Nakamichi AV-10 Electronic Engineering

The Nakamichi AV-10 electronic engineering is very similar to that of the AV-8. Apart from the extra transformer and ICs in the digital board, everything else appears to be the same. It has the same audio switch ICs, microcontroller, and standby system. In comparison to other amplifiers, I thought the design had much room for improvement. Some of the wiring was long-winded, going from one board, to the main board, and then to another board. The transistors in the power supply circuitry on the main board lacked heatsinks resulting in a charred board over time. I would have preferred the power supply circuitry on separate board with dedicated heatsink, however this was the norm for 90s design and technology.

For the most part, I thought disassembling the AV-10 was straightforward. The only tricky part is separating the front plastic panel from the PCB attached to it. If you need to do this, then remember to remove the securing nuts for the bass, treble and balance controls. These nuts are hidden deep within recess type wells and easily missed.

Here is a view of the front plastic panel from the reverse side. You can see how deep the recess wells are.

I thought that the power supply design and layout had much room for improvement. Had I been the designer, then I would have used more higher specification components with heatsinks...

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