My new amplifier

Well, it's hardly new. I finally swindled that old amplifier out of my mother. Looks like there are just a couple of blow fuses so I'll have it fixed up tonight. Got some questions though.

It's an old NAD 2030 amp with bass, treble, volume, and balance pots and a premap for aux in, phono in, tape in, etc.

Now, on the back there are a lot of inputs. There are preamped inputs for phono and what not...but there's one group called "Power Amp". There's a Power Amp In, Preamp Out, and LAB IN all in one group. The Preamp Out and LAB IN are jumpered together. What is LAB IN?

It appears as though the power amp input bypasses the preamp...should I plug into this instead of aux? Will or should this bypass the bass and treble pots?

Next, it's an 80W amp, but the power meter over the volume knob is marked W/8Ohms and the LEDs are marked 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35. Am I to assume that the amp is rated 40W per channel then? If so it's a PERFECT match for the old NS-500 monitors I'm rebuilding which are also 40W 8ohms.

Next, there is a "Soft Clipping" switch on the back. What exactly will this do?

Anyway, I'm really glad I got this old thing. In its day it was the shit and should serve me well as a power amp for now. I know that NAD has a great reputation. Plus it's SO simple...I opened it up and felt a little tear fall from my cheek. Man, the design is so simple and easy to work on.

Slackmaster 2000
 
From your mom? What was she doing with it? Are you from a musical family? ("Daddy sang bass, Momma sang treble...")

Sounds like a nice piece of equipment.
(I appreciated your appreciation of the simplicity of the technology.) Bet you'd get a better response in the gear forum, though.

Really, did you learn guitar from your mom? :)
 
Heh, my mom and dad were "audiophiles" while I was growing up. Always had the really nice stereos even though we lived in dumps :) My dad used to build speakers and mixers and EQ's and whatnot. My mom used to sit me in front of the speaker with "Wish You Were Here" playing to get me to go to sleep when I was a baby. So yeah, I suppose I owe my interest in music to my mom & dad.

This amp was her amp while I was growing up. As the years went on she became less interested in music and when the amp died she just packed it away. Little did she know it just needed two new fuses.

And no, she didn't teach me how to play guitar...but she did buy me my first guitar when I was ~14. Funny thing was that I was always so shy about it...the first time she actually heard me play was 3 months ago over the internet (hindsight & the window).

Slackmaster 2000
 
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