most front-panel controls), and the power amplilier
(which provides lhe power to dnve loudspeakers). ln normal
operation the preamp and power amp are connected to-
gether via U-shaped metal jumpers I check to be sure thai
they are fully inserted into the jacks and that nothing is
touching them.
Two sets of power amp inputs are provided. The LAB
inputs have wideband frequency response extending uni-
formly from low infrasonic tc high ullrasonic frequencies,
and may be used lor laboralory tests and special applica-
tions. The NOBMAL inputs are equipped with infrasonic and
ultrasonic lilters to reject interference occurring outside ol
the audible frequency range, minimizing intermodutation
distortion and preserving the amplifier's power lor music
For conventional operation the PRE-AMP OUT iacks
are connected to the NORMAL lN lacks by means of the
metal jumpers. Removal of the jumperc (wi{h the POWER
switched OFn enables various signal-processing acces-
sories to be connected in the signal path between preamp
and power amp: a special speaker equalizer (such as lhat
supplied with certain Bose and Electro-Voice sOeakers). a
graphic equalize( a dynamic-range expander, a time-detay
ambrence reproduclion system, etc. To use a signal proces-
sor, connect a slereo patch cord from the PRE-AMP OUT
iacks to the processor's line,level input jacks, and connect a
second patch cord from the processor's line-level outputs to
the NORMAL lN jacks.
NOTE: Any signal processor whose operation depends
on the setling ol a threshold. such as dynamtc noise filter or
DBX decode( should be connected to the TAPE RECOFIo/
PLAY jacks-where the signal Ievels are unatfected by
volume and tone controls-rather than to the PBE-AMP
OUT iacks.
Save the metaljumpers in case you may want to
disconnect the signal processor and return to normal
operation al a laler time. lf the jumpers should be lost, a
conventional slereo patch cord can be used to connect
PFE-AMP OUT to either NORMAL tN or LAB tN.
The NAO 30204 can be used as rhe heart of an
elaborate audiophile sound syslem. For example the
PFE-AMP OUT jacks may be connected via a stereo palch
cord to any high-quality separate power amplilier To use a
separate high-power amplifier for your main stereo speakers
while continuing to use the NAD 3020As built-in power amp
lor headphones or extension speakers, simply install y-con-
nector adapters to split the signal from the PHE-AMP OUI
jacks. The preamp stage is capable ol driving several power
amplifiers in parallel, or the long signal cables required lo
connect to power amps which are located near the speak,
ers, or to "powered" loudspeakers with built-in power amps.
The preamp outpul can be used to drive a time-delay ambi-
ence system, with the 3020As builfin power amp used to
drive either the main stereo speakers or the time-delayed
secondary speakers. And in an elaboral€ bi-ampiilied sys-
tem lhe preamp output would b€ led to the input ot the
electronic crossover while the highJrequency output of the
crossover unit is fed io the NORMAL lN or LAB lN jacks
and the speaker's tweeters are connected directly to the
SPEAKER lerminals.
8. SPEAKERS. lf the wiring to each speaker will be
no longer than about 20 feet (6 meters), then conneclions
should be made using 18-gauge wire such as common lamp
cord ("zip" cord), available lrom hardware and electrical,
supply stores in either white, brown, or black insulation. The
smaller-diameter 20- or 22-gauge wire sold in some shops
is rol recommended, even though it may be identified as