Power source options ?

Posted by: Dawie on 22 October 2003

The title could also read "the curse of home-dems" !

The system : NAC 282, Hi-Cap, 2 x NAP250

I had a second Hi-cap on loan for a couple of days and I was amazed at the difference - all good, and now I must decide which route to take with the power source.I'm considering a SNAXO down the line.

Which way : Supercap or 2 x Hi-Cap ?

Ps. The CD player is a CDX2. I'm now prepared to believe the reputed gains of adding an XPS2 !
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by NaimThatTune
Hi Dawie,

??? I'm a bit confused (but then I am Welsh, so its comes naturally). It appears you can apply 2 hi-caps to a preamp? How does that work exactly - there's a 2nd p/s socket with a link pin in and you can effectively have a hi-cap per channel or something similar?

I ask because I'm currently using an AV2 between a CDX2 and a 300, and need to sort out a better preamp. Good though it is I think the AV2 is a bottleneck in this context.

Regards,

Richard.

P.S. I've heard the CDX2 with XPS2 - buy one...

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have. Be careful how you spend it lest others spend it for you.
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by Dawie
Hi, I'm not sure which models can all do this, but the NAC282 can take 2 x Hi-Cap or a Supercap. This is not possible on a friend's NAC102 ( old style - I think that's the model).

The wiring was quite interesting and it took a call to NAIM to figure it out. I have 2 x NAP250 and all signal wires go through the first.

With the second plugged in, you then get a second power source support and internally it then divides left and right channel support from each Hi-Cap. Quite a difference !

I have a CDX2 without the XPS2 at present. The XPS2 is on the wish list - high up.
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by hungryhalibut
If you can afford a Supercap you will get a much more significant improvement than by adding a second Hi-Cap. You will also have an easier upgrade path if you ever want to move to a 252.
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by andy c
If you have a look at the instruction book for the 102, it shows the wiring for the 82, which is the same as for the 282 re the plugging in of hi-caps. There appear to be covers which you unplug, much the same as to plug an napscinto the 102 for example... hope this makes sense...
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by Wolf
I just bought a s/h 82 and two Hicaps. The owner said he tried a Supercap but found that with a Hicap on each channel it sounded "fatter" and the supercap sounded a bit leaner but very clear. He liked the fat sound of the 2 Hicaps. I, however, have never listened to the difference or even have taken off my 2 caps to see what the difference is. I just like the sound of my gear the way. Now for more Shostokovich on vinyl.

glenn

Life is analogue
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by Dawie
Hi,

Thanks for all the replies !

If I need to go active with a SNAXO, what would be the prefered route ?

Will one Supercap drive the NAC282 AND the SNAXO ?

Will 2 x Hi-Cap do the same, or will I lose one Hi-Cap to the SNAXO ?
Posted on: 24 October 2003 by NaimThatTune
Folks,

Thanks also for the explanations. Ultimately I desire a Supercap/252 being more a fan of clarity than fatness. Such an fine pre-amp is a very big jump from my current position (especially as the AV2 is staying put, meaning I have nothing to trade in). A 282 with 1 then 2 hi-caps sounds a distinct possibility for the middle term.

Dawie, it seems quite neat to me that if (when?) you go active you can or should use one hi-cap for the snaxo and dedicate a nice new supercap to powering the pre-amp. I don't know if the S/C will power both (sorry) but to my mind the power supply to these very different bits of kit should be separate.

The dual hi-cap route seems a winner with the 282 at the moment, and personally I would invest in an XPS2 before going active - if the rest of your chain is up to showing it (which yours is) the gains in the 'organic' quality of the sound are considerable.

Hope this helps.

Richard.
Posted on: 24 October 2003 by greeny
The 82/282 is the most versatile of all Naims preamps from the power supply point of view.

It can be powered by a suitable power amp (below 250), 1 hicap, 2 hicaps or a supercap.

The 82 is the only preamp that can utilise 2 hicaps. When using the Supercap it uses 2 snaics from the Supercap essentially using 2/3 of the supercap capabilities. Any amp below the 82 using the supercap is only using 1/3 of the available supply lines (the 52 of cause uses all the power lines).