HiCap 2?

Hi-cap 2

Steve

quote:

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The innards look like OEM.

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Not IMO.

I don't recall HiCAPS having all those extra capacitors, and Naim's don't usually have such scrappy wiring.

Paul

That thing doesn't look standard to me. The regulator bank has been replaced by a small circuit board (presumably with non-can type regulators) and 4 electrolytics have been shoehornded in.

The resolution isn't good enough to have a good look at the regulation circuits.

I'll say this, though: Naim goes through a lot of trouble in laying out the circuits and (esp.) cabling to reduce noise. That thing looks a mess.

Anyway, that's not the way I would do it anyhow. If I needed to strech a hicap a bit farther, I think I'd simply pop in another 5 pin socket and wire the existing 2 B+'s to the new socket. This wouldn't do squat when powering both inputs of an 82, for instance. But, it is possibly advantageous when whatever you have the hicap on doesn't draw much current. I could see doing something like this to power a prefix and a cd3.5, since those two items would never be drawing current at the same time. Of course, look out for ground loops.

Judd

very interesting, however the words "barge" and "pole" come to mind - I'm sure Mr Raggett will heave a sigh of relief where others are uttering same.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

I'd second Ricos comment - steer well clear.

If the seller had the original reg boards I'd give a £100 for the bits, it could be converted back to a cheap Hicap for those with a soldering iron and plenty of time on their hands.

Not sure how it's wired, but if each transformer winding has been used to power each socket you'll get reduced performance, if used to power each channel connecting this thing to two devices will give an earth loop.

More work for Naim's service dept. - I bet that will cost a few quid for a complete rebuild!

A.

P.S. If the description on eBay is right I know exactly why it was wired by 'an ex-Naim engineer'. He was obviously crap and given the boot

Or caveat emptor as they used to say.

What amazes me is the fact that people are prepared to pay out that kind of cash on a heavily modified product on the basis of a few poor pix.

Home brew versions of power supplies are ten-a-penny on the internet. If I want to experiment with external PSUs and don't want to shell out on the new or s/h cost of the genuine article, I know where to look.

Or maybe I'm approaching this from the wrong angle - maybe the total cost of all the bits (cases don't come cheap!) justifies the price.

Bidding has reached £301 for this thing???

Apologies if it's anyone from the forum!!

Steve.

Even worse, the seller has put a reserve on it of over £311!?

Now where's me soldering iron....