Nakamichi AV-8 inside Look

The Nakamichi AV-8 is very similar in design to the AV-7 and AV-10, and we see the same type of power output assembly and fan situated at the centre, with similar organisation and layout of the boards. The brown boards and green silk-screening gives an average commercial build quality, however, it all works well and that is what really matters in the end.

I bought this amplifier from the spares and repairs listing because it was just affordable, and it was a Nakamichi! Its history was that it was a working amplifier, which they sent for calibration, where the "expert" opened it and caused a short. This resulted in the amplifier not starting up. It would attempt to do so and then shut down making clicking noises from the relay. The owner then sent it to amateurs (the types that talk a lot and polish volume knobs), where they destroyed it completely by adding more faults and then all that the amplifier did was make clicking noises of the relay. In addition to the two brit-made faults, a delivery driver called Mobi used a cannon to load the parcels into his van.

My first port of call was to contact the Nakamichi Corporation, and when they realised that the great (and not forgetting legendary) Peter Vis was working on one of their amplifiers at the prestigious Vis Labs facility, they were quick to send out a service manual. Nakamichi, being such a high-quality organisation, always helps engineers with service information. After speaking with their lead designer, he also sent me some replacement components free of charge. I have to say; they go beyond expectations, where customer service is concerned.

Much of the weight is due to this extremely heavy transformer.

This board contains the amplifier power output, together with the Harmonic Time Alignment circuitry.

This is the digital board, which resolves Dolby Digital signal into individual channels. It also has coaxial and optical digital connectors.

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