82 & vinyl connection...

Posted by: Wolf on 23 January 2004

My system as it now stands
TT P3- Accuphase MC-old tube preamp
CD5-FC2
82-2 hicaps w' K boards installed
150 amp
All on Fraim
Speakers Spendor 2/3

I'm a bit confused about upgrading my TT the old P3 with it's tube preamp is in good condition, as my friend that traded it with me said he'd not listened to it much and used the tuner when he moved to California. The old tube pre-preamp is large and I'd like more storage for my CDs in the shelf so I was looking to replace it with something smaller and thinking this thing is ancient at 15 years old (but some tube geeks would think it's the cats meow).

My dealer likes Michell TTs (as that might be my upgrade path in the future) and I saw on their website that they have a MC preamp, the Dino, that can also service MM if I change my cartridge type, it is $550 (he also said the Dino was excellent sounding). My dealer suggested a stageline tho I thought that they only worked with the new series and not the olive 82. Did a search here and found a reference to getting a special 4-pin to 5-pin cable for the 82 & stageline and I suppose removing the K boards. And, I was going to power the Stageline and CD5 from the FC2 but I see in the diagrams that is an either/or situation (same plug used for both). The dealer also said in an email that there are two new cheaper power sources comeing out for the stageline a few months away. So I would suppose a stageline can be used provided it has it's own power system ( hicap being obvious, but expensive option) I think I'd wait for the new ones to come out.

My options are:
1)Keep the old gear and just enjoy the sound?
2)Get the Dino as first upgrade to a Michell TT
3)Wait for Stageline and new power source, keeping the P3
4)scrap it all and get an LP12 (not really in the offing)

What are your highly valued comments on this? I have little experience with my new vinyl source and have only 150 records. Vinyl and CD sources used about 25% of the time each and 50% for the tuner. I work at home so the tuner is on most of the day to classical music.

glenn

Life is analogue
Posted on: 02 February 2004 by greeny
I'm a bit confused here!

Can't you try your cartridge directly into the 82 using the 'K' boards? If so you don't need your valve preamp as far as I can see. You could compair this to the valve preamp and se which you prefer.

PS. The stageline will work with an 82, it's just with a 282 you cannot use 'K' boards so you must use the stageline (or prefix, or other phono stage).

How old is the cartridge?
Posted on: 02 February 2004 by Wolf
Well you kinda hit the nail on the head. I have not tried the TT direct into the 82 with the K boards (I might not need to do the stageline if it does work). Maybe I should try it today just to see what it's like. I just took my friend's advice that the MC cartridge needed a preamp for it. I'll send an email to my dealer about this. Wonder why he didn't mention this before.

The cartridge and the TT are from the early 80s but it was not used much by my friend. It sounds great, it's not knackered.

glenn

Life is analogue
Posted on: 02 February 2004 by Wolf
Well Greeny, thanks for the nudge, I just disconnected the phono preamp and, connected P3 direcly tothe 82. it works fine. Wish I'd tried it before, but then the guy I got it from wasn't familiar with Naim gear, In fact he's quite perturbed I did not buy his system. but it was all from the 70's and lots of boxes (no remote tho which I wantd , sounds great tho. I also wwanted a contemporary system from all one manufacturer was my ideal, and I got it.

thanks again, solved my space problem and will put the phono preamp on ebay.

Glenn

Life is analogue
Posted on: 03 February 2004 by greeny
Happy to be of help.

The Naim phono boards 'K' in your case are very good and you have to go a long way to make a significant improvement.

It is possible that alternative Phono boards 'S' or 'E' ? might suit your cartridge better (I know nothing about your cartridge) but if it sounds good then the 'K' is probably Ok. The 'K' boards do seem to work well with a broad range of cartridges.
Posted on: 04 February 2004 by Chris Metcalfe
Does anyone know which cables the NAC82 came bundled with? I seem to remember it didn't have any, but I may be wrong (maybe 1 snaic?). Thanks.