Stay away from the nad

With 3 amps dying on you, something must be wrong in your system, or house wiring.

What ohm rating do your speakers have? Do they have a phase angle? Did you buy brand new Nad each time or factory refurbs? What specific volume level position do you use? And for how many hours at a time?

It just seems strange to me. I’ve owned 5 Nad integrated amps. 2 C326BEE, one c372, one C375BEE and one C356BEE. And a top of the line cd player, the C565BEE. Three were used. Two were refurbs, and one was brand new. I’ve only owned each for a year or so, but I’ve not had one failure. Now, could I be extremely lucky, and Nad is actually awful, or much more likely, Nad has been around for over 40 years for a good reason, and something else is going on.  Still, your experience sucks, and I can understand wanting to stay away from Nad.

PS, the $400 estimate over the phone from the service center, is useless since they don’t really know what the problem with the C356BEE is. It could be more, but most likely a lot less.

bojack, not sure if you're thinking of the C372/272, but the first run of those had white power caps, which turned to be troublesome.  I know this because after I bought my C372 I found out about this and panicked.  But mine had the better black caps and it was rock solid.

As is the C375BEE, as was the C326BEE before it.  The C372 retailed for around 900, and the C375BEE was about 1500, so completely different animals and it shows on the better quality parts used on the inside.

People that have any brand amp failures tend to be the ones willing to search out a forum and comment, not the 90%+ that never have an issue.

BTW, the OP mentioned he’s going to order an Accuphase E-270. That integrated amp, as far as I can tell, is a gem that sells for around $4500. With that kind of budget many excellent IA would be options, but the Accuphase is certainly one of them.

Interesting that the Nad C356BEE goes for around $750 new. Quite the budget increase!  I asked the OP earlier which speakers he was using, now I'm more curious because the  Accuphase E-270 might be too much if they are a small bookshelf.

What I can find on the PSB Synchrony  One bookshelf is that it is a 4 ohm speaker that dips to below 3 ohms at some frequencies.  I'm sure it'll be fine with the Accuphase.  

Any dealer that will bad mouth a brand they don't carry or no longer carry is not worth doing business with.  It's something a dealer with integrity just won't do.

Apparently Djeng prefers complaining to strangers on the internet to contacting Nad to see if they’d warranty his broken 356. 

Call them.  Get a real live person on the phone.  Explain that you are a repeat Nad customer.  Be friendly.  Have your receipt that proves it's only a "couple of months" out of warranty as you've stated.  Ask if there is anything that they can do to cover this under warranty on a one time basis.  If they say no, politely ask to speak to a manager about this unfortunate situation.  Report back here with the results.

It sounds like you didn't politely insist on speaking with a manager.  It sounds like you haven't pursued the matter, but with a budget of over $4000 for a replacement, you won't miss the Nad.

 I had Denon replace a remote out of warranty.  I've had Paradigm replace a tweeter out of warranty.  I've had Nissan repair my Altima out of warranty.  All free.   I guess perhaps it's a skill one has to develop.

The Nad PE stuff from the 80's apparently had issues too.  I still contend that the current integrated amps( or the ones just being retired for the new digital amps) are pretty rock solid.  Yeah there's failures.  Obviously Nad is good to replace them, refurbish and sell with full warranty.  What's the percentage of failures, that's the big question.