NAD T 757 Surround Sound Receiver Preview

Future-proof. This is the dream of nearly all AV enthusiasts. In our hobby, very few components can be classified as future-proof. These are devices that stand apart from the changing times. Amplifiers are the perfect example. Receivers, however, notoriously are not. The major manufacturers have taken to releasing new versions of receivers every 9 to 12 months. With smaller, high-end manufacturers, it's nearly impossible to keep up. They don't have the money, manpower, or desire to keep on top of every little feature that is released or every whim of the HDMI group.

One solution that has been tried in the past is a modular design. This allows the manufacturer to upgrade pieces of their product without requiring their consumers to purchase entirely new devices. Unfortunately, this approach has been unsuccessful in the past because it is nearly impossible to anticipate what forms new features and technology might have. If you don't anticipate correctly, you may end up with a modular design that still can't physically be updated to the new technology.

But it is still an attractive solution, not only to consumers who would rather pick and choose when upgrades they want to pay for, but for smaller manufacturers who would rather release modules to keep their consumers happy instead of having to live with touting older models that are woefully out of date.

NAD Electronics is taking the next stab at the modular design with their recent receivers. The least expensive of their offerings that includes their MDC (Modular Design Construction) is the T 757, a $1599 receiver. This new receiver sports many of the newest features including 3D/ARC support, video upconversion to HDMI, and an on-screen interface over HDMI. But NAD has always been more about the audio side of things than video. NAD rates this receiver at 60 Watts per channel. That doesn't sound like a lot until you realize they've used an all-channels driven, 20Hz-20kHz measurement. If the T 757 was measured like other receiver offerings, it would spec out around 120 watts per channel.

It's hard to see from the above picture how the modular design will work. Obviously the inputs and amps are all arranged vertically which probably indicates that they can be removed (doubtful with the amps, but the rest). Around the digital audio inputs, you can see cutouts where they come through the back panel. It seems to us that the digital audio/HDMI panel is the module that can be removed and replaced, probably a good choice on their part as the rest of the analogue inputs/outputs are unlikely to changed in coming years (unless you count "used less" as a change). This, it seems to us, gives you access to one bay for modular change. We would have thought more would be preferable but perhaps the thought was that one larger bay would give more ability to integrate unexpected technology in the future. Surely, the most likely component to change will be the HDMI inputs/output as HDMI seems to be the moving target of the AV world.

Overall the NAD T 757 has a decent number of connections available for a high-end receiver company. It is a 7.1 channel receiver that supports 2 zones of audio (the rear channels can be used to power Zone 2 or you can use an external amp). There are four HDMI inputs and one out, three component video in and one out, and three coaxial and and four optical (one on the front) digital audio. There are 7.1 channel analogue outputs for integrating external amplification as well as 7.1 inputs for legacy gear. An iPod dock is available for the T 757 to integrating your iDevice and will display song information on the OSD. All the latest HD audio formats and includes NADs proprietary EARS surround DSP.

One reason NAD (and other high-end companies) give for not having all the latest features is that having less features makes their offerings better. From NAD:

“Rather than over-complicating the AV Receiver by cramming every possible feature and buzz word into the box, NAD carefully evaluates how customers actually use our products and only includes the features that are essential for great audio and video performance”commented Greg Stidsen Director, Technology and Product Planning for NAD. “In addition, our Modular Design Construction feature offers the real benefit of being able to add new technology down the road, greatly enhancing the value proposition.”

Things that "over-complicate" receiver offerings seem to be (as NAD didn't include them in their T 757) video scaling (upconversion only), height/width channels, additional subwoofer support, more than two zones of audio, more than one zone of video, more than one HDMI output, more than four HDMI inputs (four is barely enough for most users these days), HD Radio tuner, HDMI Standby Pass-through, networking and streaming, native iPod/iPhone integration, USB ports, and more. We found one reference (not on the NAD website) that it has Audyssey room correction but not which version. On the other hand, you can re-name inputs and it will not display unused inputs for a less confusing/cluttered interface. So there is that.

Conclusion

No amount of modularity will overcome some of the basic shortcomings of the NAD T 757. But that's not why people buy NAD. They buy NAD because their are fans of the NAD sound. They Buy NAD because they are worried about All Channels Driven power. They buy NAD because many of the latest features are interesting to them. If NAD releases modules to keep up with the latest HDMI releases (at least the latest ones that make major changes), their consumers should be happy. While those looking for a more full featured receiver will want to look elsewhere, we're most interested to see how well NAD supports their modular design as companies like Onkyo and Integra couldn't get them to work for very long.

For more information, please visit www.nadelectronics.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.