NEWS: NAD Upgrades Top AVRs with Modular Design Construction Features

Not long ago NAD Electronics announced Modular Design Construction (MDC) as a new architecture through which the firm planned to add value to its high performance A/V components. Now, NAD has announced that it is releasing “dramatically upgraded HD versions” of its top three A/V receivers: the T 785 ($3999), the T 775 ($2999), and the T 765 ($2499).

Followers of the AVguide.com news column will recall that NAD’s Modular Design Construction plan calls for the release of a series of modular, plug-in audio and video processing modules through which users can add new features, functions and technologies to their MDC-compatible NAD components. NAD’s initial MDC release calls for two audio processing modules (the AM 100 and AM 200) and two video processing modules (the VM 100 and VM 200). Now, the firm is leveraging the strengths of its MDC architecture to add powerful new features to its top-tier receivers.

The flagship T 785 receiver will come equipped with NAD’s AM 200 and VM 200 modules, which together add the following key features:

• Dual 32-bit Aureus DSP engines from Texas Instruments.
• Support for Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction plus Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume functions.
• Support for Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus decoding, plus DTS-HD Master Audio decoding.
• Sigma Designs VXP broadcast/studio quality image processor, which provides an extensive range of video processing functions, supports image resolutions up to a whopping 2048 x 2048 pixels, and provides frame conversion to and from any refresh rate in NTSC or PAL.

The T 775 receiver will come with NAD’s AM 200 and VM 100 modules, meaning that the T 775 will have the TI DSP engines as those found in the T 785 with the same Audyssey, Dolby and DTS functions as in the flagship receiver. According the NAD, the T 775 “employs the latest version HDMI 1.3 repeater from Analog Devices, supporting all input resolutions up to 1080p at the outputs, “as well as cross conversion of legacy analog formats.”

The T 765 receiver will incorporate NAD’s AM 100 and VM 100 modules, providing “new HD features that include HDMI 1.3 repeaters for three digital sources, and on-screen display via HDMI, eight-channel pulse code modulated (PCM) audio (decoded or LPCM), two-channel PCM audio (encoded), and decoding for Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio.”

All three new MDC-enhanced AVRs are available from authorized NAD dealers now.

For more information, visit: www.nadelectronics.com