NAD 116 - MM phono stage not working

No sound means probably bad circuit. Crappy sound on MC doesn't reflect cheap cartridge, but reflects the fact that the cartridge's output is too high for the MC. I'd try spraying some contact cleaner in the switch and hoping that helps. If you have a good local technician (not a high end repair guy) he could probably figure it out. Keep in mind that for $100 you can get an external solid state phono preamp that would run through one of your high level inputs. Good luck

Thanks for the suggestions Tarsando. I just bought some contact cleaner so I will give that a try. Nice thing is the repair shop does a free estimate. Had them work on a 2100 a while back and was happy with the results.
I hear what you are saying about an external phono amp, but really bought this pre with the phono stage in mind...really don't want to add too many components..

Okay, for those who care, I got the phono stage working on the preamp. It was never a hardware issue, but operator error. Kind of embarrasing really...took a trip to the repair shop to figure it out. I will give you a hint, I got no sound when switched to MM but when switched to MC I did get sound...all be it crappy sound...

Your preamp has separate MM and MC inputs, and you had your MM cartridge connected to the MC inputs. Thus, no sound when switched to MM and overloaded, distorted sound when switched to MC.

Was I right?

:-)

David